Status and Support

[WarpGirl]

Wow you have a gift... I can't write ahead like that. I write a chapter, edit, post, write another. I can't go ahead. I end up changing too much during the edit.

[Distracted]

Besides, got the book idea. Just can't figure out the ending.

On topic, I'm currently working on chapter 58 of DivPath. Huzzah.

Aren't endings the pits? I'm in the same boat.

Yay for more DivPath.

[WarpGirl]

God I'm like the complete opposite, the beginning and end is easy, its getting to the end that kills me.

[Rigil Kent]

Wow you have a gift... I can't write ahead like that. I write a chapter, edit, post, write another. I can't go ahead. I end up changing too much during the edit.

Depending on the story, I generally try to have a substantial amount complete before I begin actively posting. In pretty much every instance with the Endeavour stuff (except the most recent one, which explains why it took so damned long to get done), I'm at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the way done before I post the first chapter. I'm an obsessive outliner, so when I begin a story, I already know where it's going - "Divergent Paths" was an experiment using the Distracted "Make it up as I go" method (not condemning that method; it just drives me crazy not knowing where the story is going from the beginning, which is why I'm sort of doing "mini arcs" with DivPath right now.) Nothing irks me personally more than beginning a story and discovering that it is unfinished (so that should give you an idea how frustrated I am at the incomplete status of my NCIS fic, "Transitional States," or my Star Wars trilogy, "The Unseen War."

Besides, got the book idea. Just can't figure out the ending.

Aren't endings the pits? I'm in the same boat.

Normally, I don't have a problem with them. I figure out where I'm going to start and where I'm going to end, and then figure out how to get there and what kind of cool stuff happens along the way. In this case, I've just ... stalled and can't figure out an ending that isn't unbelievably depressing or downright nihilistic due to the set-up. I don't want to write something like that, which is probably the big reason I've hit such a wall on my outline.

Probably doesn't help that this particular story bounces between two different time periods that are fifteen years apart.

[WarpGirl]

Well I'm an outliner too believe it or not... But my outlines look something like this...

Part 1: Go To Vulcan

A. Get there

B. Meet Family

C. Bury Elizabeth

D. Get Married

E. Honeymoon

Now how that all happens... That's the hard part. As I write and edit chapters some ideas get scrapped or whole new things appear magically out of nowhere.

[Distracted]

That's pretty much what I do for my stand-alones, Warpgirl, although I mainly did "make it up as I went" for my virtual seasons because of the sheer volume of stories. Novels are a different animal, though. They need to be a coherent whole. You can't go wandering off. The one I'm working on now has an ending in my head... sort of. I'm just not sure exactly how to get there yet and I don't want it to be too romance-novel-ish.

Look at us, Rigil. You're trying to be less nihilistic and I'm trying to be less happily-ever-after. Who'd a thunk?

[Rigil Kent]

Look at us, Rigil. You're trying to be less nihilistic and I'm trying to be less happily-ever-after. Who'd a thunk?

I think we've evolved.

Not gonna stop me from blowing crap up, though.

[WarpGirl]

Heaven forbid you stop blowing things up Rigil I wouldn't be nearly as entertained if you did. Dis you could have fooled me, because I thought your Virtual seasons must have been planned out like a black ops mission. Just goes to show you never know.

As for being an eternal sunshine or a nilihistic author, I want to be somewhere in the middle. Life is full of tragedy and joys, so I want to write them both. Then again my novel is 1900's Russia. So... Draw your own conclusions I'm obsessed with the Romanovs.

[Aquarius]

I think we've evolved.

Not gonna stop me from blowing crap up, though.

I love a man who blows crap up.

[honeybee]

My Uncle Jack is head of the ski patrol on a mountain. He blows up avalanches a lot.

[WarpGirl]

DARN! Well I went to pack and save my story to a disk for my trip home tonight and what do you know... My cat somehow when I wasn't looking chewed my mouse cord to bits. This is the second mouse she's ruined. At least it wasn't the speakers this time. In any case Ch 5 faces yet another delay. DARN! I was on such a roll.

[Rigil Kent]

My Uncle Jack is head of the ski patrol on a mountain. He blows up avalanches a lot.

What a cool job...

[honeybee]

Uncle Jack is incredibly cool. He's the most masculine, tough guy you'll ever meet - blows up avalanches and carries people off the mountain for a living. But he drives the speed limit and obeys every safety rule. Because the type of people who do that kind of work have to be the opposite of reckless - cautious and careful. He works with high explosives.

He also has nothing to prove as far as his manhood or bravery.

[Pegmumm]

My Uncle Jack is head of the ski patrol on a mountain. He blows up avalanches a lot.

I lived in a town in Washington named Diablo in the middle of the North Cascades Park. I lived on the "other" side of 4 avalanche chutes. We were avalanched in often during the winter. You haven't lived until you have had to cross a huge snow slide behind a caterpillar with avalanche spotters on the other side of the valley and all you want to know is if another chute is emptying over where you are walking.

I'll tell ya... makes you feel alive.

Back to the topic. Beginnings and endings are easy... I usually have my stories outlined before I write them. My biggest challenge is not to change my story line to placate my critics. I tend to dumb them down a bit to satisfy everyone.

peg

[WarpGirl]

I get inspired by people's comments and suggestions, but I think the no 1. objective is to write something I am proud of, and other people can not read it if they don't like it.