Author: Cassandra Tiensivu
Date:   11-19-04 14:23

I am technically "published", but since it was through the ever-fabled National Library of Poetry (and a few other extremely low-key poetry publications)... I don't count it.

I have been working on a novel for the past two years. I've been building a history, creating maps and character backgrounds and lots of minute little details. I just finished the outline for my story last month and have begun digging into the task of bringing it to life.

Is there such a thing as taking too long to write a story? When completed, this particular story is going to be rather epic. I've already got a crowd of people following the progress as I've an insatiable need to ask for opinions.


It's nice to "meet" you all.


- Cassandra

Author: Denise Kiincy
Date:   11-19-04 20:31

You asked if there were such a thing as taking too long to write a story. What story? You haven't started the story yet, you've done two years of research. And when you say you have a crowd of people following the progress? What progress? Sounds like you prefer talking about your novel more than actually wanting to write it. Talks cheap. Write it.

And I strongly advise you not to try writing an epic. That too sounds like another excuse for you to never finish it. Don't play the part of the tortured writer, or pose and posture for your friends, your crowd of people. In all honesty, those people are probably tired of hearing about your so called novel and have their doubts that you will ever write it. Sorry to be so blunt, not my usual style, but somebody needed to say it. Sit down and start writing it, and if I were you, I wouldn't tell another soul about it until you have the final draft. With two years of research, if you really wanted to write a novel, you could do it in less than 6 months.

Denise

Author: Cassandra Tiensivu
Date:   11-19-04 22:18

Okay then...

Thanks for the reply. I guess I won't say another word on here until it's done, perhaps never again. Sorry I seemed to have struck a nerve. I didn't think I was kicking anybody in the privates with my post.

Author: Caroline Burgess
Date:   11-19-04 22:45

Cassandra,

Denise wasn't trying to be mean, just blunt. If you have the story brewing in your head and you have done all of this research for it, don't you think that your fingers would be itching to write it out and get started. It's great that you have the initiative yo do the proper research for it but don't you think that instead of sitting on all of that research that you should put your thoughts into words. I know that if I did that much research I would begin to loose facts or they would become tangled. I try to do my research as it comes to me. If you're just having problems starting, then brainstorm. You don't always have to put backstory in the beginning. Flashbacks are a wonderful thing. Try to get your novel started. It isn't going to write itself.

Author: Amanda Turek
Date:   11-19-04 23:04

Cassandra,
I don't believe there is a time limit for writing a story. How could there be? If you want to write an epic, I say go right ahead. It's scary to take the plunge and begin. But do it! step off your map and get your feet wet. Writing is an adventure.

That said, just because some people can write novels in six months doesn't mean you should. Everyone has different ways of working; everyone moves at a different pace. If you have a supportive community, you are fortunate. If you are driving them nuts, back off. Simple.

Good luck!

Author: r p
Date:   11-20-04 00:11

Oh no! Please don't be scared away. I'm sure Denise didn't mean to scare you. She probably meant to motivate you. Read some of her other posts. She seems pretty nice in the other ones.

And by all means, write. I wouldn't start out to write an epic, if I were you, but if the story ends up taking several book to come to its natural conclusion, so be it. It's happened before, with varying levels of success.

I assume you write fantasy, since words like "epic" and "maps" are typically used in reference to traditional fantasy. (Although it should be noted that the word "epic" actually refers to a particular type of poem, with several qualifying characteristics, in addition to length, but that's not really the point, huh?).

Anyway, welcome, and please be assured that your post did not "kick anyone in the privates". That's the great thing about on-line conversations. No one has privates.

good luck,
rp

Author: leslee
Date:   11-20-04 00:59

Hey, Cassandra, don't let one overly-zealous response drive you away. Come on, it's just her opinion. You're free to ignore any opinion posted by anybody in here. This one included.

The first time I posted on WN, I got a less than friendly response, too. If you're interested in talking with writers, stick around. You don't have to prove anything to anyone.

Author: Sakura
Date:   11-20-04 01:56

Not necessary, but sometimes it helps.

Author: Irese Sheridan
Date:   11-20-04 04:13

Cassandra -- Sounds like a fantasy novel. Am I right? They can be more epic, but I'd still keep it as short as possible. Would also NOT ask for opinions on what you're doing all the time. Unless you're in a writer's group. Friends and family don't count. I don't say much to my non-writer friends about my work other than, "Yes, I'm writing a new book," or, "No, taking some time off."

And don't be scared off here. Lots of people, personalities and opinions.

I would start writing the novel as soon as possible, though. Research and maps can be added as you go along.

Good luck.

Irese

Author: Denise Kiincy
Date:   11-20-04 07:32

Sorry to be so hard on you with my answer, like I said, that's not my style. I hope you haven't run away. I guess hanging around here has made me tougher, go look at a post in published writers where someone cut off my poetic nose and fed it to me, under "Not sure about this poem, need an opinion." Everyone else said they liked it, so my point is that there are as many opinions as there are, well, you know the saying.

And don't think this was my way of geting back at someone else for her wrath, that never even crossed my mind when I answered your post, I didn't think of it until now. That's how much it meant to me, I sent her back a post and told her to go read the back of a cereal box.

