MESSAGE BOARD TOPIC #18

[Comicality]

As someone who has been doing this for a long long time now, I can honestly say that I personally am amazed that some of the stories I've written have lasted as long as they did. Some of them, I never expected to get past the first chapter (especially my first outing into the erotic gay genre). So there's definitely a lot to be said about any author who has stayed dedicated and focused on their story for long periods of time. However, I am also aware of a lot of stories that never really get finished at all. Some might suddenly 'end' with a quick fix, or simply drop offline without a trace. It leaves a lot of people wondering what happened or what COULD have happened, had it been given the chance. So, for all authors and readers reading this...

 

=Have you ever felt yourself 'burning out' on a story beore it's completion?=

 

For writers...do you suddenly get to a point in a story where you feel like you don't want to go on with it? Or that it's not 'fun' anymore to work on?

 

For readers...have you ever started a story, and then, during the course of the building chapters, suddenly lose interest? Readers can definitely burn out on stories too.

 

Also, can writers 'feel' a reader's burn out? Can readers 'feel' a WRITER'S burn out? Sometimes, while in the middle of the series, life inspirations can change drastically, and what was once a shared experience between reader and writer...can become a much more labored relationship. What do you think?

 

The board is open!

[stud24]

There are several things that can cause me to lose interest in a story.

 

The first one that often causes me to quit on a story is when it stops feeling believable. All to often it seems that I find a story that has a great introduction, the characters are not only believable, but also easily related to, and it goes well, sometimes only for a few paragraphs, other times for chapters. Then something happens, normally to me its in the discussions between characters that makes it stop being real. Um, an example is like where instead of a 'real' conversation its fake, or unbelievable like when tommy talks to his friend ron and is like "ron, i know you like me, its ok, lets have sex".

 

I know thats a horrible example, but then again i'm trying to represent just that.

 

There are other things that can cause me to lose interest, but the lack of realism or believability is what does it to me the most. Comically, YSD, BM, DaBeagle, and several several others all have the amazing talent to not only bring the characters to life, but they make the stories believable and full of emotion. When a story has emotion and you can relate to or understand the characters, thats when you have a good story......if it has a good storyline, communication, and setting.

 

The loss of one of those, or the waining of excitement/details/activity in a story can definately make one lose interest.

[Guest ethan_andrew_aylen]

There are several reasons I stop reading a story.

 

The unlikely effect:

 

How many 13 year old homosexual males perform oral sex on people whom they do not know? Is it likely that one of those young men will shoot mouthfuls of semen from his throbbing seven-inch penis? It is possible, true. But is it probable? No. Is it worth my time? No. Such trite expressions typically have two common parts: a blatant disregard for logic and statistical improbability. A good writer creates new ideas and refuses to use silly clich

[gpaulbishop]

=Have you ever felt yourself 'burning out' on a story before it's completion?=

 

For writers...do you suddenly get to a point in a story where you feel like you don't want to go on with it? Or that it's not 'fun' anymore to work on?

 

For readers...have you ever started a story, and then, during the course of the building chapters, suddenly lose interest? Readers can definitely burn out on stories too.

 

I could use the crude term of sh*t happens here but I won't. Actually if I get to a point where I burn out on a story it is normally because I have lost track of the central theme. If I cannot figure out exactly the message I was trying to impart and more so "stay on" message, it is almost impossible to not burn out on the story. It really is that simple, if you cannot convey the message, or you lose track of the conversation with yourself, the story is a wash.

 

As a reader, more so as an editor, the same holds true, and often I have found myself stating in my margin notes to the author; " What are you saying here? I'm bored!" Ok that may appear rude to some of you reading this, but let me ask all of you, has this not happened at some point in your reading experiences?

 

There are epics out there, specifically Comsie, Drake, Dewey, Grasshopper, Driver, and a couple of others come to mind, yet those epics have staying power. The reason? The writers mentioned convey their message, stick with it and "refresh" the tale as they go.

 

If you are writing, keep this mind, or do what I do when I burn out on one of my stories, drag it over to the recycle bin, drop it in, empty the sucker, and start over.

 

Paul

[miguelsanchez55]

Dear gpaulbishop

After writing several stories, I can relate to what you're saying but I won't take the story and dump it. I'll save what I've done and take a break. If chapters have been posted to a site, the readers will just have to understand that I've hit a wall and can't continue at this point in time. It's happened and will probably happen again.

