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im just lost!

Catalyst

New Member
ok my problem, i love writing as much as i love reading but i have so many ideas in my head but i cant seem to get them on paper! i start a short story then because i havnt thought the whole thing through i get lost and end up abandoning it! i try to write a short plot summary but end up changing it half way through because i dont think its right! also i have the worst hand writing and end up totally scrawling my words but i dont always have access to a computer to type my work! im kind of at a loss because i have all the enthusiasim but none of the knowledge on how to actually finish a piece of work! its really frustrating!

amy :D

ps can we post poems on this forum or is it only stories?
 
Without having read any of your stories, I'd guess that you are trying to cram too many ideas into one short story.

Write the ideas down on paper and not the stories. Put them away for a bit.

Try some writing exercises. The one below, for example, I've selected from Josip Novakovich's Fiction Writer's Workshop.

  • According to Henry James, a writer wrote a novel from a glimpse of a seminary students' dinner party. Write a scene of a story from a glimpse you have had of a group of people - in a cafe, zoo, train or anywhere. Sketch the characters in their setting and let them interact. Do you find that you know too little? Can you make up enough - or import from other experiences - to fill the empty canvas?
    Objective: To find out if you can make much out of little. If you can, great. If you can't now, don't worry, you might later, or you'll have to get your stories from other materials.​
    Check: Can you visualize these people further? Can you begin to hear one person speak? If not, go back and find a way of talking that might fit one of the people in the group, and carry on from there.​

Other ones are:

  • In three paragraphs, write about someone and what they are doing. This will help you to improve your observation.
  • Write down your three earliest memories and try to make a story from them.
  • Describe your home town.
  • Write My father never... at the top of a page. Continue the personal bit of writing for about two or three pages. Once done, go through the piece and remove all sentimentality and then remove yourself so that my father becomes Character's father.
  • Imagine a strange situation. Rather than write a story, write a plot summary. Look at the plot summary and write about any characters in it. Write about other things.
  • Think of an object from your past. Write about it.

These, of course, are just suggestions. If you always write fantasy short stories and these don't suit. Try embellishing them with fantastic aspects (i.e. my father never told me my late mother was a unicorn :p ).

Have a look around the web for writing workshops. Post any snippets you do here.

Now, a few days later, go back to that initial list of stories that you wrote down. Go through them one by one. Is the excitement still there or was it just the immediacy (at the time) that made it exciting? If it no longer interests you then cross it out. If it interests you then try writing it again.

:)
 
As regards your other point - yes you can post poems here in Writer's Showcase, in fact we've had a glut of poets here recently so your work would be welcomed :)

Phil
 
thank you everyone. i tend to have the same problem with my poems as i do with my stories! iv got a specific poem that i just cant finish. il put it in another post. thanks Mile-O-Phile il get started on those exercises asap :D

amy :D
 
I experience a very similar problem. I start writing a story, brimming with enthusiasm, only to have finished perhaps a page or so then find that I either did not think the plot through enough and consequently it makes little sense, or that I'm just not happy with its standard. My hard drive is burdened with so many incomplete plots and sketchy plans!
 
Mile-O-Phile said:
Without having read any of your stories, I'd guess that you are trying to cram too many ideas into one short story.

Write the ideas down on paper and not the stories. Put them away for a bit.

Try some writing exercises. The one below, for example, I've selected from Josip Novakovich's Fiction Writer's Workshop.

  • According to Henry James, a writer wrote a novel from a glimpse of a seminary students' dinner party. Write a scene of a story from a glimpse you have had of a group of people - in a cafe, zoo, train or anywhere. Sketch the characters in their setting and let them interact. Do you find that you know too little? Can you make up enough - or import from other experiences - to fill the empty canvas?
    Objective: To find out if you can make much out of little. If you can, great. If you can't now, don't worry, you might later, or you'll have to get your stories from other materials.​
    Check: Can you visualize these people further? Can you begin to hear one person speak? If not, go back and find a way of talking that might fit one of the people in the group, and carry on from there.​

Other ones are:

  • In three paragraphs, write about someone and what they are doing. This will help you to improve your observation.
  • Write down your three earliest memories and try to make a story from them.
  • Describe your home town.
  • Write My father never... at the top of a page. Continue the personal bit of writing for about two or three pages. Once done, go through the piece and remove all sentimentality and then remove yourself so that my father becomes Character's father.
  • Imagine a strange situation. Rather than write a story, write a plot summary. Look at the plot summary and write about any characters in it. Write about other things.
  • Think of an object from your past. Write about it.

These, of course, are just suggestions. If you always write fantasy short stories and these don't suit. Try embellishing them with fantastic aspects (i.e. my father never told me my late mother was a unicorn :p ).
:)

Thank you a lot. Hope I can read more of this kind of suggestion.
 
mille!!!!! millie!!! i love you!!!! not literally, but i cant thank you enough! ive had the same problem, and youve CHANGED MY LIFE! or rather, the person you were quoting changed my life, but nonetheless youplayed a part :D :p :) ;) :eek: :confused: :rolleyes: :cool: so many emotions!!!!!!!
 
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