seiberwing | Writing woes. Yes, again.

I'm about at my wit's end. I have my fiction final draft due Wednesday and I have...nothing. I have what could be considered a first scene. I have the pickings of the beginning of a second scene(let). I have a very good grasp on the characters and their backgrounds.

I have no story.

Mom recommended finding some problem for them to deal with. She made a bunch of suggestions and I immediatly closed the IM window (yes, I trained my mom to use IM) before I could read any of it, then sent a new message to continue the conversation. I love my mom and she writes well, but I don't want her ideas ideas polluting (in the nicest possible way, Mom, if you're reading this) mine. I just don't have any ideas.

It's not like I haven't been trying. I've been thinking over it since before Thanksgiving, banging my head on the wall trying to think of what they should do. All they've managed to do is have a few conversations and then part ways. Nothing happens. I've even tried throwing werewolves at them and all it does is get campy.

I'm no good at this. I've never written any non-fanfic piece that was any more than a single scene or scene description. I've got a perfectly good beginning of a story sitting in my hard drive, but I can't submit it now. I've got nothing.

I need to go get myself together and go into town for holiday presents. I'll be back later.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

well... you could take up space by just letting the characters interact.....
or you could take the maggie approach and have them yell at you, the writer...
and... if nothing helps..... start a new one..
if it obviously won't budge, leave it be and try something else...
<3<3
hope you feel better

Thanks. I really am trying, I might have something...

Not that I think he'll accept unexplained sludge monsters as what he "expects fiction to do" (direct quote), but fuck if I care.

So, if you know their backgrounds, what sort of unpleasantness can you pull up from back there? Anyone running away from their past? Anyone with a price on their head? Anyone with a lover who is royally pissed off at them for leaving them at the altar?

Cass has a gay brother (amoung what, seven or eight siblings?) and a bad attitude, but not that many problems. Richard's a neat freak who may or may not have an ex-wife.

There's also a chemical spill that may or may not be a major plot device (Hedorah, anybody?). All I have so far is Cass giving him a ride to the car repair place after his car breaks down. And they talk. And...that's it.

Is Cass male or female? How do they know each other? Have you considered flinging inclement weather at them to make their lives more difficult?

I've considered flinging sludge monsters or a car wreck at them. Cass gave him a ride when his car broke down.

...Remember you told me your teacher wanted to set the two of them up? Why not have a series of random events occur that come straight out of your typical Hollywood love story, up to the point where even the charas notice it? You could even have a pushy relative that bumps into the two of them and tries to set them up.

Said relative not being even slightly based on your teacher, of course.

Problem is, I seem to suck at normal love stories. S'thought...

Don't make it a typical love story - make it a MST of one or something. Have Cass and Richard make snarky remarks at all these coincidences and the like, that might work. ;)

*snrk* Now there's a thought.

I remember this story, if it's the same one...
and, if it's a chemical spill, won't the repair crews need to replace the road? (I told the story about the shoddy subcontractors spilling radiation on OR roads today, and everyone was suprised to realize that you had to take the road away when that happens)
I liked the start of the story
but nobody could really think of where it should go after that....
you could make their meeting something partway through the actual story.....

Nah, you didn't tell me. But I'd like to put it in, thanks.

Perhaps have events happen in the middle of the story instead of "okay, buh-bye now."

I've found that the easiest way to come up with a million and one ideas is to declare yourself on sabbatical. Walk away from the computer, and it comes all at once.

I've been doing that all week. Nothing concrete. Nothing useful.

Writing woes. Yes, again.

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