Finishing stories

[Nerds_feather]

So I have a problem finishing stories. I get a scene in my head and write it down. Another comes to me, then another. But somewhere along the line I lose my "vision." If I finish the story, it ends up feeling forced.

How do you guys progress from that initial moment of inspiration to a completed work?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Honestly? With gritted teeth and moments of angst through 25 to 50 k words. I also work better with a couple of wips on the go so that when one grinds to a halt/ causes too much stress/ is going out the window/ i can switch. I did it today and am a different, much less grumpy person for it. And i can see the way forward now.

 

[Dozmonic]

Scenes are building blocks, but they aren't a story. I've thrown together a great load of scenes before and then I've had to change them to make them into a story. It's about getting a first draft of amazing scenes, weaving it into a story, rework everything and realise you have space for a few more amazing scenes to bridge gaps your other amazing scenes have left

 

[Tecdavid]

Many will say (and I think I agree) that there's no particular way of "knowing" how to end something off, sometimes. It's often said that you should let your story pull you along, as the writer, and that you should cross each bridge as you come to it. I suppose endings might work this way too, in that you'll know when it's time to end the story - once all other major points and parts are covered - and I imagine, once you feel all ends are tied, you'll know how you want to end it - how you'll want to conclude everything.

This post, I will admit, is dreadful. I'm sorry that I wound up saying "follow your heart!" instead of passing on any solid advice.

 

[Bowler1]

I'm a planner, so I have a full story in arc in my head before I start. I do of course allow for inspiration and ideas to grow, which I consider to be the building blocks of the final plot. When I run out of steam, I edit.

I have switched WIPs, but mostly I stick to my main WIP and keep going. There are days where nothing happens and the muse is off down the pub without me, they can be tough days. As I've said - edit - that editing gets me back into the flow, usually. I guess you'll have to find something that works for you, skipping back and editing forward nearly always gets me back into the flow.

Anyway, I hope you find something that works for you.

 

[Glisterspeck]

I'm like Bowler. I don't really start until I know the ending, and the rest is just about getting there. Usually with the help of a detailed outline. I used to have several WIPs going at once, and technically still do, I suppose, but when the WIPs are novels, I quickly succumbed to a sort of analysis paralysis over which was best and deserved time to work on and basically did nothing. So now, I edit. Which I do too much of -- I should be writing through to the end, then edit.

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

I've suffered with that myself for a long time. Either wandering middles or forced endings. The only way I've gotten over it, really, is by forcing myself to at least have a beginning and ending vaguely in mind before I start. I prefer anymore to beat out stories almost completely before starting. Just like beats from scriptwriting. One scene per beat. And filling in the particulars as the fun discovery part of writing. Allow for beats to change as you go, but keep at least a tentative idea of the revised ending to work toward. I've found this helps me see plot holes and structure problems a lot sooner than accidentally stumbling across them 1/2 to 2/3s the way through a piece.

 

[Anne Lyle]

How do you guys progress from that initial moment of inspiration to a completed work?

Perseverance and practice. There are no shortcuts in this business...

It took me years - and several abandoned novel beginnings - to realise that I just had to knuckle down and push through to The End. Was my first completed draft any good? Nope. But I wrote another (the sequel), then I went back and revised the first one. Several times.

That first crappy draft eventually went on to be my first published novel, The Alchemist of Souls

 

[Bowler1]

So now, I edit. Which I do too much of -- I should be writing through to the end, then edit.

I used to think editing was only for the end, but not anymore. When you've put up 50k or 60k of words, it's a LOT! You will forget small plot items or later scenes will have drifted off the plot a bit and by small adjustments to earlier scenes, you can set the reader up better. It also refreshes the idea in my little yellow head - - and if I'm stuck, it usually gets me going again. If I'm a little tired, editing is easier than trying to be creative, or for me anyway. My current WIP has been edited at least four times start to finish and will get another one or two before agents. I don't even count skipping back three or four sections and reading forward, that's my normal starting process to make sure I remember what I've done before. So I always start with editing the last weeks worth of work and I write three or four nights a week.

So half my writing time is easily editing, a big change from pre-chrons membership. I consider editing to be writing, it's all part of my creative process now.

Right, soap box back where it belongs for now, I've said enough!

 

[prizzley]

Have you tried mind-mapping? If you can come up with a few ways in which your story might end, you can then test them to see what works for the story so far.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I think it's perfectly normal to toy with ideas, try and complete one or more novels, before one idea particularly possesses you and insists that you write it. The hope is that, after you complete writing and rewriting and editing it, that you may just have something publishable ....

 

[J Riff]

Make a folder called Doomed Drafts and put anything in there that's unfinished. When you suffer writers block or brain lock, go to the doomed folder and hack away.
I don't do this, but it sounds reasonable. )

 

[Dozmonic]

I have a "draft zero" folder that everything goes in to until I decide to give them enough attention to take them above 10k or so words