Hi everyone,
I've been working on a new story for about a week now and it has gone in a direction I really don't like (very nasty horror elements).
I have close to 20k words now; I could prune it back to 5k fairly easily but I'm not sure how I would forget the direction it went the first time.
Any ideas about how to perform such forgetting and generate a different plot?
If it were me, I'd put it in a "mining" file and start something entirely new. Then, as time goes on, you can pick up any fragments which you want to reuse.
If it were me, I'd put it in a "mining" file and start something entirely new. Then, as time goes on, you can pick up any fragments which you want to reuse.
This is actually fairly similar to what I do. Before my last laptop died, I had about 20 stories on it in various forms. Some half way done, some only 1 or 2 chapters.
And I have also posted some that only went 1 or 2 chapters then kind of died. However, interestingly enough I have even gone back to those (as they were more "anthology" style and not linear) and added a chapter or two in the last month or so.
And one I just dug out after almost 20 years and started to clean up was a bit of a surprise. I only did 2 chapters, and it actually amazed me how it is somewhat similar to another story I have done since. But I think I am just going to do a few more chapters just to finish it up.
But I agree, never really "abandon" works. If a writer is stuck, I suggest just putting it away and starting on something else. Then in a few weeks or months (or even years) drag it back out and try again.
That has become my style lately. If I get stuck, I now just move on and write something else for a bit. Then later I can return with a fresh mindset and try again.
About 2 years ago I was getting burned out with the almost cutesy love story in Country Boy, so took a break by writing the much darker and more violent Bohica. I finished that and started an equally dark follow-up called Dire Wolf. Until that got to get to me, and I returned to Country Boy again.
So if it is getting dark, then I say stop writing and purposefully work on something dark. Let yourself "get it out of your system", then you can return to the original and try to continue as you intended originally.
And I have also posted some that only went 1 or 2 chapters
"Only 1 or 2 chapters?
If size was your reason for splitting those chapters that's a significant amount or writing.
My shortest story is 63 words, tough the fewest number of sentences I have in a story 1. Admittedly, though, Life Sentence is a run-on sentence, so you might think that i s cheating.
Fuck it! I would go with the flow, if that's the direction the story is going, then roll with it. To me that means you have invested enough character into the, errr, characters for them to live their own lives. Finish it, or if you are really struggling, find a natural close, whack on a 'caution' disclaimer and post.
Writing is as much a journey for the writer as it is for the reader, and just because you don't like it, doesn't mean everyone else won't either.
Some authors post A and B and C versions of the "same" story. Do the A version and then rethink the situation and change the plot, or add characters who will do what you want.
There are several ways to handle a story turning dark, and I concur with the advice others have offered.
However, stories come from within us. They don't just turn dark on their own. Our stories originate in our fantasies, and we expand on the basic fantasy such that it goes where we want it to go. We often say the story had a life of its own, but the truth is, we controlled the plot development.
If you don't like the way the story is going, it would behoove you to contemplate why your story turned dark. I think stories do that because it is an expression of something in the author. Failing to identify and address that reason will likely result in other stories turning dark until you have worked through whatever it is that resulted in your plot following that dark path.
Just my $0.02, which is probably what it's worth.
They don't just turn dark on their own. Our stories originate in our fantasies, and we expand on the basic fantasy such that it goes where we want it to go. We often say the story had a life of its own, but the truth is, we controlled the plot development.
Nope, sorry, have to disagree with you there. Many a time I have written a character with a firm idea of where 'I' wanted the story to go, only for it to go completely left field as I realised that the character would not make the decisions that I had marked out for them. Forcing a character to make decisions 'out of character' to fit a personal roadmap is both jarring and obvious to a reader.
A bit like Jack Reacher suddenly buying a house and owning more than a razor and washing all his clothes repeatedly instead of buying replacements from a thrift shop..
Many a time I have written a character with a firm idea of where 'I' wanted the story to go, only for it to go completely left field as I realised that the character would not make the decisions that I had marked out for them.
Everything that character is and does comes from inside your head.
You consciously wanted the character to go one place. Something in your subconscious mind wanted it to go somewhere else.
The entirety of the conflict is inside your mind.
The entirety of the conflict is inside your mind.
As is this whole universe and all the people in it. So you're responsible for Donald Trump! ;-)
Your imaginary 'friend',
AJ
That is an overly simplistic response, with little bearing to applied psychiatry, which agrees, as does the law in most countries, that multiple people/personalities can inhabit one body.
that multiple people/personalities can inhabit one body.
No, that doesn't change, or otherwise affect, my response at all.
Even if it were multiple personality syndrome, which is quite rare, they aren't just inhabiting the same body, they are in fact inhabiting the same brain.
It still wants to tell it's own story.
He should still listen to what it has to say.
The brain (and rest of the body) is just a machine. When you create a character, really create one, (not just giving it a name and letting it loose), you are in effect creating a virtual machine in your own head. Very much akin to taking a Windows machine (Or Linux/RISC-OS/Whatever) creating a virtual machine and then installing Linux/Mac Os/Whatever in the virtual machine. Saying that a writer is responsible for their characters actions is similar to saying the host OS is responsible for the actions of the VM OS. It's not. It supplies the framework for the VM OS to exist, the actions of the VM OS are completely out with the control of the host OS. The host machine can't even understand the language/programs used by the VM OS. A bit like a web server, a company provides web space and access, but what goes on in that space is by and large controlled by the renter.
