Discussion: Q3 Volume 38

Posted by: @dwh

Hello, everyone! I'm new to the forum. Currently, working on my Q3 story. Hoping to get it to my critique group in the next couple of weeks.

Welcome! That already puts you ahead of me--I have sketchy pieces and some ideas that I'm currently trying to persuade to fit together in a way that's actually more interesting than straight-up confusing. I've been trying to brainstorm in quiet spells, which often works for me, but which is currently giving me mostly blanks and annoyance. Fingers crossed it takes more of a turn towards the better soon...

@doctorjest  I had one idea (that I absolutely love) but just can't find all the pieces for it. It'll have to sit on the back burner & maybe my subconscious will figure out how to make it work. It often seems the harder I try to force an idea the more difficult it becomes.  For Q3, I decided to go with a different idea I had last summer. I'm hoping to complete the 1st draft this week.

Good luck with your story. Sending good vibes for an awesome brainstorming session.

I'm still working on my rough (well, a second rough as I had an idea I liked better), but I have to say seeing all the Q1 finalists from the forum is really motivating. Write on!

Posted by: @babooher

I'm still working on my rough (well, a second rough as I had an idea I liked better), but I have to say seeing all the Q1 finalists from the forum is really motivating. Write on!

That's what a great writing group does, it motivates you. As you see members achieve their goals, you realize they are just people like you, doing the work just like you. It takes it out of the realm of dream and puts it into the realm of possibility, even reality. 

It's also worth noting the time they spent honing their craft. You can often tell by looking at their signatures. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Those that take on that mindset can win this race.

Keep writing. There is a good reward for your hard work! 

I finally realized the resolution to my story today. It randomly fell into place when I wasn't thinking about it. I haven't been able to progress much, but hopefully now that I know the plot I can finish the first draft in a week. The ending is still not great, because it has an unhappy ending, which was my problem originally. But what occurred to me today was that a shift in focus in the MC's thinking that he had throughout the story would double as lessening the tragedy.

Next revision of Q3 entry completed following 3rd person limited rules and development of antagonist.

Thanks @reuben and @ajschultz6 for first round of critiques. Thanks @wolfmoon for Super Secrets (I am focusing on a few at a time)

• Q1 v38 - Entered as novice.
• Q2 v38 - Followed WotF workshop
• Q3 v38 - With help of Forum

Looking forward to reading other's work and getting this version critiqued

1st draft done. I'll leave it to ferment for a while now while I do some editing. 

@jcunningham

I did a similar thing. I finished a Flash on 'mercurial eyes'. (Did the KYD for it, too)

But then I liked the idea enough that I've now expanded it into a completed 7k worder.

I am letting my Q3 ferment a little in the hands of reviewers for a little. Right now I am just reading on things to see if anything sparks a story Idea for Q4.

Posted by: @pdblake

I have a rough plot and some world building. Nearly there

It has nearly written itself.  

For me, I'm trying to spin my wheels and settle into a Happy Place to move on with my Q3 entry. My Q1 was my best result yet, but my submitted Q2 I'm pretty sure is a thematic swing-and-a-miss--I like the story, on the whole, but in hindsight I don't think it's a great fit for the contest. So I'm going to try and make up for it with a much better Q3.

Fortunately, I'm now getting clear of the things that had crushed my writing time earlier in the year, and I'm looking forward to really sinking my teeth into something new again. I've gone today from having half an idea to around four or five that I'm comfortable with now. None is complete enough to be finished material just yet, but then again, neither was my Q1 when I first wrote it--so fingers crossed that inspiration will strike as I get into the bones of it again...

I had to go back to tweak the world building. Not sure yet how that will affect plot. I am trying to figure out the best way to pull in setting.

Posted by: @babooher

Posted by: @pdblake

I have a rough plot and some world building. Nearly there

It has nearly written itself.  

 

That would be a neat trick. Maybe Wulf can do a super secret on it  

I've been postponing completing a paper for my Masters degree, but it can't wait any longer. I need a break from my draft anyway. This weekend's push (I went from 900 words to about 3600) has left me needing to recoup a bit.

10 minutes into working on this paper and I just want to work on my story. Working on my Masters has shown me where my heart really lies.

