Loop

[DLCroix]

How do you solve it when you notice that you are in the presence of one? Do you write everything until you exhaust that process, leaving for later the decision of what to do with that material, or do you just write it down as a separate idea and abort that process (before it triggers and originates who knows how many more things) so that be able to continue what you were doing right up to the moment that loop occurred?

 

[tinkerdan]

What do you mean by loop?
Maybe give reference to where this term shows up in writing.
Never heard it.
For instance

https://jeriwb.com/writers-workout-loop-writing-835/#:~:text=Loop%20writing%20is%20a%20technique,topic%20to%20gain%20new%20insights.&text=Depending%20on%20where%20you%20are,to%20do%20the%20first%20step

.

Even though written as though for a author's perspective it almost sounds like something more akin to writers of articles rather than writers of books.

Or at least someone writing a specific topic of interest that might have interesting branches.

I think to many of these types of loops in novel writing would probably be a detriment to your writing if not lead to a complete writer block episode.

 

[DLCroix]

Ah well, the particular case that was presented to me is what I might call a flashback trap where memories of a character originated the loop. Well, at first I considered that the thoughts of that character would allow to explain some things that happened in the past in 2 or 3 pages. I wouldn't stray too far and then I could continue with the events of the very chapter in question.
But, from the explanation of A, the explanation of B and C, D and E appeared and so on, such that now there are not 2 or 3 pages, but at least 20, the ones that go so far. That's why I call it a loop. It is not a traffic jam in the sense of missing ideas; the problem is precisely that there are many ideas, and also they do not depart from the argument, but help to clarify the story.
So the question is how can I solve it. What would you do?

 

[tinkerdan]

Okay, this is common.
You have all those backstory things that you think need to be told.
The trick is that you only need the ones that help move this story forward. Anything beyond that becomes you--the writer--indulging yourself and overloading the reader with too much information (TMI).

Cut it off when you grow tired of it or when you decide you need to get back to the real story. However, plan on revisiting that section so you can throw out all the unnecessary stuff that doesn't help move the story forward and that the reader really doesn't need to know yet.

I usually throttle it as quickly as I can; though sometimes I end up with length backstory pages that I'm sure the reader will never realize that I cut 80% of what I wanted to say and though I actually wrote 50% of it and ignored 50% and then cut the 30% later. If that makes sense to you.

Only you know where you should stop and then what you need to cut and what needs to stay in order to round out the narrative.

However, try to stop the madness ASAP so you can finish the real story and if you have to you can go back and edit detail into and out of it all.

It might also depend on whether they are telling the backstory to the reader only or if it is something told to another character who will be able to recall this some time in the future and it is vital to the story. It's your story and you know it best so use your best judgement.

You might cut it short and then twenty pages on something stops you dead because you haven't told the reader something and you may then have to make sure you get that into the mess.

Bottom line though, some things in your head should never go on the page.

At least that's the way it is for me.

Another thought;
If you get it out of your system you can take your twenty some pages and set them off to the side and mark off key points and then see if there are ways to pepper the information into the narrative throughout the whole so that you have a sentence here and another there and it never adds up to more than a paragraph on any single page and it somehow fits into what is happening at the time.

Events that key thoughts about the past.

 

[DLCroix]

Thank you, I really needed that clarity of analysis to make a decision!
And it is that you could not have more reason. Because in reality it is about the memories of a secondary character that could perfectly appear on another occasion. These memories are important, yes, because they allow us to explain something that has been mentioned slightly in other chapters, the rumor of a horrible war that two years ago someone managed to stop at the last minute, and that character knows the truth because he belongs to the rebellion. Therefore, they had access to the recordings that effectively showed the fleets already deploying to attack each other; but that, being in a distant and protected area, they were not affected by a massive erasure of memory that the planetary government extended over the population.
So it would be nice to include it later.