One thing which I have always remembered from one of the writing papers I did through my degree was a tutor who considered that the story you write the first time should never be the same as the final version of it - while I never really agreed with him on that (and cringed hugely at the requirement that the final version of the story we submitted for our final assignment be at least 60% different from the original) I can see now that there is some merit in the idea.
I don't necessarily think that the story has to be different, but I do think I am coming around to the idea that you need to think harder, push your story more, try different things out for size before you can really settle on how it will be in the end.
Revision he would say, was a re envisioning of the story - and I know he would have been happier if the original and the final product barely resembled each other at all, I know for a fact that those whose stories were so incredibly radically different from the originals got better marks than those whose stories did not change much at all.
Mostly this has arisen in relation to the novel that I am currently editing - after reading The Complete Guide to Editing Your Fiction by Michael Seidman, who has similar thoughts on making sure you really explore the ideas you have and try different things out to see what works best. I decided that my story was not 'enough'. For want of a better way to describe it. It's a good story - I know that because a lot of people have told me. I have a friend who has read it like three times now and claims she loves it, and thats wonderful. But I have decided that I want to make it the best story that I can, and in order to do that, I need to push it further. It needs to be 'more'.
The fear now is will I make it too much? Will it grow too out there, too over the top? When will I know that it's just right? I can't know until I try though, can I.
Originally I was worried about it not really fitting into a particular category, I think I was worried that 'Urban fantasy' just wouldn't cut it. But that's what it is, and I have decided not to try and force it into being something other than that. I could, but I don't think that would make it a better story, I think it would make it worse - thats pretty much how I felt when I did my final assignment for that tutor, who I loathed in so many ways, it was a creative writing paper, not a literature writing paper and he really went nuts on me over the story I wrote that was a 'genre piece', it's a good story, I liked it. I rewrote the other story instead, because I wasn't so fond of it, I rewrote it exactly how I knew he would want me to. And I got a good grade, and felt disgusted with myself.
I guess sometimes you have to write for a certain market in order to get the payoff, and as long as you LIKE the market then thats fantastic. For now I'm not going to force myself to write something I don't think I will enjoy simply to make it more marketable though. I'll write the stories/novels I want to, and see where it takes me. I am sure I will experiment with different genres and styles, and eventually there will be something that works for me. I am sure of it.
I don't necessarily think that the story has to be different, but I do think I am coming around to the idea that you need to think harder, push your story more, try different things out for size before you can really settle on how it will be in the end.
Revision he would say, was a re envisioning of the story - and I know he would have been happier if the original and the final product barely resembled each other at all, I know for a fact that those whose stories were so incredibly radically different from the originals got better marks than those whose stories did not change much at all.
Mostly this has arisen in relation to the novel that I am currently editing - after reading The Complete Guide to Editing Your Fiction by Michael Seidman, who has similar thoughts on making sure you really explore the ideas you have and try different things out to see what works best. I decided that my story was not 'enough'. For want of a better way to describe it. It's a good story - I know that because a lot of people have told me. I have a friend who has read it like three times now and claims she loves it, and thats wonderful. But I have decided that I want to make it the best story that I can, and in order to do that, I need to push it further. It needs to be 'more'.
The fear now is will I make it too much? Will it grow too out there, too over the top? When will I know that it's just right? I can't know until I try though, can I.
Originally I was worried about it not really fitting into a particular category, I think I was worried that 'Urban fantasy' just wouldn't cut it. But that's what it is, and I have decided not to try and force it into being something other than that. I could, but I don't think that would make it a better story, I think it would make it worse - thats pretty much how I felt when I did my final assignment for that tutor, who I loathed in so many ways, it was a creative writing paper, not a literature writing paper and he really went nuts on me over the story I wrote that was a 'genre piece', it's a good story, I liked it. I rewrote the other story instead, because I wasn't so fond of it, I rewrote it exactly how I knew he would want me to. And I got a good grade, and felt disgusted with myself.
I guess sometimes you have to write for a certain market in order to get the payoff, and as long as you LIKE the market then thats fantastic. For now I'm not going to force myself to write something I don't think I will enjoy simply to make it more marketable though. I'll write the stories/novels I want to, and see where it takes me. I am sure I will experiment with different genres and styles, and eventually there will be something that works for me. I am sure of it.
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