The Trouble With Fic Writers...

[angelicsinner]

For as long as I’ve been writing, I’ve suffered from a sort of creative-ailment that another writer friend of mine dubbed “Alfred Hitchcock’s Disease”. While I doubt there’s anyone who is not at least a little bit familiar with the great director’s work, not everyone knows of his methods, so I’ll elaborate a little.

Alfred Hitchcock, the mind

Comments

[greatshow]

..."once I reach a place in my mind where I’ve fully mapped out what will happen and how it’ll come to be, the process of actually writing it down starts to feel almost like a chore

[greatshow]

Oh, and I would say Cara still wasn't heterosexual even as a "useless farming-widow-school-teacher" crushing on Leo. Nope. Cara being only into men doesn't register for me. I know she's only into men in the books, but TV Cara is my Cara. Not that I wouldn't be into Book Cara; I just haven't read the books yet, and TV Cara's face/body is ingrained into my head as what/who Cara looks like/is.

[angelicsinner]

Okay-- yeah, she could have been bisexual still. But she was widowed, with two children, and then this Leo guy shows up and she's... ugh, whatever. But! Once again we see that DAHLIA seemed to have a stronger connection to Cara (still remembering her, and even with a kind of surprise and softness in her expression), which I thought was an interesting little addition. But we see no example of any women in that Cara's life save for her sister and her daughter. She recognized Kahlan by her station (probably by her dress), but that's all.
I don't know if they were trying to say she was repressed into heterosexual-living or if they were trying to imply that being Mord'Sith brings out a woman's inner-gay...? Either way, I don't like it. Frankly, it made me a little pissed. You give us some lesbian lovin', then you take it away. Tease, ABC! You're worse than Zedd, you lesbian cock(/kooch)-blocking jerks!

[angelicsinner]

Yeah, see, I CAN'T go into a story knowing the ending. I know to you, this probably sounds like someone saying I can't go into a battle knowing what I'm up against, but... Ugh, I know, it's stupid, but it never works; I always screw it up.
When I write a story, it sort of has it's own natural evolution- kind of like life. Or, to follow the metaphor? It's kind of like a war. General Patton once said that every great battle-plan only lasts until the first shot is fired, after that all you can do is fire and maneuver. Every time I try and go into a story knowing how the thing is going to end? Once I sit down to write, and the words (and plot) star flowing, it's not unlike trying to direct a flood. It's damn near impossible for it to work, and often the effort put into it isn't worth the outcome. But eventually as I work my way through it, the natural ending become clear. So, yeah, it's an act of faith. =-)
But I am glad to know I'm not the only one!

[greatshow]

It's okay to not have an ending planned out, of course. Like I stated above, it works for some. Googling "Screenwriting - Know your ending" real quick, though, brought this up at the top of the list for me: http://woutthielemans.blogspot.com/2009/07/know-your-ending.html

It explains well enough why knowing the ending works for a good portion of us.

I like the fact that we all have our own styles. Whatever works, I say.

Thanks again for this discussion.

[greatshow]

And like that link says, the ending may sometimes change. I don't have to go with my planned out ending.