Comments | cupidsbow: Torchwood story beta?

cupidsbow

Torchwood story beta?

Nov 14, 2009 21:02

In about two or three hours, after I've eaten dinner and had a cuppa, I'm going to write the final scene of a Torchwood story. It'll need a beta or two. It's looking to come in at maybe 4,500 words, ish. It's timey-wimey, and I need a plot-hole checker, as well as the usual pace and horrible-prose checkers ( Read more... )

beta, writing

Comments 19

tesserae_ November 14 2009, 14:45:37 UTC

It's been interesting going through this process, though, because as I realised what I was doing, I told myself to just write the bloody dialogue scenes and stop worrying about it

Yes, it's terrifying how easy it is to sidetrack ourselves, isn't it? I've been doing the same thing to a novel for the last year or so and I've discovered I do *exactly* the same thing, to the point that I stop writing for long stretches of time because I know that it's just going to make me feel inadequate.

::headdesk::

"It's okay to write a sucky first draft" is, apparently, up there in the top ten of complicated life lessons...

cupidsbow November 14 2009, 15:05:32 UTC

"It's okay to write a sucky first draft" is, apparently, up there in the top ten of complicated life lessons...Word ( ... )

tesserae_ November 14 2009, 15:45:06 UTC

Y'know, I haven't - even therapy, which gave me a lot of insight into *what* was blocking me, didn't really help. Although now I know why planning is such a seductive process - there aren't any emotional stakes in planning to write! I can enjoy the strategizing and the working-things-out without having to confront my inner editor over the failure of my prose to match my plans, or something... In any case, I think the step you're working on (which is what I'm trying atm, just sit down and write, dammit) is the only way through the obstacles I pitch up for myself. I was tempted to open up a file and call it "revision notes" or somesuch, but that's a distraction I'm sure I don't need. If it seems *really* important I throw a note directly into the text in green, but really, I think getting that first draft out is the important thing.

I've mmanaged to find workarounds on most of the other things that tripped me up when I was younger; I think the reason this one is so resistant is that it's important, and at heart I'm terrified to find ( ... )

cupidsbow November 14 2009, 17:41:27 UTC

Yeah, I think it's mostly about that fear of not being good enough. It's not a useful fear though, because you can't ever be good enough if you don't try, so you fail before you begin.

The irony is that with this story I'm nearly finished? I'm now over 4,600 words and I can see it's easily going to top 5,000 before I'm done. That is not a problem faced by someone who just wants the process to end!

There has to be a way to short-circuit the fear, because I do love this, once I'm doing it.

Thread 11

sheron November 14 2009, 18:05:17 UTC

cupidsbow November 15 2009, 02:15:19 UTC

I hope it works for you.

merryish November 14 2009, 19:21:31 UTC

A friend of mine who's listened to me whine about writing way too many times pointed me to your post, and.

Wow, it's like you're inside my head. I do the exact same thing, pretty much word for evil sidetracking sabotaging word. At the same story stage, too - right before the climax of a scene or a chapter or a story, when the stakes are highest ( ... )

cupidsbow November 15 2009, 02:29:43 UTC

Thank you so much for this reply ( ... )

cupidsbow November 15 2009, 02:39:12 UTC

PS--Regarding your climax avoidance. ;) I've been wondering if a support group might work, but I'm not sure how it should be structured. It has to be low key, and not make people feel pressured (the last thing we need) to give praise when someone reaches a milestone. That would end in failure very quickly, for more than one reason.

Do you think something like that would help?

I've often thought it would be useful to just have a group of people who could maybe give a reminder, like, "This is a first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect. Write a placeholder scene for now, and fix it later. Who cares about plot anyway! I'm here for the beverage drinking scenes. Do you have those? Yes? Then you're gold as far as I'm concerned. Want me to poke at the grammar in the first scene while you pick away at the ending?"

But I honestly have no idea to make a group like that, so that it doesn't fall into all the usual horrible pitfalls of writing groups. Any ideas?

banksiapossum November 15 2009, 07:19:26 UTC

Hey there ( ... )

cupidsbow November 16 2009, 01:02:19 UTC

My guess is that you would tell her to write her heart out regardless of how it comes out. After all... 'Anything worth doing is worth doing badly'.

That's a good guess. It's pretty much what I'm telling myself these days, and I'm enjoying writing much more because of it.

As for the praise thing -- I've heard about that research too. I don't remember my parents praising me for being clever, and in fact, mum and I talked about that research and she said she didn't, because she'd see it muck up other kids. But my parents weren't the only people with influence, so it could well have happened at school. In any case, I think writing has so much baggage for me because I've invested so much in the idea of being a writer. But that's a useless investment if it actually stops me writing.

Just as well I'm spending some time unpacking that baggage now. :)

banksiapossum November 18 2009, 17:43:46 UTC

Hey there ( ... )