For the less technical minded, think of Facebook. Facebook provides you with a page, what YOU do with that page is your responsibility; Facebook has little control over what you post other than to shut you down if you break a set of fairly fluid and ever changing rules set by mass public opinion.
Multiple Personality disorders along with schizophrenia, is actually quite common. But because they are 'mental' disorders rather than physical, sufferers can appear 'normal' when out and about, giving the illusion to the non-afflicted that they are just normal people and therefore it's a 'rare' affliction. Modern medicine helps many sufferers' lead 'normal' lives that enable them to slip under the radar of general society.
But you are right; those characters still want to tell their own story. If the writer wishes not to, then ultimately it's the writer's decision whether to shut the character down. Personally in that circumstance, I would let the character live and if the result is something the writer doesn't agree with due to personal beliefs/core values, then the writer has the option to create a pseudonym and post the story under the alias. Many writers do this, Tom Holt as KJ Parker, or Stephen King as Richard Bachman for instance.
I agree with Not_a_ID and their replies. And reading your replies to her/his comments makes me wince inwardly and hope that you never meet with a mental health professional at a social function. Or indeed with anyone suffering from mental health issues.
Everything that character is and does comes from inside your head.
You consciously wanted the character to go one place. Something in your subconscious mind wanted it to go somewhere else.
The entirety of the conflict is inside your mind.
I'd argue both scenarios can be either true or untrue depending on circumstances.
It's just a matter of figuring out which is which. Sometimes you can be dealing with your unconscious muse taking things somewhere, in which case the issue is internal.
Other times you are instead dealing with the "hard reality" that within the context of the setting you've created, while you want the character to do X. An objective examination of the situation reveals that there is absolutely no rational reason why the character would choose to do that desired thing in that desired way.
And while working through the situation and rule-set you've put in place, those "rules" then dictate what happens. Which is where things then ran things off the rails in a undesired direction.
Other times you are instead dealing with the "hard reality" that within the context of the setting you've created, while you want the character to do X. An objective examination of the situation reveals that there is absolutely no rational reason why the character would choose to do that desired thing in that desired way.
I reject the notion of any kind of "hard reality" in this context.
that within the context of the setting you've created,
Where did that setting come from? The author's mind.
There is no objective reality to examine objectively.
The conflict exists in the author's mind, not on a piece of paper.
Where did that setting come from? The author's mind.
There is no objective reality to examine objectively.
Except for that old maxim about truth sometimes being stranger than fiction.
The setting is going to be some derivative of the author's understanding of reality juxtaposed into whatever setting it is they've created.
Because the author still has to contend with "suspension of disbelief" and the paradoxes that it often presents.
So the setting is never "fully theirs" they just have an option to lease on many aspects of it.
The setting is going to be some derivative of the author's understanding of reality
Which is still something from inside the author's head.
Everything that character is and does comes from inside your head.
Not so definitely. I create a character out of my mind, but that character is a construct, not an aspect of my personality. So, he behaves as I imagine the personality type behaving in that situation.
My characters don't get so dark -- knock on ood. I'm getting characters in a fairly dark situation in the Post-Gettysburg universe -- but I have created two characters for the specific purpose of falling in love; when they get together, one or both say, "Not my type."
So, he behaves as I imagine the personality type behaving in that situation.
The key part of that is "as I imagine". Whether you are conscious of it or not, it is still coming out of your mind.
I'll throw in my $0.02.
I agree with Rep on the author controlling the plot development.
And I'll agree that the you need to identify what in you turned your current story in a dark direction.
But from there I'll disagree. Rather than trying to "work through it", to make it go away, acknowledging and accepting it may be a better option.
That part of you clearly has a story it wants to tell.
Set aside the story you wanted to go somewhere else. Start from scratch. Give that part of you that turned the current story dark the voice it wants. Listen to what it's trying to tell you. Maybe the story it wants to tell is just for you. Maybe you'll want to share it when it's done.
But first you have to accept it.
Rather than trying to "work through it", to make it go away,
It wasn't my intent for the OP to work through it to make it go away. Once they understand why they are on that path, they can continue along the path they are on or they can decide to follow a different. Staying on a dark path works for some people, but not all of us. It is a decision each of us must make.
In the OP, Soronel seemed to indicate the dark path was not for him (or her) and wanted to follow a different path. If he doesn't understand why his writing took that path originally, he is likely to stray back to the dark path in his future writing.
First, I am not a nice person, never have been, don't particularly want to be one.
That part of the issue I don't really have a problem with.
It is much more that I do not feel at all confident in telling the story of the moral conflict of a lapsed Catholic finding out that she is actually a life-energy stealing succubus and being forced to rape-kill soldiers first by the side that kidnaps her from Earth and then prisoners of war by their enemy's general (she is simply a tool to both sides of this extra-dimensional war). I'm not even particularly confident of being able to get across the horror she feels watching an ancient hag succubus reverting to her youth as a result of such a rape-murder.