Help... I'm too emotional with my writing

[Jade Vantishi]

I need some help. I always have these great ideas for stories... in my mind anyway... but after I get to writing them, I get way too involved in them that I tend to forget that the readers may not see the story as I am seeing it. Then, when I realize that I have strayed, and I try to go back to fix it, I end up ruining the story. If anyone out there has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it. Thanks.

[Reuden dra Selter]

Ayden here, just telling you this from a writer's standpoint. Okay... Author to Author- I have the same problems. The stories I've writ actually come out half-decent, if not totally decent... for me that is. Its a story I'm writing to please thousands, but I think I'm the only one interested.
Now I'm writing a book that I think will go far thanks to...

AYDENS SIMPLE STEPS
1. Pick a simple storyline (maybe jazz it up with originality)
2. Get the story on a level that will please (vocab and concept)
3. Try basing the characters, events, places, and speech on things you yourself have done, places you've been, people you've met, and speech patterns you're familiar with. It will help make everything more real to you, as well as the reader.

Try it.

(PS- Oh, and in my Siggy is the opening for my book. Check out my Thread in the Writer's Forum)

[Water_Neko]

try just writing it down then ask some one to read it if they don't get it ask then what you should change and do it that way.

[Kitsune_no_kiseki]

I may not be understanding this the correct way, but isn't it the point to make things emotionally appealing to your readers? If you feel this way about the story when you write it, your feelings should come through in the story. Like Water_Neko said, ask someone else to read it through, ask for suggestions, then tweak it bit by bit. It may help to have it on the computer if you don't already, just so you can go back and fix small things without getting in the way of the rest of the story. I don't really know what else to say about it, other than letting people you know and trust read whatever you write is good, especially if you plan on going somewhere with it.
Sorry if none of that made any sense, I'm a little tired. =^.^'=

[moon28]

Jade Vantishi

I need some help. I always have these great ideas for stories... in my mind anyway... but after I get to writing them, I get way too involved in them that I tend to forget that the readers may not see the story as I am seeing it. Then, when I realize that I have strayed, and I try to go back to fix it, I end up ruining the story. If anyone out there has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it. Thanks.

when you write try and picture the story as someone else would see it or have a friend read it

[stargirl101]

NEVER GO BACK AND CHANGE YOUR WORK. THE STORY SHOULD BE FROM YOUR HEART. WHEN YOU GET INVOLVED IN WRITING IT'S A GOOD THING. MAYBE PEOPLE DON'T SEE THE STORY THE WAY YOU DO BUT THEY COULD SEE IT IN A MORE EXSKWISIT WAY THAN YOU DO AND IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT THAT'S THEM AND THEIR WEIRD. WE ALL LIVE IN A WORLD OF OTHERS. OF WHAT THE OTHERS WILL THINK, OF WHAT THEY'LL DO ABOUT IT. IF YOU TRY NOT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT THE OTHERS FEEL ABOUT YOUR WORK, YOU MAY REALIZE YOUR OPINION IS WORTH THE MOST AND YOU SHOULLD BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.

[iPizza231]

I suggest planning on paper before you begin. If you have your plot and aims for the story down on paper, you have something to refer to when you begin going off on tangents; so you can either stop yourself before you go in a completely irrelevant direction, or you can use your plan to discover how to set your story back on track.

Also, remember the Sword on the Mantlepiece rule: EVERYTHING in your story must have a purpose. If you include a decorative sword over the mantlepiece, your character had damnwell better be needing a sword sometime in the future. Unless, of course, the sword is simply there to add to the atmosphere of a fabulous drawing-room in some grand old mansion in England somewhere; then that's all well and good. After all, it still has a purpose. If you remember this rule, you're less likely to start running off in weird directions.


[Edit: this advice is assuming that your problem is straying from your original direction within a story. stare ]

[clarion]

stargirl101

NEVER GO BACK AND CHANGE YOUR WORK. *snip*

First, typing in all caps is considered shouting and is fairly rude. 3nodding Secondly, telling someone to never change their work is just bullshit advice. Revising is probably a bigger part of the writing process than the initial composition.

To the topic-starter: Your "original vision" isn't sacred, so don't look at it that way. Finish your draft, let it sit for a while (couple of weeks, a month, whatever) then go back and start <i>re-seeing</i> the story. Don't worry about the reader for the first draft--let that wait until you revise. Let some other people read it, get some outside opinions. Also, just because you're rewriting/revising the story, that doesn't mean you have to take the first draft out and vaporize it. Keep it around, and if you feel like an original section is better than your revision, <i>just go back to it.</i>

[iPizza231]

clarion

stargirl101

NEVER GO BACK AND CHANGE YOUR WORK. *snip*

First, typing in all caps is considered shouting and is fairly rude. 3nodding Secondly, telling someone to never change their work is just bullshit advice. Revising is probably a bigger part of the writing process than the initial composition.

