Mid-2014 Writing Reflections
♠ Lately I feel as though I may have left my fledgling sense of comedic timing behind with all the stories I’d started between 2010 and 2011. I can't seem to begin writing something even remotely funny unless I'm channeling Arashi or Kagami Arata.
This is a most upsetting discovery.
(I think it may have something to do with my inability to take myself seriously when I'm writing them. Arashi is made for hijinks, and nobody sane would give any Kamen Rider series any more weight than a feather. Hmm. Time to take my stories/myself less seriously?)
♥ I think mainly what sticks to me the most is how I seemed to have a consistent style back then. Stories I’d written then (both published and unpublished) were recognizably mine. Maybe I’m experimenting more these days... which isn’t a bad thing at all, mind, it’s essentially a gateway to improvement. I just get so uncomfortable these days trying to figure out whether or not a story is ready to be shared, or whether I’m ready to share the story, and how that difference affects my attitude towards sharing.
♦ Speaking of which, I still cannot decide how to approach sharing my works in progress. On the one hand, I’d like to share chapters of stories as they are completed, mostly because I get so excited by my piecemeal achievements. (See below for why.) On the other, I write in unpredictable bursts, and finish bits and pieces of different stories in a very haphazard fashion. The wait period between chapters can very well stretch beyond years.
I’m thinking aloud (well, writing down in public) because I’ve just finished the first three chapters of an ancient crossover story I’d very much like to share ASAP. However, it is only the first three chapters of a projected 11 or 12, and while the gist of the plot has been laid down, the details are not willing to cooperate. Troubles, troubles.
♣ Speaking of writing slowly: I think basically every piece of fiction I’m planning to share over the course of 2014 would have been started back in 2010-2011, with maybe two exceptions. When I look at that timescale I just... have nothing to say LMAO. Granted, some of the stories are actually part of multi-story series that need to be planned out simultaneously, but still. Most of my writings remain unfinished simply because I get an idea, write, get distracted by another idea, and it’s six months later before I get back to the other story. Times twenty.
I’m sure instilling some sort of discipline into this pursuit would be useful; Stephen King’s advice on it was, while not wholly applicable to my lifestyle, still worthy of thought and adaptation. Perhaps I’m just too much of a fandom magpie.