At 05:41 PM 7/6/96 -0400, you wrote:

Craig <fanfic@magister.apana.org.au> wrote:

	After becoming stalled time and again with all four (now including DC)
writing projects on which I'm currently working, I've come to the conclusion
that for me at least, trying to write and edit simultaneously or abandoning
something for more than a week with the intention of getting back to it is
almost a certain formula either for complete failure or the work progressing
at a snail's pace.

<snip>

Still others; E.G. `We Just Want to Help You' (BGC) start with
the promise of a fascinating tale and then simply stop. 

 <snip>

Good Lord, I have *got* to add a prelude to this thing, since very few
people seem to get it.  I can speak with great authority about "Help You"
since I wrote it.

There was never any intention to go any further.  That's the end of the
story.  

       I understood that it was the end. :)

<snip>

<snip>

OK, you're stuck.  Can you move on to Ch-4 without finishing Ch-3?  If so,
do it.  You can always go back and finish Chapter 3 later, and maybe you'll
have better ideas then.  Another trick - write the story backwards.  No, not
the ending at the top of the fic, but write from the ending backwards to the
beginning.  I read an interview once with a SF writer (whose name escapes me
right now) who says he has to have a starting point and and ending point or
he can't write.  So he writes the beginning, then he writes the ending, then
he works backward to the beginning again...

        So far in everything I have done, (only two of which have seen the 
ligh of day) I always know the end of the story.  For No Mere Mortal, the
last scene with Urd was the second scene I wrote.  I tend to outline my
stories, so that I know where I am going, this helps keep me on track, It 
is just sometimes I just do not know how to get to where I want to be.
Why do I outline?  It is a habit from my first bacholar's degree.  I did
a whole undergrad degree on a manual typewriter.  You had to know what
your are writting before you start!  I did a whole 64 page paper in
5 weeks that way.  Outline the entire thing first on 3x5 cards, rearranged
the cards until I got them in the order I wanted, then to the typewriter.
As for why it takes me so long to get stories out.  Well there is RL, that
tends to take up a lot of my time, (I tend to work 50+ hour weeks).  Also
I write all of my first drfts by hand in my note book, usally away from 
home and outside distractions, before I type it into the computer.  It is
an extra step that slows the process down but is for me a necessary step.
Also I tend not to send every idea I have out.  I keep My ideas in a note
book, and I added to it when I come up with something, BUT I only activly 
work on one project at a time.  This works for me, but for other people they
need to have a couple of irons in the fire at a time to keep the creative
juices flowing.  I am ranting now, so bye.


ed

//
//  "Does the sight of cleavage make you insane?!"  Ukyo
//