The ramblings of a designer turned writer turned computer geek turned writer turned designer with way too much time on his hands.
FFC #37 - Mid-Career Crisis???
Posted October 21st, 2019 at 01:45 AM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #37
Short story: End Come will, short of a miracle, not be released by Halloween.
Long Story: It seems like every now and then, I'll come on here and post one of these blogs, proclaiming triumphantly that I have found 'what I've been missing', or I've 'solved all of my writing problems.' If that were really the case, I would have solved all of my problems enough times to put me at the top of the NYT bestseller list for a year. And yet I still find myself scratching my head over simple things I can't seem to grasp, and marveling at basic story structures which I know I would never be able to create.
So... yes, something is definitely still missing. I'm determined to figure out why I keep having these problems with my writing, and I don't want to begin Eternity until I know how to fix them.
What are these problems? All I have are symptoms, which have been around for years, slowly building up: I have trouble turning the parts of a story into an actual story. I don't have a way to incorporate everything I need when I write; I always forget critical pieces. I am baffled by simple stories, like those found in Pixar movies, and even some picture books; I do not think I am currently capable of creating something that simple. Which I very much should be able to do at this point.
A lot of these problems seem to have to do with plot, structure, and organization of stories, but I don't know if that's where the problems really lie. There could be something else I'm doing wrong, or not doing at all, or some vital misunderstanding I'm working off of.
My best chance of figuring out what on earth is going on with my writing is to study the processes other people use to generate stories. I need very specific processes: those of people who create amazing stories over and over again. These people obviously have the process down pat. I need that process. I'm studying the methods Pixar use, because they are the best source I know of which churn out simple, amazing stories with apparently very little effort (it's not easy, I know, but they obviously know what they are doing).
Where does this leave you, the readers? In limbo, unfortunately. Honestly though, you should be used by now to me not delivering on projected due dates.
I might have something in the works which I can post, unrelated to Eternity. No guarantees, but it would buy me a little time. I will keep you updated on that.
In the meantime, I'm going to try my best to find out what is wrong with my writing, or understanding of it, and how I can fix it (whatever it is). I will keep you updated on that as well.
Stay tuned.
~TGRF.
Short story: End Come will, short of a miracle, not be released by Halloween.
Long Story: It seems like every now and then, I'll come on here and post one of these blogs, proclaiming triumphantly that I have found 'what I've been missing', or I've 'solved all of my writing problems.' If that were really the case, I would have solved all of my problems enough times to put me at the top of the NYT bestseller list for a year. And yet I still find myself scratching my head over simple things I can't seem to grasp, and marveling at basic story structures which I know I would never be able to create.
So... yes, something is definitely still missing. I'm determined to figure out why I keep having these problems with my writing, and I don't want to begin Eternity until I know how to fix them.
What are these problems? All I have are symptoms, which have been around for years, slowly building up: I have trouble turning the parts of a story into an actual story. I don't have a way to incorporate everything I need when I write; I always forget critical pieces. I am baffled by simple stories, like those found in Pixar movies, and even some picture books; I do not think I am currently capable of creating something that simple. Which I very much should be able to do at this point.
A lot of these problems seem to have to do with plot, structure, and organization of stories, but I don't know if that's where the problems really lie. There could be something else I'm doing wrong, or not doing at all, or some vital misunderstanding I'm working off of.
My best chance of figuring out what on earth is going on with my writing is to study the processes other people use to generate stories. I need very specific processes: those of people who create amazing stories over and over again. These people obviously have the process down pat. I need that process. I'm studying the methods Pixar use, because they are the best source I know of which churn out simple, amazing stories with apparently very little effort (it's not easy, I know, but they obviously know what they are doing).
Where does this leave you, the readers? In limbo, unfortunately. Honestly though, you should be used by now to me not delivering on projected due dates.
I might have something in the works which I can post, unrelated to Eternity. No guarantees, but it would buy me a little time. I will keep you updated on that.
In the meantime, I'm going to try my best to find out what is wrong with my writing, or understanding of it, and how I can fix it (whatever it is). I will keep you updated on that as well.
Stay tuned.
~TGRF.
Total Comments 3
Comments
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The Pixar method is actually anything but simple--they finish a story and then completely rework it from the ground up over and over again until it works; a rather arduous process if you ask me. When they weren't satisfied with Toy Story 2, they scrapped the whole thing and started from scratch nine months before release. Somehow despite the rush they ended up with arguably the best movie in their library (or it would be the best if The Incredibles didn't exist
). At any rate, I feel like every writer has their stumbling blocks that they themselves can't really deal with. It's unique to each one of us and I'm amazed their aren't more stories written by 2-3 people to overcome these hurdles. ~TAF |
Posted October 23rd, 2019 at 07:37 AM by TheAverageFan
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Well I've reviewed how they create the stories (thanks to Khan Academy). I think the part that's going to help me the most is actually the beats outline. I had never heard of that concept before, and I think it will do a good job of keeping the story organized. Act II has always been a black hole for me, where anything and everything can go. Hopefully now it will have a bit more structure. Still testing things out, but it's looking promising.
~TGRF. |
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Posted October 23rd, 2019 at 01:08 PM by TGRF
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@TheAverageFan
And yes, I probably won't be redoing things as much as Pixar does. For one, this is fan fiction, so the whole point to writing it is to test things out. Second, I don't have a group of experienced directors to give me feedback (Bigga's feedback is usually critical enough, anyway
). I've worked in some points in my process where I pause and check for specific issues I know to avoid, and the fact that I'm outlining and not actually creating drafts weeds out a ton of mistakes before they even happen. Speaking of Pixar, have you heard what the first draft of Finding Nemo was like? Marlin's entire motivation was shown through flashbacks throughout the movie, with Coral's death coming at the end of the movie. *shudder* ~TGRF. |
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Posted October 23rd, 2019 at 01:12 PM by TGRF
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