Thoughts on Writing
So right now I'm trying to finish "Only A Dream", which I've been working on for ... I'd say almost two years by now, if you go from the time I actually had the idea. I started posting it in January 2007 and ever since then it's always been lurking in the back of my mind, clamoring for me to finish it. I have one chapter left. I think. I really hope it only turns out to be one, at any rate. So ... why can't I get it done?
Actually, it might not be only one more chapter. I'm thinking of leaving one loose end in the epilogue, which I would then go back and tie up in a later (and much, much shorter) story. Call it a pre-postscript, if you will. Maybe that's why I seem to be wary of finishing it - I am slightly afraid that it will mushroom and then spiral completely out of control like so many of my other stories I've done. Heck, this story I'm working on now, I planned out more than anything else I've ever done, and yet it still manages to run away from me. Which is not good. I don't like that. GET BACK HERE, STORY!! ...Sorry.
Another problem is that I'm simply not interested in the dang thing any more. A part of it is the fandom (Over the Hedge); that movie will probably always be my favorite animated film, but the fandom itself is simply ... terrible. There are maybe ten good stories out of over one hundred on fanfiction.net, for example. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I could get into a whole epic rant about all this, but the point is, by this time the only reason I'm finishing the story is to get it done. I hate not resolving things; it's one of my biggest pet peeves, an unfinished story - but at the same time, I don't want to finish it if I'm not, you know, INTO it. That'd make it a poorer quality than it would be if I was actually concentrated on it and want to make it the best I can.
Hence, I have been re-watching said movie on my iTunes, trying to get "re-obsessed" with it, if you will. I say again that I don't really know what appeals to me about this cartoon so much; maybe I just like its take on humanity in general. That, and the fact that the suburb it portrays could very well be my neighborhood. But it could also just be that "Over the Hedge" came along at precisely a time that I needed something to be obsessed with. 2006 wasn't a very good year for me - not bad, certainly, but not my best either (lots of drama) - and so it was nice to have something to turn to in that time.
ANYWAY ... re-watching this is failing to get me in the "writing mood". I thought writing this blog might help, but it's actually just fueling my other brainstorms more. I have a couple ideas for movies I've been juggling around in my head, another short story, maybe even a TV show (all of them original ideas, and not fanfic, mind you) - and here we are back to the original problem. I want to finish the story, but at the same time I want to develop these things even more. I think they could be really fun. But it'd also be great to finally finish the one I've already been developing for a year and a half.
The question is - which of the two will win out?
The dilemma continues...
Actually, it might not be only one more chapter. I'm thinking of leaving one loose end in the epilogue, which I would then go back and tie up in a later (and much, much shorter) story. Call it a pre-postscript, if you will. Maybe that's why I seem to be wary of finishing it - I am slightly afraid that it will mushroom and then spiral completely out of control like so many of my other stories I've done. Heck, this story I'm working on now, I planned out more than anything else I've ever done, and yet it still manages to run away from me. Which is not good. I don't like that. GET BACK HERE, STORY!! ...Sorry.
Another problem is that I'm simply not interested in the dang thing any more. A part of it is the fandom (Over the Hedge); that movie will probably always be my favorite animated film, but the fandom itself is simply ... terrible. There are maybe ten good stories out of over one hundred on fanfiction.net, for example. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I could get into a whole epic rant about all this, but the point is, by this time the only reason I'm finishing the story is to get it done. I hate not resolving things; it's one of my biggest pet peeves, an unfinished story - but at the same time, I don't want to finish it if I'm not, you know, INTO it. That'd make it a poorer quality than it would be if I was actually concentrated on it and want to make it the best I can.
Hence, I have been re-watching said movie on my iTunes, trying to get "re-obsessed" with it, if you will. I say again that I don't really know what appeals to me about this cartoon so much; maybe I just like its take on humanity in general. That, and the fact that the suburb it portrays could very well be my neighborhood. But it could also just be that "Over the Hedge" came along at precisely a time that I needed something to be obsessed with. 2006 wasn't a very good year for me - not bad, certainly, but not my best either (lots of drama) - and so it was nice to have something to turn to in that time.
ANYWAY ... re-watching this is failing to get me in the "writing mood". I thought writing this blog might help, but it's actually just fueling my other brainstorms more. I have a couple ideas for movies I've been juggling around in my head, another short story, maybe even a TV show (all of them original ideas, and not fanfic, mind you) - and here we are back to the original problem. I want to finish the story, but at the same time I want to develop these things even more. I think they could be really fun. But it'd also be great to finally finish the one I've already been developing for a year and a half.
The question is - which of the two will win out?
The dilemma continues...