Forum: Author Hangout

the 300-500k one has the most 'invested' on many scores. I started the 1k to see if I could write 'short' and it was meant to be quick and dirty. but neither of those have 'voice' just yet.

the long one has a couple of editors in the wings but communication is sparse but at least it mostly has a full plan.

I guess if I could 'pull' someone in on the island story that one 'might' work but the lack of conclusion worries me

I guess if I cut to it, the 'song' one could work. percentage wise it has the most written. I'd have to read it again 3 or 4 times to get back into that headspace and see if I can lasso my muse for a stint it could work. they're all gambles I guess. the question is will patience out last the 'itch'?

thanks guys. "focus" is a real issue, medically diagnosed ADHD doesn't help much either. I guess another part is sheer fear of posting something that isn't "good" and perhaps I didn't make it clear in my other post. but that was an unwritten part of the question.

I've written plenty of other "stuff" to completion but besides "sharing" it with a few friends and one small, online forum none of it is "published" but it has all served its "purpose".

Given limitations I feel I write "well", but is it "good" is a very different question. So, getting back to the disabling ADHD thing. There's either 110% focus or none. It's not something you can brute force. Otherwise it's being back in school, not a good place for me.

The only story I'm enjoying writing is the one that may reach 500k. It has editor and I'm closing in on finishing the first "section" ~20 chapters or so in total. It covers a year. maybe once I have it at a "final" draft stage, that could go up. Part of getting to that stage will be further roughing out of the other years, so that could work. But there would still be a real fear of writing myself into a corner. Right now there are a couple of characters that were going to be "throwaway" but will with some more work be important in other chapters. How do people deal with this "facet" of writing?

Anyway, must dash, work to do. There's always work to "do". I'll be back later, proofreading to do for a very good author, I'm hoping some of it will rub off. Till next time, F.

OK, so for now I've decided to do 'nothing' by that I mean change 'nothing'. I'm going to plug away at the most developed story ~85K words. At least till I finish the alpha draft. I'm guessing that will be somewhere between 100-120K words depending on my wandering muse.

I seem to have a habit of starting at the end and then working 'backwards' or perhaps shuffling to and fro. I get an idea for a 'climax' that I've not read before and try and work out how to get there. With the main story I'm working on it was a 'grand reveal' and I had to put a lot in place to get there. I did also have a kernal of a start, or genesis when I got those two together I figured 40 maybe 50 K words, but as I blew past 47 K I began to wonder where that 'concise' idea when. Then I realised there was a lot more 'story' to tell and it jumped from a simple journey A to B into a multi-year many charactered 'saga' of sorts. I found I wanted to put in many more 'codes' and the only way to do that was to make a much longer story, otherwise it would be too 'jumpy' lurching from point to point before each one had a chance to be 'established'. I admit it I don't have the discipline to write very 'short' nor do I want to go down that particular 'rabbit hole'. Though I guess it would be more of a 'depression' if things were going to be short.

So, what's the plan? Write as much as I can on the mini-epic. Bouncing back and forth through each 'year' of story and hold on to the really short one I've started as an emergency brake if I get stuck. So at least I don't 'stop'. I need a 'team' to work on two of the other stories. both of which are going to be very long. Maybe 500 K minimum by the time I put all the 'parts' together. They are meant to be several medium length stories stitched together. I only have a few 'highlights' for them and will need a bit of grace from some kind souls who can work with a complete nut case on larger projects where there may be no 'easy' end. I think those stories will sit on the back burner, coming off now and then when I get an 'idea' to plug into one of the 'gaps'. I think with that running I can feel less pressure to finish the actual medium length stories, 50 - 150 K words and relatively self-contained.. My 'problem' is keeping focus. I have ADHD (yes properly diagnosed by a shrink, not by my own wandering ideas about how and why things are.) and that means kind of all or nothing as it were. I hope that once I get one out, it may not end up being the main one I'm working on but I need to have something I can concentrate on in bursts as it were. and even though there are many irons in the fire that also means there are many targets to aim 'block' at. If I can't find something to write with all these aborted projects then I'm afraid I'm truly lost and no one can help me.

My plan is to set aside 2 hrs / day to put words down. any less and I'm really only getting warmed up and any more I'm cutting into the 'other' that consumes everyone's worlds away from here. I have some major time sinks and those really can't be ignored or either the lights go out or I go crazier. I admittedly haven't answered the question what to 'post' first but I have decided on a path to that goal. So, roll a D20 and hope against hope it don't come up '1' (D&D joke there guys) and keep on keeping on. there's more than enough 'targets' to throw darts at that something must stick eventually. For now the (im)patience beast is slain and I feel that even though the 'answer' is not the 'right' answer it is the one that is 'most' correct and anyone that has done a multiple choice quiz knows that is the way to do these things.

I'll still likely be back and forth here asking inane questions that I should already have the answers to but for some reason can't see the forest for the trees and you will all tell me what a jackass I'm being and all will be once again set right with the world. So (I really need a better word) back to the salt mine and looking for the odd nugget to polish into a hopefully 'different' take on one of the many tropes that litter this gem of a site. Head down, bum up. and onward into the breach dear friends.

F.