How I Put A Story Together

[H Dean]

3) If you don’t like it, don’t write it.

Are you speaking of subject matter or your tale in general? I tend to look at things that I don't necessarily like to write about and push myself by writing about it a bit. That isn't to say that I write on subject matter that i really dislike. I've no want to commit a M/m story to the printed page since I have no passion for it. Still, it may be a way for me to expand my abilities and I have thought on it once or twice.

4) This one isn’t a tip so much as something I’ve learned, plus a query. I find writing the crisis part of a story to be very difficult. I always fall in love with my protagonists, and usually hate my antagonists. So when I do awful things to my heros, it hurts. My brain also usually wends its way through some VERY dark corridors as I imagine what is happening. The stuff that ends up on the page is usually much milder than the creepy and icky stuff that slimed up my mind while I was working on it.

My query is this: do other authors have a difficult time writing these hard bits? And, if so, do they have any tips on how to deal with it

Oh, but I enjoy the dark stuff. I can't recall a story I wrote where bad shit didn't occur. In fact, the story I was most proud of writing was extremely nasty to my protagonist. The ending was entirely written (in my head) before the rest of the story was even thought of.

I do have a tip, though: Compartmentalize. Write the bad shit as the bad person doing committing the evil acts. Get rid of the nice person and write like you are evil. It sure worked for me on "Mel and the Sadist". The main character was a real prick and I relished eliminating the nice guy from me while I wrote that little tale. I just wish I had not been in a hurry to get that one in the library - oh, the mistakes!

[Nikita]

My query is this: do other authors have a difficult time writing these hard bits? And, if so, do they have any tips on how to deal with it

I do. There are a couple of stories that are hanging around because I still have a difficult time with the 'hard bits.' In fact, I'm generally not happy with bits that I've written to 'just do it.' It leaves a sick feeling in my gut. I don't want to put a piece like that out there.

One of the exercises in level three helped me push through that wall. The assignment was to write a piece from the pov of the opposite gender, first person. The first try was appalling. So, I put myself in the mental space of the character, to be him and think like him. It turned out okay. I can live with it.

[theladystouch]

My query is this: do other authors have a difficult time writing these hard bits? And, if so, do they have any tips on how to deal with it

I do. There are a couple of stories that are hanging around because I still have a difficult time with the 'hard bits.' In fact, I'm generally not happy with bits that I've written to 'just do it.' It leaves a sick feeling in my gut. I don't want to put a piece like that out there.

One of the exercises in level three helped me push through that wall. The assignment was to write a piece from the pov of the opposite gender, first person. The first try was appalling. So, I put myself in the mental space of the character, to be him and think like him. It turned out okay. I can live with it.

Thanks for the perspective, Nikita. I'm working on the same assignment, LOL, and having the same difficulties. I'll try your advice before submitting it to H Dean, but I still expect him to shred it. I just don't know how to think like a man!

[Nikita]

Thanks for the perspective, Nikita. I'm working on the same assignment, LOL, and having the same difficulties. I'll try your advice before submitting it to H Dean, but I still expect him to shred it. I just don't know how to think like a man!

Oh oh oh.... I just can't say it. We are outnumbered. <stares at ground...> Nope...I can't.

[theladystouch]

Oh oh oh.... I just can't say it. We are outnumbered. <stares at ground...> Nope...I can't.

[theladystouch]

Gosh, who would want to? ~shudders dramatically~ Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men?

Clearly we don't...and apparently we have no interest in finding out.

I think my grade on this assignment is already dead.

[Euryleia]

I just don't know how to think like a man!

Gosh, who would want to? ~shudders dramatically~ Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men?

[H Dean]

I just don't know how to think like a man!

Raise your IQ about 30 points to find out.

[Nikita]

Raise your IQ about 30 points to find out.

What if we are already past 30?

<mumbles about being underestimated>

[H Dean]

What if we are already past 30?

<mumbles about being underestimated>

Yes, Nikita, you should be proud of having an IQ in the high 30s. I am proud of you and so are the rest of us.

[theladystouch]

Yes, Nikita, you should be proud of having an IQ in the high 30s. I am proud of you and so are the rest of us.

Bad Dean! No biscuit!

[theladystouch]

Raise your IQ about 30 points to find out.

Ya see! Men get so confused the can't keep "raise" and "lower" straight.

[theladystouch]

3) If you don’t like it, don’t write it.

Are you speaking of subject matter or your tale in general? I tend to look at things that I don't necessarily like to write about and push myself by writing about it a bit. That isn't to say that I write on subject matter that i really dislike. I've no want to commit a M/m story to the printed page since I have no passion for it. Still, it may be a way for me to expand my abilities and I have thought on it once or twice.

A succinct way of stating that if I can't generate some interest or passion for the material I am working with, I will write substandard junk.

At least in my case, I find fiction-writing to be a very emotional thing (rather than technical writing).




4) This one isn’t a tip so much as something I’ve learned, plus a query. I find writing the crisis part of a story to be very difficult. I always fall in love with my protagonists, and usually hate my antagonists. So when I do awful things to my heros, it hurts. My brain also usually wends its way through some VERY dark corridors as I imagine what is happening. The stuff that ends up on the page is usually much milder than the creepy and icky stuff that slimed up my mind while I was working on it.

My query is this: do other authors have a difficult time writing these hard bits? And, if so, do they have any tips on how to deal with it

Oh, but I enjoy the dark stuff. I can't recall a story I wrote where bad shit didn't occur. In fact, the story I was most proud of writing was extremely nasty to my protagonist. The ending was entirely written (in my head) before the rest of the story was even thought of.

I do have a tip, though: Compartmentalize. Write the bad shit as the bad person doing committing the evil acts. Get rid of the nice person and write like you are evil. It sure worked for me on "Mel and the Sadist". The main character was a real prick and I relished eliminating the nice guy from me while I wrote that little tale. I just wish I had not been in a hurry to get that one in the library - oh, the mistakes!

I like the compartmentalize tip. Most of my stuff has some dark stuff in it somewhere, that's where the drama comes in, but nowhere near the coal black stuff you write.