I suppose what prompted such a heated response from me is that I have worked so hard on my novel, stayed up till the wee hours of morning, or gotten up in the middle of the night because the damn thing would not leave me alone. And as far as talking about my writing, after a few glazed over glances from friends and family that said oh, isn't that cute, Denise wants to be a writer when she grows up! I think, in my very uncouth way, I was trying to save you from ridicule.

But I do still stand by the fact that you have to just start it, the less you talk about it, the more goes on the paper, if you talk about it too long, it will be written into the oral mist, and diluted.

Hope to see your name on here again, and I promise, I'll be nicer. Like Caroline said, if you look around and visit other sites awhile, which is what I did when I joined, which helped me feel more comfortable here and let people know who I was before I started asking for their opinion, you'll see the true me. This is the first time I have said something so blunt and hard. Not to say I won't again, but I will try to be more tactful next time

Denise

Author: Rozinante
Date:   11-20-04 09:07

Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing it with people, especially since you've gotten supportive responses from your friends and family...but what concerns me is an "insatiable need to ask for opinions." You can't write by committee. You have to be a ruthless dictator in the world you've created. Ruthless!

If you're concerned about the pace of your work schedule, my suggestion is to give yourself some deadlines. "By Christmas Day, I must have Chapter One/3000 words/15 pages complete. No excuses." Pick a goal that is realistic for you but a wee bit of a challenge. Make the next goal more of a challenge, and so forth. These deadlines will help wean you from the soliciting opinion habit, too. You won't have time to "go to committee" if you're going to meet your goal. The more you write, the better your writing will get. Like playing the piano or tennis, practice makes perfect.

Good luck. Sounds like you are having fun with your story. The tremendous detail, with the maps and everything, reminds me of the Bronte Juvenilia. But, ahem, nevertheless, they got published when they got focused and created books they worked at more than played at. Happy writing!

Author: Robert Howard
Date:   11-20-04 13:22

*pulls out the VERY first draft of an incomplete novel, "A Fair of Dragons" and glances through it*

Tripe. Complete, total, and utter tripe. Goddess, I get ill just looking at it.

*looks at the first draft of "The Trip", completed a month ago*

Much, much better. ;)

What I'm trying to say is, no, and yes. If you wrote something and put it aside for years, like a bottle of wine... it doesn't improve. Instead, what you need to do is write constantly. Write every day. Write until your fingers are sore, and write some more. Write little stories. Write a paragraph or two of something that caught your mind. Write write write write WRITE!

The more you write, the better it becomes. I don't care if you're writting fanfictions (something I've done several of, and one of those fanfictions (modified) has since turned into part of a novel (and a second one, which I'd never completed, is being overhauled and turned into a sequel), or writing stuff for a Creative Writing Class (though many of those can be... unhelpful as the teacher might use it as a platform to try and get people to write using HIS/HER style only). Write for your amusement. Write for your whimsy. But WRITE.

The old phrase "practice makes perfect" is soooo very true here. The more you write, the better you'll become. So it's not quite like wine, which just sits around in a dark cellar for years and might turn into something delicious and might turn into vinegar. Instead, it's a garden, and if you put a lot of hard work and effort into it, you get beautiful flowers and delicious veggies... but if you let it lie fallow, you get lots of weeds.

So, have fun! And WRITE! :D

Rob

Author: Cassandra Tiensivu
Date:   11-20-04 14:00

I suppose I do need to get a bit of a thicker hide if I want to get into the mainstream of writing. I realize that there will be a lot of opinions about anything I write and not all of it will be good.

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. I'm keeping everything I've read here in mind as I move forward. I agree that I need to just get it written. I have a complete outline of events, it's just a matter of now fleshing out the story. The story is fantasy, as some of you have suspected. I seem to work a little backwards in the way that I do anything. The research was attempts to try and help me be consistent with the final story. The maps aren't just drawings... I've actually sat down and created an interactive map program that I can reference at any point that will give me information on whatever region, city, river, mountain range ect that is on it. All I have to do is point and click.

Denise, it is all right. I have on occasion done the same thing. Try to spare someone something I went through, but the posts comes off sounding wrong. No need to apologize as I really do understand.

Rozinante, deadlines are a very good idea. That may be the key to my issues with taking too long.

Author: Dave Kuzminski
Date:   11-21-04 09:20

I opened this topic expecting a different question that what was posed.

In most cases, writing does not get better with age. Poor writing remains poor writing no matter how how it becomes.

Writing gets better only with practice and learning.

Author: Constantia Durham
Date:   11-22-04 08:19

I agree that there is such a thing as too much planning. My first attempt at a first novel was nothing but an exercise in research and perfectionism; I like to have everything planned beforehand, and I was afraid to start before I had the whole plot figured out & the chapter outlines were 'perfect'. And of course, they never were. On my second attempt at a novel I realised that you don't need to have *everything* planned -- ideas do flow even while you're writing... and one can actually *rewrite* the parts that displease you! (A great revelation to me!)

I suppose writers themselves do get better with age, though!

Cassandra, this has nothing to do with the topic, but are you by any chance of Finnish origin? Your surname looks like it might be Finnish, and my curiosity got the better of me -- had to ask!

Author: leslee
Date:   11-22-04 09:20

From my perspective, only my opinion:

Absolutely nothing gets better with age.