 

Don't trash a story. Chances ore if you do and then try to do it again, what you've trashed would have been you best work.

 

Take care,

Mike Sanchez :sword:

[Comicality]

My take on burn out is actually pretty close to what all of you have mentioned here. (THANKS for the input by the way, you guys! It was awesome!)

 

As far as writing goes, I honestly have yet to 'burn out' on something that I was writing. There have been stories that I wanted to add chapters to and then changed my mind, or stories that I thought wouldn't be received well and have put on the 'back burner' for a while. But none that I've wanted to just cut short. Basically, if I feel that a story has been told, then it has been told. And if it was left open for more, then I always keep it in mind when new ideas pop up in my mind. A very old story might be revived by a second look, or a particular event in my life that brings a feeling to me that would allow me to write more to it again. There are a lot of stories that I only write when I'm in a particular mood, and I work on them when I get the chance. So I've been lucky in the burn out phase of a story so far (Knock on wood).

 

As a reader, there have been a few stories that I have stopped in the middle because they weren't fun to read anymore. I've seen stories that seem to be constantly trying to 'up the ante' with every chapter, and it leads to almost ridiculous plot twists and extras. What might start out as a loving relationship between two boys, might suddenly transform to acts of unneccesary violence, graphic sexual exploits, three-ways, orgies, toys...it completely loses what originally brought me into the story. That kind of inconsistency would turn me off pretty quickly.

 

Another thing that would turn me away, is when a story gets stuck on details, conversations, and characters that have nothing to do with the rest of the story. My writing teachers always taught me that everything that you write should be integral to the plot in one way or another. So I try to stick with that. Even if I write something that seems to be disconnected to the story, it always has some kind of meaning to be brought back into the plot at a later time. (It can be fun to play with those things sometimes)

 

Anyway, I love the answers on this question! Thanks! I've got TONS of stuff that's never been released and tons MORE that's never been completed! For me, it's gotta be perfect, ya know? But as far as burn out is concerned, it hasn't happened yet. And if there's a series to be finished...it will be.

[Aden]

Well, as someone who writes for his own amusement more than anything else - and never hardly posts - I tend to write long stories, and when I get into a dead end, or my writing seems to be complete cack I go and re-read the parts I feel are atmospheric - if there's one thing I really strive for and believes can make a story, it's atmosphere.

 

I do like to put detail into stories that aren't relevant other than to add to the feeling of the main thrust of the current scene as such - but I'm a complete amateur.

 

I tend to draw more, and when I try to write, I'm always trying to make one scene perfectly evocative of how I see it in my head - and that means that visually descriptive scenes. That includes details of what's going on in the background to make things more realistic - I try to avoid describing how people look, or what they are wearing, I like to write what's happing around the people I'm talking about but make that indicative of what's happened or what's happening.

 

When that kind of detail leaves, and because I'm such a shoddy writer then my stories become a description of events. When I concentrate on detail too much, I achieve nothing and get bored of writing. I'm still toying with getting this balance right.

 

I'm trying a new approach right now - I'm writing something and charging through chapters at a time with how I want things to happen - the action. Then, after two or three night-sessions, I go back and pad things out. It usually means re-writing what I've already done, but not re-writing the story what I set out to achieve. By having that skeletal framework in place, I can concentrate on the story in one aspect, make sure it progresses without getting distracted. It seems to work sporadically, making some parts I'm happy with, and others that make me cringe with embarassment.

 

I'll keep at it

[woody]

in my experince as a reader stories burning themselves out happens due to any of a number of things... somtimes because the story line just starts to move far too slow, with nothing new happening (this usaly happens to the stories that are made to carry on indefinatly) or the story begins to have too many character focuses loseing its central focus (the weel of time series by robert jordan is in my opinion huge example of both of these)

[Guest FlexCut]

Um.. I just a reader not an author, so I'll describe it from my perspective.

What "draws" me into a story and make me want to finish reading it, is emotion. Not necessarily the emotion in the story itself, but my emotions while reading.

 

Comsie, your stories don't "draw" me in.

They YANK me in -- somtimes Kicking and Screaming.

 

Every one has made me laugh out loud, or cry, sometimes both!

 

Lenny