To the topic-starter: Your "original vision" isn't sacred, so don't look at it that way. Finish your draft, let it sit for a while (couple of weeks, a month, whatever) then go back and start <i>re-seeing</i> the story. Don't worry about the reader for the first draft--let that wait until you revise. Let some other people read it, get some outside opinions. Also, just because you're rewriting/revising the story, that doesn't mean you have to take the first draft out and vaporize it. Keep it around, and if you feel like an original section is better than your revision, <i>just go back to it.</i>

Amen. heart

[XanyKaos]

stargirl101

NEVER GO BACK AND CHANGE YOUR WORK. THE STORY SHOULD BE FROM YOUR HEART. WHEN YOU GET INVOLVED IN WRITING IT'S A GOOD THING. MAYBE PEOPLE DON'T SEE THE STORY THE WAY YOU DO BUT THEY COULD SEE IT IN A MORE EXSKWISIT WAY THAN YOU DO AND IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT THAT'S THEM AND THEIR WEIRD. WE ALL LIVE IN A WORLD OF OTHERS. OF WHAT THE OTHERS WILL THINK, OF WHAT THEY'LL DO ABOUT IT. IF YOU TRY NOT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT THE OTHERS FEEL ABOUT YOUR WORK, YOU MAY REALIZE YOUR OPINION IS WORTH THE MOST AND YOU SHOULLD BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.

Oh my lord, it's a posterchild of what not to do/think. tell me, does that mean you don't go back over your posts and check for typos/spelling/grammar errors as well?
I'm sorry; I see something like this, and I have to get snarky.
A few traps not to fall into:
"NEVER GO BACK AND CHANGE YOUR WORK. THE STORY SHOULD BE FROM YOUR HEART. "
--The exact thing you're trying to fix. Clarion said it best. And whether or not the story comes from your heart, you need to balance it out with story from your head as well. That's what makes it writing.
"EXSKWISIT"
--aww...that's so cute.
"IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT THAT'S THEM AND THEIR WEIRD."
--"They're" not "their." The whole point of writing is to connect with the audience. If you're just writing for yourself, and don't intend for anyone else to see what you're trying to show, then it's perfectly acceptable to follow her advice. But if you're writing seriously and intend for people to read, and hopefully like it, then this really is the wrong attitude to take, ne?
"YOUR OPINION IS WORTH THE MOST "
--hmm... if you're willing to sacrifice yourself for "your" art, then go for the "Fountainhead" approach. But if you're hoping for an publisher to pick you up, it really comes down to their opinion. And the editor's. And the critics'. And eventually, your readers'.

[DirtySyko]

Take some pills and maybe you want an emotional mess.

Or smoke weed.

[peninclined1]

Write your story first. Then fiddle with it.

You'll drive yourself buggy if you start at Point A with the intent of getting to Point Z and start doing major re-writes when you're at Point C, D, etc., in your story. Build it first. The need for re-writing will come. Believe it.

Give yourself some time away from your work, too, especially after you've wrapped the initial take. I've lost count of the number of times I've laid down a story, stepped away from it for anywhere from a few hours to a few days (far longer on rare occasion), come back and said, "Hmmm. Better deal with this."

Accept that you'll have to do some re-writing -- cutting out, sealing holes, fleshing out characters and/or plots and subplots. That comes with the territory and it's crucial to producing something worthwhile. I cannot recall ever laying down something decent in one take.

Most of all, have faith in yourself and write what you know. Both are vital to you. Your faith will get you through an awful lot of angst, something every writer goes through. Writing what you know gives you a solid foundation, thus improving the likelihood that you'll connect with your reader(s) -- and that's your ultimate goal.

Good luck.

[Faglolzkthx]

maybe you don't write them then you'll be better

[psycho15]

being emotional about it is a good thing from many points of veiw, but getting a friend to read over it is probably the best advice so far, wudnt say no to the weed though.

[NiseKeiken]

Yikes, lots of good points, but personally, I think that the first version, the original draft, is very much writing for yourself. It's what you do with it later that's for other people. I mean, if you're not writing for yourself first, what's the point, right? After all, then you're not having any fun. Writing is a lot of work and an emotional investment as well, but it's both and separarting one from the other for a first attempt is usually not a terrific idea. Saying something like, "I get too emotionally invested and then try to fix it" or, write yourself out of it, isn't a great way to get started. Just let it all fall out to start. If when you finish it, you think, this is terrible, there's nothing I can do with it, that's fine. Some things you write are going to be totally unsalvageable. However, more likely than not, you'll go back to it and say, "okay, this has got to go, but this isn't totally worthless. I can make something of it," and that's great. That's when you get into writing for other people's entertainment. It's a long process, ya know? Also, you can't forget that you're always your own worst critic. Having people willing to read stuff for you is always a good idea, but mostly, you just need to get out of that mindset of "i'm too emotionally invested. I have to write myself out of this. Worry about that after the draft. You may find what you wrote isn't as off center as it at first appeared (and this was the longest paragraph of all time. haha. Don't expect too much on spelling or grammar out of this...I'm not rereading this post because I'll only go back and think 'what am I saying? This is advice? That's terrible. heh.).