Somewhere around here I said I was forgetful. Well I forgot I already had something written for Q3. Just finished polishing it. It even went through Ken Rand's 10% treatment. It's my first foray into scifi and I've just submitted it.

Now I can use what I was working on for Q3 for Q4. Assuming there's nothing else hiding away that I forgot about. ? 

Don't know if I'll make it into Q3. I've got 2 sentences written and a whole lot more to go. My sister was intrigued.

It's been a year! I've already missed Q1 and Q2. Drowning in work right now, but summer comes early for college professors, And I'm looking forward to an uninterrupted summer (unlike last summer which sucked) and hope to put some super secret writing tips to good use.

-Amy/Guthington/Physa 

Posted by: @physa

I've got 2 sentences written and a whole lot more to go

You've got time that if you put down only 100 words a day, you'd have almost 6k of a story by the time Q3 ends. I like to use writeordie.com if I'm really stuck. And 100 words isn't usually an insurmountable amount to throw out if it sucks. Write with abandon! It's only 100 words. Worst case scenario, you have a big head start on Q4.

Oooh, that was an infuriating way to try and get my teeth back into this. Nothing I tried worked tonight--I'm going to need to seriously rethink this, even just one page in I'd only managed to convince myself that this idea was a dead end that I wouldn't be happy with. Something new is needed!

Well, hey, I still have a couple of months. I'm sure something will come to me.

Posted by: @doctorjest

Oooh, that was an infuriating way to try and get my teeth back into this. Nothing I tried worked tonight--I'm going to need to seriously rethink this, even just one page in I'd only managed to convince myself that this idea was a dead end that I wouldn't be happy with. Something new is needed!

Well, hey, I still have a couple of months. I'm sure something will come to me.

That might mean you're missing a piece (perhaps you need another character to make things work, or perhaps you're missing a plotpoint). It might also mean the idea just needs to sit for awhile, and it will either grow or wither with time.

Either way, I understand it's disheartening, but like you said, there's still time. If there's anything I can do to help, feel free to PM me.

Posted by: @babooher

Posted by: @physa

I've got 2 sentences written and a whole lot more to go

You've got time that if you put down only 100 words a day, you'd have almost 6k of a story by the time Q3 ends. I like to use writeordie.com if I'm really stuck. And 100 words isn't usually an insurmountable amount to throw out if it sucks. Write with abandon! It's only 100 words. Worst case scenario, you have a big head start on Q4.

Thanks for the encouragement @babooher, I'll see what I can do once I've completed grading for the semester. I'm scoring end of the semester capstone papers which is very mind numbing. Summer will be here in a couple of days and then I shall see about writing those 100 words or so a day.

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

Posted by: @doctorjest

Oooh, that was an infuriating way to try and get my teeth back into this. Nothing I tried worked tonight--I'm going to need to seriously rethink this, even just one page in I'd only managed to convince myself that this idea was a dead end that I wouldn't be happy with. Something new is needed!

Well, hey, I still have a couple of months. I'm sure something will come to me.

That might mean you're missing a piece (perhaps you need another character to make things work, or perhaps you're missing a plotpoint). It might also mean the idea just needs to sit for awhile, and it will either grow or wither with time.

Either way, I understand it's disheartening, but like you said, there's still time. If there's anything I can do to help, feel free to PM me.

Oh, it's absolutely this, or something relating to this. I have a world that I like and have written in before, but I've never yet managed to find a story in that world that is actually compelling. I went into this thinking I had an idea for one, but very quickly realised that I wasn't interested in it--which is never a good sign. Sometimes a single change to the idea can completely overhaul what that is, but right now, I've set this world aside to try my hand with others.

Fortunately for me, disheartening never seems to stick to me, emotionally--today feels like a bright, brand new day, full to the brim with possibility. I think I'll let my mind wander a bit and see what it finds in the undergrowth. But I may well take you up on the offer, all the same!

Today my approach is, write a junk fiction story, shake off some rust. I don't think any of this effort is likely to yield anything I'd throw in the contest's direction, but it is fun, and I do feel like it's helping me to loosen up the writing muscles a little bit. I think I'll write a couple of these before I try turning my attention back to something that feels a little more worthy.

@axeminister

Do you recall the name of Lui's story by any chance?

