I really hope this is the right thread to post in.
So I have been interested in writing since I can remember. In recent years, however, I started focusing more on drawing, and while I kept developing my original characters and their stories inside my head, I have not finished a short story or any other writing project in about 5 years. I have also stopped reading during that time; I cannot focus long enough to read a novel due to health issues and I have a really difficult time finding any stories that look interesting to me. In fact, one of my reasons for wanting to be a writer was that I could create what I could not find anywhere.
Yet I have an increasing notion that my plots and writing style would not suitable for the writing market and I know I should have given up on writing a long time ago. I sometimes tell myself I should delete my work in progress, all old writing and backups, clean up all posts of my character art and lock away the originals, and focus on becoming just an illustrator instead.
However, not only am I an amazing coward when it comes to letting go of writing - old dreams die hard, I guess? - but I have also built a lot of my creativity and life around my characters and their stories. It even shows in my drawings. I have no idea how to clear my mind of all this, or even if it is possible.
Suggestions/opinions, anyone? I would like some advice, particularly from people who managed to give up something that took a lot of space in their general creative life.
Hm... maybe put together something like an art book, with descriptions of the characters and stories, as they are? A way to give them a little bit of life, and their stories as they were, so you get closure to the creative process. It doesn't have to be public, or could be just dropped unannounced on archive.org.
Supporting creators since 2004 (When was the last time you backed up your game?)
Worldbuilding is a necessary part of storytelling, but it is important to remember that worldbuilding is a support element meant to facilitate the creation of the final product - the story itself. I notice that it is surprisingly common for creative types to get caught up in worldbuilding to the point where it is no longer serving the purpose of providing a setting for a story to be told. Past a certain point, the author becomes the servant of the setting rather than the other way around, and it becomes impossible to carve a story out of an overly-defined and cumbersome world which lacks the flexibility to accommodate any tale-telling.
Change your focus. Worldbuilding should serve as the scaffolding for the story you are intending to build - you should expect to tear it all down once you've completed your real work. Make the worldbuilding into a tool whose purpose is to serve the construction of the story.
Nasu developed Kara no Kyoukai and Fate/Stay Night from settings which he had developed since he was a teenager. Ayn Rand spent more than a decade writing the book for which she is most famous. There's no need to feel like it's too late to hammer a proper story out of a setting that you've been keeping on the backburner for a while. However, you also don't have to feel like you absolutely must develop your setting into a story before trying another project first. You can always make something that's doable now, and revisit your earlier plans at a later date.
PyTom wrote:Hm... maybe put together something like an art book, with descriptions of the characters and stories, as they are? A way to give them a little bit of life, and their stories as they were, so you get closure to the creative process. It doesn't have to be public, or could be just dropped unannounced on archive.org.
I think an art book with minimal writing would be an interesting project. Thank you!
RotGtIE wrote:Worldbuilding is a necessary part of storytelling, but it is important to remember that worldbuilding is a support element meant to facilitate the creation of the final product - the story itself. I notice that it is surprisingly common for creative types to get caught up in worldbuilding to the point where it is no longer serving the purpose of providing a setting for a story to be told. Past a certain point, the author becomes the servant of the setting rather than the other way around, and it becomes impossible to carve a story out of an overly-defined and cumbersome world which lacks the flexibility to accommodate any tale-telling.
Change your focus. Worldbuilding should serve as the scaffolding for the story you are intending to build - you should expect to tear it all down once you've completed your real work. Make the worldbuilding into a tool whose purpose is to serve the construction of the story.
To be honest, my worldbuilding is not very advanced. The short stories are all set in the same world, but they are fairytale-like with a vague and anachronistic setting. All focus is on the characters instead.
Ha I know this one. And I deleted everything and destroyed anything physical. That's not a good decision. I just erased whatever interesting ideas I got in the span of a couple of years.
Much better to just keep it in a folder called IDEAS, and then one day you can add an idea, merge others and BAM you got an interesting story on your hands.
You don't know what to do with these ideas now, but you might know in the future.
Rarykos wrote:
Much better to just keep it in a folder called IDEAS, and then one day you can add an idea, merge others and BAM you got an interesting story on your hands.
You don't know what to do with these ideas now, but you might know in the future.
I can second this. I have had a lot of story ideas over the years, going back to junior high (and I'm over 30 now, for reference). Many of them didn't work on their own, but when combined together, became something special. Sometimes, it is as simple as sitting on a story that isn't working for a few years and getting better at the craft to MAKE it work. One of my stories worked fine with almost no changes, simply because I realized years later that I had been writing it with the wrong protagonist character - another character in the story was a much better protagonist and made everything work.
If nothing else, there is great fun in coming back to what you wrote decades later and marveling at how terribad (but enthusiastic) the younger you was. Seeing what you thought of as clever at the time as just pretentious now, or how obvious the mysterious 'twist' you where setting up was. (It can also be inspiring in showing you that you HAVE improved.)
Trust me. There is great fun in never throwing anything creative away.
