wayback wednesday: how many ideas is too many?

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22 August 2007 @ 09:11 am

So, a lot of new ideas for my novel have been flowing lately. Hopefully not too many. One of my very reasonable fears is that it will be one of these books packed with too many ideas and none of them executed well. In my city-walking meditations, I've been trying to train my mind to only think about nuances of currently planned scenes in the novel, which has actually worked better than I would have thought.

Perhaps I should find a way to punish my mind when it tries to invent new scenes. Then again, maybe I'm already doing that by staying up late every night playing computer games?

Tags: wayback wednesdays, writing

Listening to: Stars - "What the Snowman Learned About Love"

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donutgirl on August 22nd, 2007 02:01 pm (UTC)

This is why, even though I know some writers hate it, I swear by outlines.

Of course you're going to come up with fabulous new ideas while you're writing -- some of those ideas will even be useful and relevant to the work at hand. But no, you can't throw every good idea into the mix, and an outline will help you see when you are wandering way off track -- whether in plot, characterization, or theme.

You should always jot down these ideas, though -- they may well come in handy in this or other stories.

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assmonkeydiary on August 22nd, 2007 02:08 pm (UTC)

Yeah, I know some writers that fear the outline, because completing it takes some of the fun out of it, the whole discovering what the novel as you write it. But I like it. I like the wideangle/aerial view of events an outline gives you.

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donutgirl on August 22nd, 2007 02:15 pm (UTC)

Heh. Yeah, if I wanted to discover the ending as it creeps up on me, I'd... read someone *else's* novel. If I don't start out with at least a vague outline, my stories just get progressively weirder and more outlandish. That's fine if you're, say, monty python, but it's not for everyone.

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pallasathene8 on August 22nd, 2007 09:26 pm (UTC)

You could always...post excerpts! And then we could be like, "oh, gridley you're so awesome!" or "oh, Gridley there are a lot of good ideas in there, but they seemed poorly executed." Then you'd know.

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assmonkeydiary on August 22nd, 2007 09:27 pm (UTC)

Well, at this point they're ALL poorly executed. I'll send them your way once I think there's a chance that they're not.

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pallasathene8 on August 22nd, 2007 09:29 pm (UTC)

Bah! You just don't want to share your pure raw genius with us. You horde it.

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assmonkeydiary on August 22nd, 2007 09:30 pm (UTC)

It's true. But I would play City of Villain with you if you wanted.

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pallasathene8 on August 23rd, 2007 01:48 am (UTC)

We've never been in sync on games, I don't think. I'm back to WoW now.

That is, as soon as I get my new computer, since my old one won't even start up now because shit kept getting fried by spontaneous shut downs probably caused by a virus probably caused by X. Or so my paranoia says. I shouldn't flatter him.

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professormortis on August 24th, 2007 07:15 pm (UTC)

Jesus, man, where did you get this week's batch? Man, it'd be hot in here even if I wasn't working in an unairconditioned barn!

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assmonkeydiary on August 24th, 2007 07:20 pm (UTC)

It has been a lucky week, hasn't it?

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