Leif GS Notae
Closed Account
So if I write 25000 words in a day (which I can, I've done it without a problem) and I finish a story, will that put food on my plate? No. Writing a story and "WRITING A STORY" are two different things.
You can write an amazing amount of backstory that is very fluff like and builds a world you can write a story from, but if you don't know the structure of a story (the golden country, inciting incident, 3+ acts, etc), you're screaming in the wind and no one can hear you.
It isn't the ACT of finishing, it is the ability to understand HOW to finish that will make you a better writer.
And this is where your analysis of my analysis of the original quote is a bit wanky. You can shoot all you want at that goalie and try to score a goal. Without research, study, and feedback from your "teammates", you are never going to find out that his stick side is his weak spot and if someone is screening his glove hand, he'll give up a goal every time. You might not think there is a formula for writing a great novel, but I assure you there is.
You misunderstood what I was saying, but that is all right. Fluid isn't the ability to change whatever you want in the story, it is the ability to weather the storm and watch the river flood the area you didn't expect it to. It is the ability to let your story go because it isn't ready, or just isn't interesting.
My example would be from this thread this morning. I commented here, told an independent editor who wants to read everything I am writing for this WIP that I was putting it on the backshelf only to have inspiration from stepping away and admitting defeat, which leads to a greater purpose and focus because I am not carrying the cross of "finishing"; THAT is fluid. That is Zen Writing.
Your work is like a sandcastle beset to the waves. When the ocean tears it down and destroys MOST of it, you can rebuild what was important and make a better castle. Eventually, after many losses, you build the best castle you can and the tide recedes.
That is your novel. You let life, the universe, and everything flow through you without dictating you WILL finish.
Am I openly discouraging people with my words? Perhaps. If you can accept that you will have to step away and assess that there are many manuscripts in the closets of the greatest writers in the world, you can accept that there are times your story is okay to walk away from.
You can write an amazing amount of backstory that is very fluff like and builds a world you can write a story from, but if you don't know the structure of a story (the golden country, inciting incident, 3+ acts, etc), you're screaming in the wind and no one can hear you.
It isn't the ACT of finishing, it is the ability to understand HOW to finish that will make you a better writer.
I disagree that it's like shooting five hole all the time. You learn from each shot you take and you use that knowledge to find the goalies weakness. If you only take one shot, you cant learn as much. Without enough information, how do you know if you should change your approach or not? The five hole may be that particular goalies great weakness.
And this is where your analysis of my analysis of the original quote is a bit wanky. You can shoot all you want at that goalie and try to score a goal. Without research, study, and feedback from your "teammates", you are never going to find out that his stick side is his weak spot and if someone is screening his glove hand, he'll give up a goal every time. You might not think there is a formula for writing a great novel, but I assure you there is.
I'm not sure I'm understanding you here, so correct me if I'm responding to something you didn't say.
Fluid writing comes with practice and practice develops control over ones writing. Control means a writer will be able to do things on purpose instead hoping a piece of writing turns out because they were in the zone that day. Writing requires many different skills and a subset of those skills is acquired by finishing stories good, bad and everything in between.
I'd even go as far as to say finishing a bad and uninspiring story is more helpful than finishing a good one. If an author knows what they wrote is bad that's a lessoned learned. If they can figure out what's wrong with the story and can figure out how to fix it, that's two lessons learned. And all this acquired experience can be applied to the next story.
From personal experience, I've finished my share of terrible stories. But because I finished them, I had lots to work with when I went back. And I worked them into something better, dare I say even good. You mentioned people should outline, well, a terribly written story can be considered an outline, and for some authors, that's the way they work, first terrible draft is the outline.
You misunderstood what I was saying, but that is all right. Fluid isn't the ability to change whatever you want in the story, it is the ability to weather the storm and watch the river flood the area you didn't expect it to. It is the ability to let your story go because it isn't ready, or just isn't interesting.
My example would be from this thread this morning. I commented here, told an independent editor who wants to read everything I am writing for this WIP that I was putting it on the backshelf only to have inspiration from stepping away and admitting defeat, which leads to a greater purpose and focus because I am not carrying the cross of "finishing"; THAT is fluid. That is Zen Writing.
Your work is like a sandcastle beset to the waves. When the ocean tears it down and destroys MOST of it, you can rebuild what was important and make a better castle. Eventually, after many losses, you build the best castle you can and the tide recedes.
That is your novel. You let life, the universe, and everything flow through you without dictating you WILL finish.
Am I openly discouraging people with my words? Perhaps. If you can accept that you will have to step away and assess that there are many manuscripts in the closets of the greatest writers in the world, you can accept that there are times your story is okay to walk away from.