02-27-2010, 09:46 AM
I've recently found myself engaged in some heavy-duty writing.
I hold no illusions that my current project is objectively huge, nor necessarily particularly good, but let me give you a bit of background first. I've tried to write a number of stories in the past, both original and fan-inspired. The first was barely two pages, and decidedly juvenile in quality. My second try was no better- I think I made it onto the third handwritten page (and I tend to write big) before it died like the plot-abomination it was. After a number of plot bunnies that were, quite frankly, sad (and never got past the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if" stage), I tried again with a Ranma SI.
I think that one went five pages before I lost it. With a bit of revision, the idea would've been good, but I didn't have the experience, skill, or knowledge of the source material to get it right.
After that, there were a few plot bunnies here and there, and then my shot at DWstuffs, which died after the prologue and a fairly decent outline of main plot events. Then, nothing, until a few months ago.
I had been reading a short story a friend of mine wrote about Billy vs. SNAKEMAN, that ninja game that somebody brought up here a year or two ago, when an idea came to me. I remembered it a few days later on a long walk, and gave it a bit more substance, but consigned the infant plot bunny to a short trip down the cliff of my nonexistent writing ability, to be eaten by the wolves of my own forgetfulness.
For some reason, I started to write on it a week or two ago. It's now ~50 pages long, about 3/4 of the way done, and still going strong. I've been writing half a page a day minimum- typically, it's more like 2-4 pages, though I hit 7 pages one particularly inspired day.
That's not the oddest part. The oddest thing about all of this is that it's actually halfway decent- certainly not publishable quality, but better than a lot of fanfiction I've read, and getting rave reviews from the people who've been reading it over on the other forum. I've had tons of praise so far and one nitpick- more like friendly advice (from the guy who wrote my original inspiration, no less) than anything else. It's good enough that I can read back through it without cringing in shame- I actually rather like it, which is a first for my writing.
How is this even possible? I've been utterly hopeless at creative writing up until now, and here I am, knee-deep in a work of fiction four times longer than anything, fiction or not, I've ever written- and I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Has anybody here ever had a moment like that- a time when they broke what felt like a lifelong, terminal writers' block, to find that the words would just keep flowing from that point onward?
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
I hold no illusions that my current project is objectively huge, nor necessarily particularly good, but let me give you a bit of background first. I've tried to write a number of stories in the past, both original and fan-inspired. The first was barely two pages, and decidedly juvenile in quality. My second try was no better- I think I made it onto the third handwritten page (and I tend to write big) before it died like the plot-abomination it was. After a number of plot bunnies that were, quite frankly, sad (and never got past the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if" stage), I tried again with a Ranma SI.
I think that one went five pages before I lost it. With a bit of revision, the idea would've been good, but I didn't have the experience, skill, or knowledge of the source material to get it right.
After that, there were a few plot bunnies here and there, and then my shot at DWstuffs, which died after the prologue and a fairly decent outline of main plot events. Then, nothing, until a few months ago.
I had been reading a short story a friend of mine wrote about Billy vs. SNAKEMAN, that ninja game that somebody brought up here a year or two ago, when an idea came to me. I remembered it a few days later on a long walk, and gave it a bit more substance, but consigned the infant plot bunny to a short trip down the cliff of my nonexistent writing ability, to be eaten by the wolves of my own forgetfulness.
For some reason, I started to write on it a week or two ago. It's now ~50 pages long, about 3/4 of the way done, and still going strong. I've been writing half a page a day minimum- typically, it's more like 2-4 pages, though I hit 7 pages one particularly inspired day.
That's not the oddest part. The oddest thing about all of this is that it's actually halfway decent- certainly not publishable quality, but better than a lot of fanfiction I've read, and getting rave reviews from the people who've been reading it over on the other forum. I've had tons of praise so far and one nitpick- more like friendly advice (from the guy who wrote my original inspiration, no less) than anything else. It's good enough that I can read back through it without cringing in shame- I actually rather like it, which is a first for my writing.
How is this even possible? I've been utterly hopeless at creative writing up until now, and here I am, knee-deep in a work of fiction four times longer than anything, fiction or not, I've ever written- and I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Has anybody here ever had a moment like that- a time when they broke what felt like a lifelong, terminal writers' block, to find that the words would just keep flowing from that point onward?
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
