Forum: Author Hangout

The best thing to do is sit down and write it yourself. Then find an editor who will work with you to make it better.

Or, if writing itself yourself hasn't worked, post a short summary on the Story Ideas Forum. If anyone is interested in the idea, that's a better avenue than 'Hey, anyone want to do all the work I was too lazy to do myself, on a story I can't describe'.

I was too lazy to do myself, on a story I can't describe'

It looks that way. Although, there are people who can come up with a good idea for a story, but lack the creativity to expand the concept into a plot. If the people have the creativity to create the plot, translating the plot into words can be an overwhelming task. For someone who has never written a story, these items can be an insurmountable roadblock.

I ran into these problems when I first attempted to write a story; that was in the 1980's. In 2013, I had retired and had enough time, so I tried again. Once I got started, I had something to show to an editor. The editor helped me fix the problems I had with writing. Since then, I have improved to the point that I am what most would call an average author.

It may be that sadsack2008 is having the same types of problems that I encountered. I personally think he should try to write his story. If he can't generate something worth being critiqued by an editor, then your suggestion of posting his idea to Story Ideas would be appropriate.

It looks that way. Although, there are people who can come up with a good idea for a story, but lack the creativity to expand the concept into a plot. If the people have the creativity to create the plot, translating the plot into words can be an overwhelming task. For someone who has never written a story, these items can be an insurmountable roadblock.

If that's the case, that the newbie author isn't yet up to speed, there are legitimate solutions, the most obvious being discussing it with other author (like those in this forum) to get a better feel for ways to make something work, as is researching the best approaches to expressing something (successful writing techniques).

It is not an insurmountable task, but i's not one to be taken lightly. Most newbie authors put a LOT of work into their first work, and they really sweat the details. But, to hand off the entire bit, without even giving context, simply doesn't look like they put in the required work.

Again, if they tried to implement it themselves, they'd likely have a serious of issues to justify why they were unable to master it themselves. Listing those would at least start a discussion about how best to overcome the issues.

This request was more of a 'trust me, what I wrote was terrific, but I'm not about to give you any clue as to what it entails 'cause I don't trust ANY of you!'. Again, that's not enticement for anyone to want to help. Just like in writing, context means everything, and if you have no idea of context, you'll never succeed as an author.

Again, it sounds more like a 'I came up with a basic idea, so I want YOU to do ALL the work, while I automatically get half the credit for doing the easiest part'.

I may be wrong here, but given how little the original poster contributed, he's not making a very good argument for himself. This IS a helpful group, though we're often pretty obsessive about details. We're here to discuss these topics with the general topic, but he simply made his initial offer, and then immediately went off the grid—without realizing what authors would be looking for.

I may be wrong here,

Yes I think you are.

Instead of castigating him, you should be trying to encourage him to continue working on the story.

then immediately went off the grid

You stated "This IS a helpful group"

So far, he hasn't received any positive reinforcement or helpful advice from this thread other than John Demille. Your so called helpful comments have been mostly negative and demeaning, so why should he stick around or respond to what has been said by you and others.

I may be wrong here,

Yes I think you are.

Instead of castigating him, you should be trying to encourage him to continue working on the story.

I agree that my approach here was overly harsh, but rather than seeing it as overly personal, I saw his one-post request as a basic 'dump and run', similar to how many post on the story ideas forum (though they often stick around to continue posting other ideas).

He never gave any clue WHAT his story was concerning, or how much work he HAD concluded. Thus my dismissive attitude was more directed at others considering how to start building a story (i.e. approach it cautiously, and request from help—from someone more patient than I am!).

But my main suggestion was simply that he flesh out his details a bit, in order to attract attention from authors, as graybird and madnige pointed out. In other words, he didn't care enough to follow up on his suggestion, yet wanted ALL the credit for whatever someone may write.

I struggled, writing a HUGE variety of stories that NEVER went anywhere for years, just for fun, yet never considered myself an author. Then, like many here, I ran into that one 'Damn, I can write a better story than this' moment, and began approaching it seriously.

The key is, though, that writing is a bitch, and you can't approach it with a half-hearted attempt. Writing is not a hobby, and the only ones who partially succeed are those who don't 'choose' to write, but those who are driven to write, despite what those around them think of the idea.

Basically, it's my 'shit or get off the pot' theory of writing. If you don't approach your story seriously, working towards a conclusion, then you're only playing and wasting everyone's time. Authors are universally judged by their finished product, and not by their desires to be called an 'author'.

By the way, I wouldn't mind hearing from John about whether there was any interest or followthrough by the original poster. If he got cold feet, that's one thing, but if he's dreaming of internet fame without willing to put forth the effort, he's barkin' up the wrong tree. :(

I agree with you. He could have handled the OP better.