Attack of the plot bunnies
May. 19th, 2011 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
essayelI spent an informative, nostalgic and somewhat depressing evening in the back rooms of my hard drive and was a bit shocked at what I found - 7 finished stories for a start, some novel length - and I haven't really looked at Gdocs yet.
The plot bunnies breed you see *blows dust off* and it's so easy to flit from idea to idea, especially when writing with someone else. My co-written box is overflowing and we've written a LOT. But there seems to be a cut off point. There are always 2 MacGuffins, one plot related and one the relationship of the protagonists. Once the relationship MacGuffin has been attained the urgency to finish the actual plot is gone so the writing peters out and stops. Hence 57K, 99k, 250k!!! 95k and 68k word stories sitting there looking reproachful. It seems such a waste because some of the plots are fun but it also seems wrong to finish them on my own.
If I write on my own I tend to abandon stories earlier, but I used to finish things at one time. Thinking back it was in the days before Wifi when I used to have to queue for net time. Having the net immediately available is brilliant because I can find out stuff, and the net IS my social life [how sad is that?] but I really should try to concentrate.
Decisions then:
First - get my desk back from madam. She has a room of her own, she just needs to muck it out and since she's at home all day while I'm either at work or doing stuff for Mum, she's the one who has the time to do it.
Second - set aside time to be alone and quiet.
Thirdly - unplug the router. [This will have the other benefit of stopping missy from streaming endless eps of South Park and Family Guy and doubling up our bandwidth use each month.]
I can't write Fourthly with a straight face :D - choose wisely which stories to finish. I'm currently inclining towards the pirate Nanowrimo effort, a short contemporary romance that just needs a couple of extra scenes, and an historical short set on the coast of the Aegean in about 380BC that I'm enjoying because it's sun drenched and gentle and guilt free. I put that last one down as the spoonful of sugar.
The plot bunnies breed you see *blows dust off* and it's so easy to flit from idea to idea, especially when writing with someone else. My co-written box is overflowing and we've written a LOT. But there seems to be a cut off point. There are always 2 MacGuffins, one plot related and one the relationship of the protagonists. Once the relationship MacGuffin has been attained the urgency to finish the actual plot is gone so the writing peters out and stops. Hence 57K, 99k, 250k!!! 95k and 68k word stories sitting there looking reproachful. It seems such a waste because some of the plots are fun but it also seems wrong to finish them on my own.
If I write on my own I tend to abandon stories earlier, but I used to finish things at one time. Thinking back it was in the days before Wifi when I used to have to queue for net time. Having the net immediately available is brilliant because I can find out stuff, and the net IS my social life [how sad is that?] but I really should try to concentrate.
Decisions then:
First - get my desk back from madam. She has a room of her own, she just needs to muck it out and since she's at home all day while I'm either at work or doing stuff for Mum, she's the one who has the time to do it.
Second - set aside time to be alone and quiet.
Thirdly - unplug the router. [This will have the other benefit of stopping missy from streaming endless eps of South Park and Family Guy and doubling up our bandwidth use each month.]
I can't write Fourthly with a straight face :D - choose wisely which stories to finish. I'm currently inclining towards the pirate Nanowrimo effort, a short contemporary romance that just needs a couple of extra scenes, and an historical short set on the coast of the Aegean in about 380BC that I'm enjoying because it's sun drenched and gentle and guilt free. I put that last one down as the spoonful of sugar.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 09:35 am (UTC)**hugs**
Good luck with the ousting of the missy, though...
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 10:29 am (UTC)I wish I was one of those gifted folk who can multitask like a mofo, but I've spent a lot of evenings lately staring blankly into space waiting for something to happen and I'm worried my brain will soften. I figure that if I'm happy because I've achieved something I might be more fun to be around.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 11:39 am (UTC)For me I've found I best concentrate (and by proxy do my best writing) when I take my laptop and shut myself in my room away from the TV, the cat, etc. If I don't I find myself inevitably getting hooked into whatever Dad's watching, or allow the cat to take over my lap, or or or....
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 12:14 pm (UTC)I think you're very wise. If you want to produce good work I think you have to be a little selfish about it. Though, oddly enough, it's not selfish when ones spouse shuts himself up in the shed to make something. Ganders and gooses!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 11:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 12:12 pm (UTC)A little productive solitude would be nice.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-19 02:16 pm (UTC)