As y'all know, my family visited this last weekend, and my nephew-in-law wanted to chew my ear about writing. COOL! This was a first! Usually everyone's eyes glaze over when they can't find a way to escape. :-) It seems he had an idea for a story. My first question, and I think I'm getting better at this sort of thing, was to ask where in a bookstore he envisioned this book being shelved. He saw it at a kind of a non-fiction/memoir/fictional sort of thing.
Uh-oh.
Uh, I don't KNOW anything about non-fic or memoirs, AND there isn't a non-fic/memoir/fiction shelf in a bookstore!
What he wanted to do wouldn't make a cohesive story, but instead it would have read like a bunch of short stories--which is what he writes in his free time. So he wasn't surprise with my tidbit of insight!
His story idea lacked focus.
After we chatted a bit, I mentioned that he needed a gimmick or chapter heading or something to tie individual chapters together to show the arc of the storyline and give it a backbone. This type of story would take outlining, plotting and planning to give it a feeling of cohesion. My writing style (the chunky monkey method--pull the crap out of your butt and slinging it onto the paper) wouldn't work at all! I think they went away with a plan in mind.
And don't get me wrong, I think it was a cool idea, but it would take some doing to get it right.
And this reminded me of when I started writing. I had been writing for about six months when I joined my local RWA chapter, Romance Writers Ink, and I was asked whether or not my romance was a single title or category. One, I didn't have a clue as to what either of those meant. Two, I just wanted to write a romance, what difference did it make? Well, I have a few miles under my belt and I know there is a world of difference between the two, but they aren't the topic of this blog--focus is. And y'all know what a horrible time I have maintaining mine, which is why I cut the tangent that I had written!
So focus your thoughts and then . . .
Write on!
Your nephew is lucky he has you to bounce ideas off and get advice. I wish I'd had that when I started.
ReplyDeleteFocus. Man that's an important....ohhh something shiny.
ReplyDeleteWhat was I saying?
Thanks, Edie! Writing is such a dark, dank hole that it's hard to know if you are heading in the right direction--even at this point in my career, I wonder.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Cyndi!
ReplyDeleteshiny, shiny, pretty, pretty. . .
I SO get this!
focus...focus...focus...nope. Not working. :P My life is utter chaos right now and focusing is the least of my issues. bleh!
ReplyDeleteGlad you could help your nephew. It always makes me feel good when I can help a fellow writer out. Even if it's with something small. Makes me feel quite not so much the idiot.
Give yourself a break, Kira! Life is just throwing you a curve ball. Look at it this way, you wrote and polished a book this summer that wasn't even on your writing radar in May! So just focus on ordering the chaos. . . and play Farmville!
ReplyDeleteHa. I spend several hours a day on a real farm cleaning up after REAL animals!
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth on the focus thing. I can be laser-focused sometimes (like if I'm in the show ring competing - then look out, I will chew you up and spit you out) and completely distracted other times.
But Farmville animals don't poop, Jody! That's the perk of virtual critters.
ReplyDeleteYou focus when you need to focus, J, and that's every time you get on horseback.