Story creep

[Sam Wyer]

I have this problem...  OK, yes, I have many problems  but this one specific problem for now.  It’s story creep.  I don’t know if that’s a real term, but what I mean by it is, like time creep, when you expect something to be one thing, but it incrementally moves towards being another.

 

I’m writing a story at the moment (Not Just For Christmas, although I’m not sure it mater about the details for this discussion).  In the beginning, it was a frivolous short for the Christmas competition.  And then I had this fanciful notion that it would be fun to write something bigger with the characters and world I had created.  This was all supposed to be light hearted, post it as I finish it, no grand plan, fun.  Until today.  I’m working on the next chapter, happily typing away, when I realise that I’m having to scale back different elements of the story.  Having taken an hour away from it and made coffee, I think I’m trying to avoid the story becoming something else.  You see, there’s also that story... you know the one, the one that’s been rattling around as an idea for seemingly forever, the one that you’ve never quite got around to fleshing out, but you have a lot of it there, in your head, just waiting for you to sit down and actually write it.  So here’s my problem.  My ‘light’ little story suddenly presents itself as a previously not considered opportunity to write that story.  It all fits, more or less, I’d always imagined it was angels and not elves, but what’s one magical being or another between friends?

 

Urgh!  I’m going to make more coffee becasue I don’t know what to do.  And yes, you are supposed to come rescue me somehow!  Or at least bring cake. 

 

Sam

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Sam Wyer

[Timothy M.]

I have absolutely no solution to offer. It would scare me too.  

Good luck with fighting back or going with the flow, whatever you decide.

[Sam Wyer]

1 minute ago, Timothy M. said:

I have absolutely no solution to offer. It would scare me too.  

Good luck with fighting back or going with the flow, whatever you decide.

 

Thanks - although I distinctly remember mentioning cake 🤔 

[Ivor Slipper]

Angel cake?

[Sam Wyer]

Just now, Ivor Slipper said:

Angel cake?

 

Any!  I’m not picky.    Although nothing with nuts in.  Particularly coconut.

[Timothy M.]

2 minutes ago, Sam Wyer said:

 

Thanks - although I distinctly remember mentioning cake

 

 Will this do ? https://satwcomic.com/nordic-cuisine

 

Or wienerbrød  (Danish pastry in Denmark)

Edited July 5, 2018 by Timothy M.

[Ivor Slipper]

1 minute ago, Sam Wyer said:

 

Any!  I’m not picky.    Although nothing with nuts in.  Particularly coconut.

 

You're not prepared to 'picky' the nuts out?

 

Mind you, I don't like coconut either. Couldn't stand those Bounty bars

[Sam Wyer]

3 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

 

 Will this do ? https://satwcomic.com/nordic-cuisine

 

Or wienerbrød  (Danish pastry in Denmark)

 

Definitely the wienerbrød!

[Valkyrie]

I'll bring cheesecake   🍰 

 

I like the term for what you describe... sometimes stories have a way of creeping up on us.  Ultimately, you have to decide what's best for the story.  If it's shouting in your head and makes sense to incorporate it into your current story, then go for it.  If it's going to be more of a hassle than what it's worth, then stick to your original plan.  

 

I recently wrote a prompt response that I never posted because I turned it into a ten chapter novella.  The characters spoke to me loudly, demanding to be given release.  So I listened.  

[Ivor Slipper]

9 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

 

 Will this do ? https://satwcomic.com/nordic-cuisine

 

 

 

Is that a sort of Abba-dabba-do joke?

[Sam Wyer]

3 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

I'll bring cheesecake   🍰 

 

I like the term for what you describe... sometimes stories have a way of creeping up on us.  Ultimately, you have to decide what's best for the story.  If it's shouting in your head and makes sense to incorporate it into your current story, then go for it.  If it's going to be more of a hassle than what it's worth, then stick to your original plan.  

