 Mystery: September 27, 2023 Issue [#12194] |
This week: Good Ideas Gone South Edited by: Creeper Of The Realm  
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We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.
~ Anais Nin
This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It's that easy, and that hard.
~ Neil Gaiman
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You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
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Good Ideas Gone South
When a good idea loses the big picture and focuses on a few things only, it makes me think of a glitch in the matrix. Something happened and the writer lost focus, changed the view of the story. While I think it's sometimes a necessity to keep your eye on the goal, other times I feel that the story line went in a different direction and forgot all about its surroundings. Let me elaborate. 
Recently I started watching the show La Brea. I might give out a spoiler or not but I'll try not to. It starts with a big sinkhole in the middle of L.A., probably a couple of blocks circumference. That's a huge hole. Instead of dying, all these people fall through a crack, land back on steady ground (mind you, they fell from the sky and survived!) and realize they are still in the same place, just 10,000 years B.C.. Great idea with a few glitches in it. There are maybe two dozen people who appear in the first episode. Where's the rest? There aren't any dead. No one seems to be hurt. Because it's a Sci-Fi genre, the focus is quickly shifted on getting back to their time. Never mind that though. They just landed in the past! There are only three or four animals shown from that time (what we know) and yet they are seemingly safe in what is basically a jungle.
The show continues somewhat strong, shifting focus to other things, but I keep having questions. Questions that could be answered but the show decides not to ask them even though the opportunities present themselves clearly. Some things are rushed, other things are rather unnecessary, and many things are missing. Never mind the genre. There's still mystery here and everything is up in the air. I wouldn't consider these to be plot holes, but rather information ignored.
Another show, a teen show about witches, vampires and such, did the same thing. Murder, mayhem, love story. However, the way it starts shows things we never get to see again. Later on, you're briefly reminded of the things forgotten and you wonder about it. You keep asking what the purpose was of introducing something, something that could have made a fun impact on the story, if you never get to see it again.
It makes me think of interactive stories. It can branch out into different paths along the way, but what has been introduced in the first chapter should and still is considered part of the story. You cannot forget about its roots no matter what direction you take.
When you write, you create a world for the reader but if the reader has more questions than answers, it means you have a problem in your writing. If you add something to your story, then dismiss it completely later on, never to include it again, never to mention it again, why do it in the first place? If you wrote:
"She spotted a gun hidden under the blanket on the table,..."
but never explain that, never go back to that information, and it's irrelevant to the story, why include it? Your reader will remember it. It'll stay in their mind until the problem is solved and they'll question its existence in the first place, especially if it wasn't relevant to the story.
Everything you write is part of the story. Minor things which you might not consider important, may be of significance to the reader. Be careful what you add and how you add it to your writing. There's a certain peripheral vision in a reader and anything unfinished stays in their rear view mirror. If you introduce a new character to your story, they have to have a reason to be there. Even if it's a simple introduction in passing, the reader will wonder their purpose in the story.
At times, information is just thrown into the mix to keep the story going. To keep it from being boring. However, if you don't have real plans for said information, remove it once done. If it's something major, like being stuck in 10,000 B.C. then please, make sure you're prepared to provide more information about the surroundings your characters are in. A small town, big city, different country. It's your job to paint the picture. Don't dump the information all at once, but rather show glimpses here and there. Your reader is present in your story and if it goes south, they'll have more questions then answers.
'til next time!
~ Gaby  |
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