Ideas are Cheap · 10:39am May 26th, 2017
I don't have a problem with ideas, I love them just as much as the next person, but I feel like I want to say something a little antagonising (or maybe it's not and I'm blowing it out of proportion). I think ideas for a story are relatively easy.
Hear me out!
It's not what you think.
I find the easiest thing to do is to start a story and drive it forward. The hardest thing for me is to end it, especially when it's building to something. You don't want to do it too fast, or it'll seem rushed (too guilty of this), you don't want to make it slow or you'll lose interest (I'm also guilty of this), what matters is balancing it all out on a thin string.
Cheap ideas are cheap because they only point to one aspect or one subset of the world that makes your narrative interesting. I like to call this the hook. Like a fish, with bait and all that.
Not that it's a bad thing, if there was nothing interesting to drag a reader in, then a reader wouldn't want to give it a shot in the first place, right? So a hook is important, but make no mistake, the hook is not central to story, much like the fact that the bait isn't the most important part of fishing. Location, angle, weather, luck, effort, etc. So many things that may end up with a fish on your plate.
So good writing is often linked to a good concept or an idea. The most memorable part of the fic was that 'hook', but maybe the thing that had the most impact was the ending, for that is what I often hear avid readers talk about. The ending, I think, is the most difficult part of the fic, and part of the reason why fics tend to drag on is because maybe there's some dark corner in the author's mind that fears the judgement that comes with it. Ending a fic forces the reader to review what they thought about the fiction in a holistic sense.
If they don't like what they see, then guess what? Your fic leaves a bad impression and you might receive a contrite comment explaining how much it sucks. Isn't it easier to make your fic longer and longer? I know it is, but finishing it is much more important. Hooks have a lifetime and unless you replace it with something deep than a shallow idea, the fic is bound to fail.
Just... wanted to get that off my chest.
Happy reading!
Seeing as how I'm approaching the end of first big hit, I can really relate to this. I've been trying to set up my story to end on a sort of high, but it's still really unnerving to think of pulling it off right. Thanks for your thoughts and the awesome gif. Cheers.
Agreed with the sentiments of your post. Also wish to add people are more likely to vocalize negative thoughts than neutral or positive ones. So if your ending is greeted with a lot of criticism it's not necessarily the wrong choice it could be that the silent majority who are satisfied with it aren't taking the time to say it.
Yeah, I can imagine that endings must be the hardest things to do.
While I don't mind long fics, they have to be long because they have the substance to keep them long. If it's just padding... yeah, like you said, bound to fail.
A short filler chapter here or there is not a bad thing, but I'd rather have a great short-ish story than a long, uneventful one.
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Totally, this sort of anxiety is really kinda pervasive in a way that consumes your thoughts at the most critical of times. It really clouds my writing and leaves me with a sense of loss in terms of plot development and pacing.
4547815 I wish I could say something encouraging, but... I got nothing.
Would saying "I love your stuff anyway" count? Because I totally do.
4547937 No, that's really encouraging too! You're a legend :)
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