A writing question

[kronette.livejournal.com]

As you're writing, does anyone else have trouble reading their story as if you had no knowledge of it? I keep getting stuck because I'll have whole passages written, then realize I haven't explained or described anything because it was crystal clear in my head. I (sometimes) know the outcome of the story when I'm working on the beginning, so I have the endgame in my head as I'm writing, but that doesn't always translate into actual descriptive words.

Anyone else have this problem, or am I just an overly visual person trying to relay what I see in my head onto (virtual) paper?

Comments

[metalkatt.livejournal.com]

It's not just you, I can assure you. I'll get this way, too, especially if a lot's going on at once in my head. What I end up doing is going back and treating what I have as an outline, and then 'rewinding' the mental scene so I can pause it here and there to get the background stuff.

Oh, Eddie. I always think of that icon when I get done with something and have to put it away to age before I can do anything useful with.

[laurenthemself]

Nah, I'm constantly like HOW DO I WORDS. So then I have to throw it at my beta and say DID I WORDS WRONG?

[missflibble.livejournal.com]

Nope I'm always having to walk away from fics and return to it at a later time/date.

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

I think I have something similar. Sometimes my writing gets very dialogue-heavy because I tend to play the scenes in my head as if they're being filmed, so I don't always see the need to add all the "he said"s, gestures, facial expressions and whatnot until it's too late. Some of my stories definitely suffer from this and the urge to edit them is strong, but then I'd end up rewriting huge chunks.

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

Definitely a common problem I'd say. It's not easy to put yourself in the shoes of a reader who isn't privy to all the thoughts in your head. On the flip side, I also worry about putting in too much information and making the story too plodding because I'm trying to give such a clear picture of what I have in my head. Finding the happy middle is tough.

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

Ha! I love this. That is the perfect descriptor of how I felt when I was reading my story over and over again, hoping that it wasn't terrible. "DID I WORDS WRONG?"

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

I do this all the time (or I go the other way and end up completely over-writing passages trying to get across what I mean). In some ways it's not such a big deal with fanfiction because as long as you throw in a couple of clues to what season you're basing a fic in, you don't need to describe it in detail. Particularly with Red Dwarf, readers will already know what your characters look like, what sort of thing they'll be wearing, what their surroundings look like etc.

[kronette.livejournal.com]

That's true for the most part, but if you're straying from canon a bit too far (I'm talking strictly RD), and the setting is the same yet not quite the same, you have to point that out. And this story I'm struggling with is juuuuuust five hops to the left of the established universe, so it's harder to convey a difference.

I've actually cut out a few paragraphs in my trouble spot and its helped move the story along. It's part of me writing out what I see/think should happen, so I can get a better idea of what is necessary for the reader.

I treat my stories very seriously for being a hobby ;)

[kronette.livejournal.com]

The last time I put a story away to age it was five months. I really don't want to think on this one that long, especially since I've been thinking about it for a year. I need an invention that will hook into my brain and describe what it is I'm seeing in my head directly into the computer. It would save so much time (and be very frightening).

[kronette.livejournal.com]

BHWAAA!

[kronette.livejournal.com]

I've got a 20 page story with 8 pages of cut passages at the bottom, because it didn't work or I thought of something better. That's how I've always written. I don't like cutting some stuff, because it's a beautiful phrase or amazing line, but I'll keep them and see if I can't work them into another story in the future.

For one of my Highlander stories in a zine, the editors didn't like some of the phrasing, so I chose to rewrite it...and then I had to fix something later on in the story...and I ended up writing a completely different ending where Duncan and Methos got together, instead of Methos killing Duncan (I kept both versions of the story). That's why I can't post a part 1 until I know I'm completely done with a story. I may have a flash of inspiration at the end, but need to change things at the beginning to make it work.

[kronette.livejournal.com]

I'd say if you're giving as much description as GRR Martin and Tolkien about his landscapes, then it's a bit too much :D

Like f you're writing in an established universe (aka someone else's characters), a lot of the situations are familiar as are the characters, so it is easier. It's when you stray from canon too far that you have to explain more of why the characters/situations are different from the show/movie/book. It's like felineranger says below; in fanfic we already know what the setting and characters are. Sometimes I forget that.