you're finding it's nail-biting and teeth-grinding

[musesfool]

You know, I have never considered myself a masochist (I really don't like pain) but the fact that I can't stop playing bubble spinner, combined with the fact that I started four (FOUR!) new stories this weekend and hate everything about every one of them, is leading me to believe that maybe I am. I don't usually hate my writing. I mean, sometimes I

Comments

[brynnmck]

I think it adds a lot of bullshit mystical mumbo jumbo to the writing process. I mean, I'm not gonna lie - when writing is working for me, when I'm really in the zone, as it were, I do "hear" the dialogue in my head, but it's because I'm telling myself the story. It's not some outside mystical force speaking through me, and I feel like talking about writing as it if were obfuscates the real work of it. I AGREE WITH THIS SO HARD. I mean, everyone's experience is different, and--as an example--one of my good friends uses that metaphor, I think, as a way to keep out of her own way, and not overthink her writing to the point of paralysis. So from that perspective, I say go with whatever works, of course. But in terms of discussing writing in general with other people, I could not agree more--I think the idea that the story writes itself, or that the characters have their own external agency, unnecessarily mystifies the process in a way that simultaneously makes it seem more magical than it really is and also undercuts, like you say, the

[musesfool]

But in terms of discussing writing in general with other people, I could not agree more--I think the idea that the story writes itself, or that the characters have their own external agency, unnecessarily mystifies the process in a way that simultaneously makes it seem more magical than it really is and also undercuts, like you say, the actual work that goes into it.

Yeah. I mean, I guess I get that some people need that distance? I know I get in my own way constantly, so I can understand that. But as a way to discuss writing, it rubs me wrong.

And not just that it wasn't quite what I wanted, but in the sense that every single sentence I wrote seemed to dead-end in Suck Alley. It was like following a recipe you've made a million times and opening the oven at the end and finding a pile of crap instead of a cakeThat's pretty much where I am right now. And I know I'm a capable writer, so it's just really weird. And it's driving me crazy, because I want these stories to exist, but I hate everything about them! And I keep starting new

[yasminke]

I checked out the bubble spinner thing and now I officially hate you.

[musesfool]

Don't get sucked in! It is a ginormous and frustrating time suck!

[yasminke]

I know -- thank you very much, Missy.