Oh man, that must have been a tough situation! Honestly, I'm too ashamed to even bring up my secret pastime to any of my friends and/or lovers. :P Which is a darn shame, and I respect the hell out of you for openly writing. It's not even anything to be embarrassed about or anything, but I've just never mentioned it before. Regardless, I'm feeling your pains man. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to pre-plan the whole "Beyond the Graveyard" story, just so I don't skip over things that I wanted included due to my mood. If you're giving yourself ample time to figure out what you want, then I'm sure your method writing will just amplify those qualities tenfold. Stick to it! The parts that I've read were spectacular, if it means anything, and I really want to read this story from beginning to end.
Honestly, I'm not using the setting anywhere near as much as I should be. It's something I want to go back through and edit, but for some reason I've had trouble grounding myself in this world. I'm not sure how it's set up, because at times it feels somewhat post-apocalyptic and at others highly developed and I just ugh. The actual underground city was pretty much the core dream element that I brought across but I need them to spend more time there and see something and do stuff but I just can't think what. However, the gridlike pattern will definitely get a workout when the city is assaulted later in the book. Method writing can be a bitch sometimes xD Especially if you're trying to do third person or a different first person perspective. It's also annoying sometimes when you're with someone, like I did some writing once while at my girlfriend's place and I stopped for dinner and was just a complete dick to her by accident xD
The fact that you're a method writer blows me away though. My mood sometimes alters it greatly, but when it comes to an existing story, it's hard for me to get that right feeling going, even when I'm emotionally motivated. Hopefully I'll learn to synchronize the two, slowly but surely. Are you finding it easy to write about your current story though? I enjoyed the excerpt immensely (and I'm about to read the second one you shared), and it seems like the type of setting that gives a heck of a lot of potential.
I agree. I'm thinking with the 'video game story' I have going, I'm just going to write out a regular story, without referring to video game mechanics and whatnot. In general, everything I write would be translated to 'video game mode' if it were every made in some strange fantasy land, but it always comes off better when it's just a story that can be read from start to finish. And to get back to your point on dreams, I actually don't know why I didn't expand on that. Dreams are, for me as well, one of the main sources of 'inspiration' for a story. Heck, the one I'm coming up with now is based almost entirely on an idea out of a dream I had. Cont.
There are many a time where I've thought some random battles would go real nice in here. Something I aim to work on in the future but getting straight narrative can be hard enough xD I know what you mean about music too. On a couple of pieces i've made playlists to listen to while writing, or sometimes just been like I need something sad or perky to help set the mood. I think I'm a "method" writer though, my mood can really change depending on the mood of the current focal character or just general tone of the story. Always write better darker, more intimidating scenes when it's raining too
That is awesome to hear, since 'divine inspiration' and everything in between is usually what jump-starts any idea that I have. There's nothing more motivating than having something brilliant pop into your head, which you can immediately start building on. When it comes to actually writing, though, I love having music to just define the mood of the part I'm writing. As well, realizing that the options are endless is a big help. No one is controlled by a straight line from 'Part A' to 'Part B' which helps improvising parts of the story that much more. But the hardest thing for me is definitely the whole 'getting from one set piece to the next' thing, which is why I was driven to the video game format for a story :P
From that point, it's usually just motivation that's the killer. I'm either running out of steam and quit, or hating the section I'm writing and make it choppy and then feel bad. Sometimes I'll notice a continuity error or something that just doesn't work. For instance, in this one I'm posting excerpts from, the idea was for two of the squad members to defect. My problem was that these big scenes were coming up and I had no idea how to get from Point A where they're still on the team to Point B where they have to be defected. Those keep me up for hours but finding a solution feels great. Talking helps, though. I got a mate (Timekeeper on here) who is not a writer at all but is great for bouncing ideas off of. Just explaining stuff is good. I get excited about my work and he loves my stuff too so it's a nice combo. The fact he is brutally honest and will critique stuff properly helps too!
I use a number of different techniques because I don't know what works best for me yet. Ideas can come in a variety of different ways. Dreams are a big asset, but generally I will either have a character pop into my head that I want to write, a scene that I want to write, a trope that I want to explore, a writing technique or just some thematic stuff that I build from. Sometimes combinations. Sometimes I just get divine inspiration. But from there I will generally think about a couple of key events that I want to happen and a possible ending. I signpost my way there, but everything in between is left vague so magic can happen. tbc..
Ahh don't worry man, I feel same way about 'Seiken Wave'. So much about it I just hate, but I had so much planned out for the later chapters, so it made me wonder why I had Writer's Block in the first place. I even remember wanting to revisit it as well a few years ago, and the exact same thing happened. Every little thing that I edited to make it more 'grounded' felt like it was just sapping all of the magic out of it. Likewise with feeling clueless about the second half. Regardless, I've had a lot of other things bounce around my head from that point on, which I would rather share. Now, just as a question, what is your strategy for writing stories? Does something hit you and you keep going as you think it up? Or do you have the general outline planned out (major events, ending), or do you have the ending, but need to sort out the progression? Because man, I get a different roadblock every time.
Oh man, there was this story I started writing in high school and I developed it extensively and really fell in love with the characters, due in no small part to the fact that they were heavily inspired by real people. Not consciously though; someone else actually pointed it out to me and I was like "oh yeah makes sense." I'd had some trouble with it going missing once and then being corrupted another time, so I'd written the 30-odd thousand words nigh on three times already by the end of '10. As much as I hated it, there was so much calling me back. Last NaNoWriMo I started it again, from scratch, with the other open beside me as a reference (plus other guides). Felt good, but I cannot remember my endings and trout because I am so familiar with the first half of it Wanted to edit it earlier this year but uni got busy so maybe I'll have a read of it and think about polishing it and/or writing the sequel. Shouldn't plan sequels until I'm happy with the original though >_<