 

I recently wrote a prompt response that I never posted because I turned it into a ten chapter novella.  The characters spoke to me loudly, demanding to be given release.  So I listened.  

 

Good call on the cheesecake.  I knew we could be friends  

 

I suspect you’re right, and I just have to figure out which is best.

[Headstall]

Hey, Sam. It sounds like you need a hug to go with that cake. Don't worry... I'll control myself... for now.  My two cents is, don't stifle what wants to come out. Like @Valkyrie, I started out writing an anthology piece I expected would be around 5000 words. That plan got blown up after the first few paragraphs, and the piece turned into Treading Water, a 50, 000 word story that is one of my favorites. I've never regretted it, and I suspect you wouldn't either. It taught me to go with the strongest voices in my head, and if I hadn't have learned that, Morningstar: The Malaise may never have happened. So, in summation, I say go for it! Aw hell... sue me...  

[Sam Wyer]

45 minutes ago, Headstall said:

Hey, Sam. It sounds like you need a hug to go with that cake. Don't worry... I'll control myself... for now.  My two cents is, don't stifle what wants to come out. Like @Valkyrie, I started out writing an anthology piece I expected would be around 5000 words. That plan got blown up after the first few paragraphs, and the piece turned into Treading Water, a 50, 000 word story that is one of my favorites. I've never regretted it, and I suspect you wouldn't either. It taught me to go with the strongest voices in my head, and if I hadn't have learned that, Morningstar: The Malaise may never have happened. So, in summation, I say go for it! Aw hell... sue me...  

 

Thanks - I hadn’t thought of it as stifling what wants to come out.  And I’m feeling unusually resilient of late, so I guess I’ll let the h** go, just as long as you don’t go around telling everyone  

[Kitt]

I worked with Sasha Distan for a long while before his plans for children derailed writing time.  He is very much a "write who is shouting the loudest" sort of author, and when he tried telling the voices to hush while he wrote other stuff, both works suffered.

 

 

[Sam Wyer]

5 minutes ago, Kitt said:

I worked with Sasha Distan for a long while before his plans for children derailed writing time.  He is very much a "write who is shouting the loudest" sort of author, and when he tried telling the voices to hush while he wrote other stuff, both works suffered.

 

 

 

I’m not sure if this is what you meant or not - but maybe I should spend some time on the ‘other’ story, in it’s own context and not hijacking some happy elves?

[Kitt]

What I am saying is give the voices what they need. If that is the elves, fine, if not, what ever it takes.

[Ivor Slipper]

33 minutes ago, Sam Wyer said:

 

I’m not sure if this is what you meant or not - but maybe I should spend some time on the ‘other’ story, in it’s own context and not hijacking some happy elves?

 Perhaps to find the answer to your problem you need to use Tliggonometry

[Sam Wyer]

26 minutes ago, Ivor Slipper said:

 Perhaps to find the answer to your problem you need to use Tliggonometry

 

That's just.... I don't have the words.

[Timothy M.]

3 hours ago, Ivor Slipper said:

 

Is that a sort of Abba-dabba-do joke?

 

Nope, it's a Scandinavian comic joke. You need to read the SATW comic from the beginning to get an idea of how we see each other and the rest of the world.

[CassieQ]

You've gotten some good advice here.  When an old idea starts starts seeping around the edges of something that you are working on, it usually means that it is ready to be written.  I would go for it.

[Brayon]

This is my issue too. I've found what @Kitt suggested to be the best solution for me. I write according to which "imaginary friend" is talking to me at the time.

[Laura S. Fox]

Go with the flow. And do have some cake while at it. It will definitely make everything sweeter, so other things might not matter 🤣

[MrM]

You think too highly of yourself. You think you are in control here. You’re not. 

 

Your characters are.

 

They want to tell their story their way. You only serve to channel them and put them to paper. You’re only the author. They’re the people in your head trying to get out!

 

Set them FREE!