You ever get intimidated with a book idea? Like you won't be able to do it justice?

[ConansWitchBaby]

I will gladly admit that I am still a noob at this. But I just came up with a premise that outright seems impossible for me at the current time. Hell, even in a while from now. Do you guys just file it away as a maybe I'll eventually get to it type of deal?

For me specifically, the idea requires shifting the view of reality in the story to show a damaged mind. The premise I came up with is an unofficial trial being done on a crazed eighty-year-old hermit claiming to have been with the heroes that managed to save the world. It involves using mind/memory magic to see his claims. The bulk of the story showing a journey starting from refusing to leave the country and go back and fight to when the big bad was defeated. Thing is that to make the specific ending that I thought of it requires a division of three simultaneous "timelines" overlayed on one another. Which is just his mind not being able to differentiate between events anymore. The first when the MC was with his friends going back since everyone is escaping the world ending. Second is when they all died and the guy is going through the steps. Third, when it is revealed that he kept repeating everything they did seeing his friends the entire time. Going through the motions and thinking his friends were training him. Ultimately revealed that he was the one that defeated the big bad by himself in the end. Panning to the present where he is setting up a dinner because they visit him each day.

The "trial" is one of potential official heroes (part of the original group of friends) that left with the refugees is seeking information on what happened to her friends. The MC isn't trusted by most because he wasn't the only one that was "left behind" so him being there and traumatized isn't proof enough.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yes. The intimidation comes from the amount of work I'll have to do.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I will gladly admit that I am still a noob at this. But I just came up with a premise that outright seems impossible for me at the current time. Hell, even in a while from now. Do you guys just file it away as a maybe I'll eventually get to it type of deal?

For me specifically, the idea requires shifting the view of reality in the story to show a damaged mind. The premise I came up with is an unofficial trial being done on a crazed eighty-year-old hermit claiming to have been with the heroes that managed to save the world. It involves using mind/memory magic to see his claims. The bulk of the story showing a journey starting from refusing to leave the country and go back and fight to when the big bad was defeated. Thing is that to make the specific ending that I thought of it requires a division of three simultaneous "timelines" overlayed on one another. Which is just his mind not being able to differentiate between events anymore. The first when the MC was with his friends going back since everyone is escaping the world ending. Second is when they all died and the guy is going through the steps. Third, when it is revealed that he kept repeating everything they did seeing his friends the entire time. Going through the motions and thinking his friends were training him. Ultimately revealed that he was the one that defeated the big bad by himself in the end. Panning to the present where he is setting up a dinner because they visit him each day.

The "trial" is one of potential official heroes (part of the original group of friends) that left with the refugees is seeking information on what happened to her friends. The MC isn't trusted by most because he wasn't the only one that was "left behind" so him being there and traumatized isn't proof enough.

Sounds pretty difficult.
And yup! I have many story ideas that are out of my reach.
Doing a whole story in a personality different to my own. Doing a Pokémon story (I don’t know much about Pokémon other than fanfics). Body horror that relies on deep anatomical knowledge that I don’t have. Etc.

 

[Shard]

Absolutely. I am 100% confident that I am not yet skilled enough to properly write the first story I came up with. Hopefully I'll end up good enough to write it before I die.

Then there are also cases of lacking knowledge. I don't know relationships, so I can't write them properly. I don't know society, so I can't write that properly. There are lots of things I can't write due to that.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Definitely. When I realize one book is into the 50s and I really only just started the main story it is a bit intimidating... And a few others that I'm not 100% sure with the genre (hybrid Isekai/Western or "Harlequin Romance" for example). Usually I start them and then move on to others and maybe eventually come back and continue, maybe not.

Your specific example sounds like a very cool version of the "Unreliable Narrator" - a difficult "trope" to work with and one that can lead to reader disinterest as they decide they have been misled by the "narrator" one too many times, or that can lead to genius.

I have experimented with it in the past - had one horror story where each chapter was written in first person by a different character. In the end it turns out there were only three or four (or maybe five, if the Eldritch God the MC claims to have interacted with exists) actual people but nine different characters getting their own chapters - chapters that include the death of that character in three cases. That was a huge challenge and one I burned out on about 2/3 of the way through (sadly, unless I can get stuff off of a dead hard drive, it is lost forever), partly because it just kept getting darker and darker and I just HAD to step away.

Another one that I recently restarted (had written three chapters a while ago but lost them) has a narrator who knows a lot more about what is going on than he will even tell ME, the writer, not to mention what he is and is not willing to tell the reader... Have almost rebuilt it, though going in a slightly different direction, to where it was when I left off before. That guy is a huge challenge to write but also oddly addictive.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Yes, this is kinda why I have halted my more serious story. Once I am more confident I can make it work, I will continue it, and probably revise it for the umpteenth time.

 

[WeissBlatt]

Yes.

 

[theInmara]

Yep. Got one waiting in the wings because of it. It's named. It has the introduction written out, and a chapter by chapter outline. And it's been two years at least since writing that much out.

 

[ChronicSleeper]

Always, the nagging feeling that your not good enough is always there.

 

[greyblob]

Yes. I have had this feeling when I wanted to write a diary-like novel where the MC is addressing the audience and narrating events.

 

[RepresentingPride]

Yes, I shouldn't have chosen a Xuanhuan story to write as my first one. Took a long time before I will finally reach the end of it.

 

[ElijahRyne]

I will gladly admit that I am still a noob at this. But I just came up with a premise that outright seems impossible for me at the current time. Hell, even in a while from now. Do you guys just file it away as a maybe I'll eventually get to it type of deal?

For me specifically, the idea requires shifting the view of reality in the story to show a damaged mind. The premise I came up with is an unofficial trial being done on a crazed eighty-year-old hermit claiming to have been with the heroes that managed to save the world. It involves using mind/memory magic to see his claims. The bulk of the story showing a journey starting from refusing to leave the country and go back and fight to when the big bad was defeated. Thing is that to make the specific ending that I thought of it requires a division of three simultaneous "timelines" overlayed on one another. Which is just his mind not being able to differentiate between events anymore. The first when the MC was with his friends going back since everyone is escaping the world ending. Second is when they all died and the guy is going through the steps. Third, when it is revealed that he kept repeating everything they did seeing his friends the entire time. Going through the motions and thinking his friends were training him. Ultimately revealed that he was the one that defeated the big bad by himself in the end. Panning to the present where he is setting up a dinner because they visit him each day.

The "trial" is one of potential official heroes (part of the original group of friends) that left with the refugees is seeking information on what happened to her friends. The MC isn't trusted by most because he wasn't the only one that was "left behind" so him being there and traumatized isn't proof enough.

Yes. Every story idea. Sometimes I attempt to prove that I can write them, and get my will eroded away by my ideal.

 

[Avery_Line]

Ira Glass did a now-famous interview with advice for beginner creatives. He said he wished someone had told him when starting out that creatives have a gap between refined good taste and their ability to execute that result. What makes us so right for what we do also poisons the well at first, and that only grit, and sticking through the first years of the ability gap will get us to the point where we want to be. Here's an excerpt: