The Life

I learned something last week about my writing over the past couple of weeks. Idea driven stories suck. I also realize I'm in too much of a hurry to get my work "seen" and I lose a lot of details when I do that.

For my next project I'm thinking I need to find someone who I can write about and write his or her story. Imagining a scene and then trying to introduce the characters leaves the plot and the emotion flat.

This brings me to my next topic, I usually know what is 'right' or 'wrong' with my stories when I post/give them to people to read. When I get honest feedback I rarely get a criticism or an atta boy that I didn't expect. It is my job then to pour over the items I already know are weak and fix them. Often I'm in such a hurry to be 'read' that I don't take the time to fix these and other minor things and the story falls flat before it really has a chance.

So I need to make the resolve of slowing down and dissecting each line in my post-edit mode. One thing I have often read is that I should let the story sit for a few weeks and then go back and reread/edit it. It become fresher and I'm not caught up in the emotion of writing it. I don't tend to do that because of my limited amount of work. The idea then is to get into a cycle of writing. Where I would write a short story, put it aside for a while and then start a new story. Maybe after I wrote the next story or two go back and edit the first one. Write another story then edit the second one and then polish the first one again. This process would accomplish tow things for me. Writing more and producing quality work when I do throw it to the wolves, er readers.

On a side note, thank God it is spring. We had a taste of it a couple of weeks ago, but then it turn cold and snowy. After a couple of weeks of miserable weather, the last few days have been beautiful.

cya laterz
me

Not that BS again!

Last night as I laid in bed thinking of a cool story to write, nothing came to mind. Nothing so spectacular or awe inspiring came into my conscious mind. Not that I didn't have an idea or two, but they drew a picture of blaise indifference to my own imagination. If they did that to me, then I'm sure to any reader it would be like eating dry toast on a hot summer's day.
Many of my 'stories' have come from neat ideas that I've had. One of the basic tools a writer uses is the 'what if' questions they ask themselves. "What if a man can heal people gets convicted for killing two young girls." You get the Green Mile. The game is easy enough to play. The hard part is convincing yourself that not only is the idea good, but who is going to play the role of the people you are projecting. That is where I stumble.

Characters are the story. No matter what media, the characters make or break the story. How many times has a premise sounded great about a movie, you watch it and it falls flat because you couldn't identify with the characters. (I'm not counting bad acting here. Only poorly developed characters).

Last week on Battlestar Galactica they showed a boxing sequence that fell flat on its face. The premise wasn't very good and the 'drama' they sought to include from backstory sucked. It did little to advance the characters, but played on the ability to create bad tension between friends and family. It turned into a soap opera. This is one of two or three shows I will watch on TV. Hell I own the first two seasons on DVD. It is a show I like, it brought me back to the days of watching Star Trek. But the characters fell flat.

Now instead of scenes I'd like to see, I need to audition characters for a good story. Maybe I can discover someone never used before and he or she can become a star. Maybe not in the sense of Hollywood, but a star of my own making.

cya laterz