When you're writing any kind of story, and when you start it seems rubbish, but then you get into it a bit and once you read over it again you realise it's actually good?
Happens all the time. I think I've just spewed out a mash of words to get the idea out of my head, then read it and realise the idea came out full term and screaming with a great prognosis. The tricky part is making others read it and share the opinion.
i think to me it's the opposite. When I start out it feels really good and promising but then I have the impression of losing that 'tone' or whatever I had in the start. I'm not sure if this is imaginary or real, but it happens to me a lot with the novel I'm (re)writing right now and that is why I have abbandoned it several times already, thinking it to be a disillusion and not knowing what to do with it. It has happened with one of the other stories I have written too, and I would like to know if there's a cure for it.
This happens to me anytime I am working on a long piece. Usually I get to a point where I feel like I'm forcing words onto the page; kind of like forcing a puzzle piece into the wrong spot. Once I realize that I'm forcing it, I will get frustrated and abandon the story for a while. I've found a cure that works for me. Even if I come back to the abandoned story and I don't know where to go with it, I will just start free writing from where I left off. Though what I spit out is mostly crap, I almost always find something valuable hidden in the mess. This is why I value proofreading and editing so much.
Thanks for your advice. Actually I have done something similar; every time I start working with it again I have started from scratch and rewritten the whole damn thing all over again. I don't always make it til the end, so now that I have reached to the point of the end of all the previous rewritings I have to start thinking creatively instead of just rewriting an existing plot, which made me feel a little overwhelmed. It's like I have switched off the plot-planning part of my brain. I know what is going to happen but I don't feel like starting all over again and come up with something better. I actually think right now I prefer rewriting to actual first-draft-writing. Im not in a creative phase right now and it feels I have invented so many versions of this story now that I am running out of ideas. that said, I know how it is going to turn out, I just don't know exactly how to get there, and this is the part of the novel I like the least, because my fav character steps back and another steps forth which will lead to problems for the main character, but it is essential to the outcome that they do so. Funny thing is I have the most parts of the plot already planned out but I have to weave them into the story and then find something that serves as transition from one scene to another and I don't know how much time/space I will have to dedicate on these. Sorry for the long post, I guess I got a little carried away, because in the real life I have no one to talk to about my writing
Type A I am not,I would be concerned if my beta runs did not seem insane. Simply the way I create. In this phase I am more much concerned with getting what will act as building blocks out of my head, than being mechanically perfect....ya dig ?
Lol... I like long responses. I know what you mean about being able to talk to others about your writing. This is a great site for that, and I'm really happy I stumbled upon it. I am in the same boat as you. I am having trouble with my creativity lately, and I find myself digging through a lot of my unfinished work. Once I pick up an old piece I instantly remember why I put it down in the first place. I feel stuck, but I'm slowly working things out. I have to keep my chin up and not get discouraged.
It always seems bad to me as I write. When I rewrite it's still bad to me. If I ever let someone else read my first draft, however, they tend to like it (coming from those close enough to me to tell me I suck). I don't know, maybe I'm my own worst critic.
^Yes, I went through this last night. I just happened to be flipping through my most recent composition book (I have a lot of them) and came upon a passage of my own writing. I started to read it and was completely caught off guard. IT WAS GOOD! I read over it again two times more and fixed a few things here and there and have come to the conclusion -- that I NEED to get back to writing that story
Opposite for me. I've been writing my current novel since November and at the time I thought everything was fine, even good. Now, however, I'll start Word up and I'll catch a glimpse of the beginning and cringe.
It happend to me too. I wrote a novel and then haven't read it in a few months because I found the plot and story to be boring, really, really boring. Then when I came back to read it again, I only realized what the story was about and not how it was written. I found the idea to be too good, that I started writing it into a movie script instead of finishing the revision piece of the novel. It seemed like I was wearing a new pair of glasses to read it again.
This is me, too. I'll think of a story idea, pat myself on the back, "Wow, I'm really excited about this!". Then I'll write a few chapters, lose interest when I realize the topic has been overdone or that it's not how I'd envisioned or I've run into dead ends, etc, then trash it. Then it's back to the drawing board.
Yeah, I love when you reread something you wrote that you've forgotten about, and see how good it is. Puts you in the mood for writing
I love it too, here I don't have to worry about boring people when talking about my writing, or being afraid that whoever I'm talking to will roll their eyes when I start about my writing, thinking "as if that hobby would ever take you anywhere" lol. I like that people here take writing as seriously as I do,regardless of their intentions of trying to have it published or not. I guess it's a problem you encounter quite often when talking to people about hobbies, I mean, if someone would start talking about golf to me I would probably be a little bored too, lol. It's just that it's hard to meet people IRL who likes to write because people are so secretive about it, in opposite to other hobbies. At least that is what it seems like to me. I signed up for a course in writing but it never started because of too few people interested, and that sounds strange too, since the publishers here say they have never recieved as many manuscripts as right now, they actually publish 1/1000 or less of all the ms' they recieve! I don't know if people are being afraid to admit their interest in writing until they have some kind of proof of the quality of their work, or if they are just ashamed to admit to spending so much time on something most people Know is never going to lead up to anything, that will never be anything else than a hobby. Or maybe they are just afraid to raise the expecations by saying they are writing a novel, because then everyone will start stressing them to let them read it and push them to send it to a publisher even though they don't feel confident enough to do so? (ok, horrible last sentence with too many 'them's and doubts on who they are referring to, but I honestly don't know how to express it better, I'm sorry.) Lol, about what you said remembering why you put the piece down last time, that happens to me all the time, but this time I've gotten so far with it that I actually think I will finish this rewriting. It wasn't until I decided to finish it exclusively for my own pleasure (I love this story more than anyone I have ever written) that I realised I might be able to follow through with it without giving up on it. Then maybe it will never leave the drawer of my desk, but at least I can say I did finish it. And im going to work on it as seriously as if it would be possible to publish it even though I might not even send it in first place. I just want to make it as good as it can possibly get.