I'm interested in reading it. I love his stuff, but good examples of flash would be good research.

Thanks!

@aliciacay

"The Perfect Book", Analog, December 2012 issue, September 22, 2012

https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780988432833/9780988432833___4.htm

Posted by: @doctorjest

Today my approach is, write a junk fiction story, shake off some rust.

So funny how much this relates to my current WIP (hopefully it isn't junk, though ). I have given myself permission to write junk for a first draft, but my internal editor gets a bit loud sometimes. I had a terminology issue that could have frozen the progress of the story, so I used the crappy term and hoped I could come up with something better. This morning, my squirrel-on-speed brain finally realized the solution. I'm stoked that I didn't delay getting words on a page just because some of it was junk. Write the junk. Hard to pan for gold without sifting through the dirt.

Thanks for the link to Ken Liu, Dustin. It's an interesting concept he used.

Posted by: @axeminister

@aliciacay

"The Perfect Book", Analog, December 2012 issue, September 22, 2012

https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780988432833/9780988432833___4.htm

 

Dustin,

I just read it. Gah!! How does Ken do it?! That last paragraph got me, man. Heart strings pulled. Perhaps because I'm a writer ??

Thank you for sharing!

~A.

@babooher

Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird addresses this very topic. She argues that we allow ourselves to write that "shitty first draft" and why.

I've used this concept since I first read about it and it's helped me tremendously. As I move through my first draft if I can't think of the right word or metaphor or I want to go back and add more detail later, I'll put a note in [brackets]. Then, my flow of just getting the words down on the page is less interrupted.

I've also read from others that this doesn't work for them, as the lingering word or idea their mind is trying to grasp hangs them up and stops the flow of words. So, the process is for sure different for everyone.

I just thought I'd share Anne's POV in case someone needed to read it today ?

I've attached an excerpt of hers on this topic as a PDF link (I hope, lol) ?

~A.

I kept my world, inverted my premise, and tonight wrote a first 450 to get the ball rolling--and I really love my first 450! It feels like the story I tried to start writing before, but which refused to go anywhere. Instead, I already have something that I love. I know where it's going, I know how it'll end, and I'm happy with all of it.

I am feeling so positive about this tonight! No matter the eventual outcome here, it feels like I'll get something I'm genuinely happy with. (So long as I don't kill it with excessive loquaciousness, anyway...)

Ah, Saturday! And I get next week on vacation, just in time for my wife to be injured. I'm still going to be throwing time at writing, though, and have grand designs on making good progress!

My current plan is to get the first draft of this story together, and then try to move immediately onto a possible Q4 story (I have no idea what that one will be yet). I have an unfortunate sense of bad things in my personal life on the horizon, which I've known were coming for a while. I don't know exactly when the punch will land, but it will undoubtedly knock me for six when it does. And if I want to keep on building on where I am, I need to make sure I'm ahead of where I want to be by the time that happens.

I'm feeling very good about my Q3 though, and greatly enjoying all the brainstorming that I've been able to do around it recently. And as always, research yields dividends, even when you feel there's nothing to research! Looking up one minor detail snowballs into an avalanche of other details you didn't expect, some of which immediately lend flesh and vibrancy to the world you're busy creating. I did rapid-fire research of half a dozen little details in rapid succession, and in the process discovered a bunch of other fascinating little details I wouldn't have realised. Most of them won't make it in, but some of them will, and some of the others will end up informing other decisions I make.

The first 450 was fun to write, and then I've paused to catch my breath and ensure I know enough that, if I had the steam for it, I could sit down and write from there to the very end without being stalled--today, I think I could, but I'm going to give it another day of fermenting before I come back to it. I'm not losing enthusiasm for the idea, which is always a promising sign. And one thing I'm trying to build on, perhaps the most important thing I picked up from @WulfMoon and further reinforced by teachings of Orson Scott Card, is the value of protecting the first draft. That's historically been bad for me, as I have such a tendency to use my first draft as an idea sketch--but the sketches that began closest to the finished result always seem to be the stories of mine that come away with the best energy. So the more complete my ideas are going in, the more likely it is that more of that first, energetic draft will be able to survive the edits and polishing to follow.

(I have curious questions about this, actually, so I'm going to toddle off to another board and post about that now.)