In my world of writing this has been a bit of a crazy week. My first short story was due in class on Monday and, as I didn't get time to workshop it last week, that was the first time I read it for my class and professor. I won't go into details, but let's just say that I was not prepared to be ripped to shreds first thing in class, especially when I was surprisingly proud of the story I had written. On the bright side, that day I also got a major breakthrough for the story I'm writing right now with some helpful ideas from my husband! The week is ending on a brighter note, though, as we got our stories back yesterday and my professor's comments were almost the exact opposite of those expressed on Monday [which may go to show that you shouldn't judge a story solely by the first 5 pages]. I'm not sure if my short story just makes more sense when you've read the whole thing or if it just doesn't translate well when read aloud vs. just read, but whatever the reason, I can safely say I was more than pleasantly surprised.
So, thoughts for the week?
Don't give up on a story until you know more about it. For our short story assignments we're given prompts and I didn't like any of the ones my professor listed for this last assignment. Like, at all. Everyone knows it's hard to write about something you don't care about so writing the first 6 or so pages of my story was really difficult because, while I found the character I'd created interesting enough, I just wasn't invested. But then I finally realized how the story needed to end and the last 4-5 pages were phenomenal to write! This was an assignment I had to do for class but I know that sometimes I'll start a story in my own time that I'm excited about but then lose my steam for part way through. What I need to remember, and encourage you to do as well, is that sometimes the story just needs to work itself out. Writing isn't always rainbows and roses but the work that you put into developing a story will always turn out for the best in the end. Maybe it won't become something you publish, but it'll be something you can be proud of.
Outsource! I absolutely love work-shopping and tossing ideas around with people informally, especially when I feel like I'm stuck. I think some writers might feel like the suggestions and ideas given by other people shouldn't be used in your work because it's not your own original idea but I disagree. Sure, the whole story shouldn't be written for you by other people, but criticisms and suggestions are what good editors give you so why not build a cooperative writing community that helps you with these things as your work is in progress? Also, in my experience, any time I have run with an idea someone else has suggested, I always end up changing aspects of it as I see fit for my story, sometimes in ways that make it nearly unrecognizable. Most often, it's not the ideas themselves that make work-shopping and brain-picking so helpful for writers, it's just getting a fresh take on your work. We stare at our own writing for so long that we can box ourselves into a corner and have no idea how we got there or the best way to get out and talking things out with someone else, as with most problems we encounter in life, can help make a confusing situation easier to solve. So go ahead, be brave and ask someone for their opinion, ideas, suggestions, critiques. You never know how it might affect your story!
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