CWP ~2 editing
Creative Writing Process ~ Editing, be ruthless!!
Soulless Doll story is here
A good habit to get into is to create a folder called "Junk" to store deleted writing, better to never throw it away even if it is horrible.
To edit it, I need to figure out the "story" itself and go from there. So it is a doll without a soul but prepped and ready for one, maybe yours...
I liked this:
So will probably keep that in the rewrite.
Then cut the rest of the beginning as it does not fit the story. Learning to be ruthless and cut what is "fluff" is really useful and a necessary skill! So, I will forget all the excess stuff and start where he is high on a shelf and learns "evil" from watching the brothers.
Right off the bat I lose half the story, but it will make it a lot better. Starting a story from scratch is like that though. Just start it and then you will see what you like and what you don't.
No one usually sees this "rough" rough draft so don't worry about how horrible it is! It is just a starting point.
Things I liked in story:
So from a whole story there is only 8 lines or so left that I will use for the rewrite. That is hard but definitely what you need to do when writing.
While I liked the idea in the beginning, it does not go with this story so has to go. Put it into the Junk folder and forget it for now. I may go back to it for my other novel I am working on about the workers who are in charge of things like "that song stuck in your head"...
Do not worry too much about punctuation at this point. It is important but it is one of the last things I worry about. I know I have a good editor for when the time comes to publish our novels so am not worried about it now. You can hire a college student for cheap I bet if you don't know anyone who is a "grammar Nazi". You know they are one if they giggle at your sentence structure, sniggering quietly as they read your work :p
It is hard to do, "throw away" a huge chunk of your work, but it will make the finished product much better.
I think one thing people who try to write get stuck on is they are too afraid to just write a story down. They want it to be perfect. Perfection comes from good editing though. Knowing what you want to write is only a step in the process. I know several people who can outline stories to perfection but are too afraid to just write it out. I think it will help people to realize it is a lot like homework :p
I am working on S'happens, so unless I get inspiration for this doll story I will be doing that this week. I just didn't like the feeling I was leaving it undone, this tutorial project.
So, we got the concept idea, then we just wrote a story trying to keep within that frame, then showed the thoughts as I was writing it and then how I plan to edit it. The creative process is fun and is different for everyone and even between projects. Some I just know what I want and write it. Like with S'happens, the idea was to do a sort of "American Werewolf in Alaska" but drifted too far from that so it is "just" a werewolf film now... :p
I think writing is a very good thing and something people should do every day. If you don't like writing stories, keep a journal and write down random thoughts you have. Reading those years later can be funny! I posted a short story earlier (SeaFoam) to show my writing style, it was meant to sound translated into English vaguely giving the feel it was passed down to me. That one was written and not edited much beyond punctuation since I wanted to show me "in the raw" I guess it is called. I guess I liked the story and felt it showed me to advantage that whole "this is me natural", hehe...
Ok, so what I hope you take away from this is to write it down, even if it seems horrible. I mean, look at my rough rough! Yikes! But the next version of it will be 100% improved. Then, once it is written, be ruthless! be vicious! Out of that starting idea I think I have maybe a paragraph left. that is what is needed!
Copy the story to a new thing and move it to Junk folder so you have a copy of it. Then delete each line that does not pertain exactly to the story. no interesting sidebars! If there is a phrase or idea you love, save it but know it might be cut in the rewrite. I might change it to the Doll's point of view in the rewrite, not sure yet... So I keep what I think relates directly to the doll and delete the rest. Not much left but I can already see the bare bones of the new story from the ashes of this one! :p But I already mentioned I am writing the low budget horror film script right now and it is going very well so I will most likely do that this week.
Please leave any questions or things you would like to know in the comments!
hugs,
~Sea
#creativewriting #horrorfilm #tutorial
Soulless Doll story is here
A good habit to get into is to create a folder called "Junk" to store deleted writing, better to never throw it away even if it is horrible.
To edit it, I need to figure out the "story" itself and go from there. So it is a doll without a soul but prepped and ready for one, maybe yours...
I liked this:
It was like a baby not yet born though, the same as for a mortal baby, kind of. You are born not knowing much and gradually learn the world around you. This doll was the same way.
So will probably keep that in the rewrite.
Then cut the rest of the beginning as it does not fit the story. Learning to be ruthless and cut what is "fluff" is really useful and a necessary skill! So, I will forget all the excess stuff and start where he is high on a shelf and learns "evil" from watching the brothers.
Right off the bat I lose half the story, but it will make it a lot better. Starting a story from scratch is like that though. Just start it and then you will see what you like and what you don't.
No one usually sees this "rough" rough draft so don't worry about how horrible it is! It is just a starting point.
Things I liked in story:
- box in box in dark room idea
- doll as baby
- brothers teach it cruelty
- shop lady teaches him companionship and transferring of souls
So from a whole story there is only 8 lines or so left that I will use for the rewrite. That is hard but definitely what you need to do when writing.
While I liked the idea in the beginning, it does not go with this story so has to go. Put it into the Junk folder and forget it for now. I may go back to it for my other novel I am working on about the workers who are in charge of things like "that song stuck in your head"...
Do not worry too much about punctuation at this point. It is important but it is one of the last things I worry about. I know I have a good editor for when the time comes to publish our novels so am not worried about it now. You can hire a college student for cheap I bet if you don't know anyone who is a "grammar Nazi". You know they are one if they giggle at your sentence structure, sniggering quietly as they read your work :p
It is hard to do, "throw away" a huge chunk of your work, but it will make the finished product much better.
I think one thing people who try to write get stuck on is they are too afraid to just write a story down. They want it to be perfect. Perfection comes from good editing though. Knowing what you want to write is only a step in the process. I know several people who can outline stories to perfection but are too afraid to just write it out. I think it will help people to realize it is a lot like homework :p
I am working on S'happens, so unless I get inspiration for this doll story I will be doing that this week. I just didn't like the feeling I was leaving it undone, this tutorial project.
So, we got the concept idea, then we just wrote a story trying to keep within that frame, then showed the thoughts as I was writing it and then how I plan to edit it. The creative process is fun and is different for everyone and even between projects. Some I just know what I want and write it. Like with S'happens, the idea was to do a sort of "American Werewolf in Alaska" but drifted too far from that so it is "just" a werewolf film now... :p
I think writing is a very good thing and something people should do every day. If you don't like writing stories, keep a journal and write down random thoughts you have. Reading those years later can be funny! I posted a short story earlier (SeaFoam) to show my writing style, it was meant to sound translated into English vaguely giving the feel it was passed down to me. That one was written and not edited much beyond punctuation since I wanted to show me "in the raw" I guess it is called. I guess I liked the story and felt it showed me to advantage that whole "this is me natural", hehe...
Ok, so what I hope you take away from this is to write it down, even if it seems horrible. I mean, look at my rough rough! Yikes! But the next version of it will be 100% improved. Then, once it is written, be ruthless! be vicious! Out of that starting idea I think I have maybe a paragraph left. that is what is needed!
Copy the story to a new thing and move it to Junk folder so you have a copy of it. Then delete each line that does not pertain exactly to the story. no interesting sidebars! If there is a phrase or idea you love, save it but know it might be cut in the rewrite. I might change it to the Doll's point of view in the rewrite, not sure yet... So I keep what I think relates directly to the doll and delete the rest. Not much left but I can already see the bare bones of the new story from the ashes of this one! :p But I already mentioned I am writing the low budget horror film script right now and it is going very well so I will most likely do that this week.
Please leave any questions or things you would like to know in the comments!
hugs,
~Sea
#creativewriting #horrorfilm #tutorial
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on my thoughts...