The Stages of Writing a Story

[marycrawford]

I could add some disclaimer like "for me" but I suspect this experience is near-universal. Even though it always feels like everyone else has no problems with writing, I know they do, and I sure do.

Stage 1: yay story writing is fun!

Stage 2: NO IT IS NOT THAT WAS WRONG INFORMATION

Stage 3: everything is terrible

Stage 4: okay the first half is fine but the second half is GARBAGE

Stage 5: is it the end yet, even if nobody undressed or talked or had a feeling (that's good enough right)

Stage 6: is it the end NOW

Stage 7: now?

Stage 8: welp wtf even is this? Is it a story or a scarf for elephants?

Stage 9: (story goes out to a kind beta friend, with apologies for inflicting such trauma)

There are other stages after that, to do with beta and fixing and "oh hey actually maybe this is okay after all" and then finally posting the story and getting reader feedback (this is the GOLDEN HOUR), but this first cycle is just me alone.

And if you were guessing, yes, you were right, I'm currently in stage 3. :X

Comments

[frith_in_thorns]

I tend to be extremely happy and obsessed with stories I'm writing until I hit about 80% done (it seems to happen consistently at that point EVEN WHEN I DON'T KNOW HOW CLOSE TO DONE THEY ARE) and then I transition into the everything is terrible stage and need to be talked out of it. Then I finish it, quite like it, get beta feedback, post, and crash again into MY STORY IS TERRIBLE AND EVERYONE WILL HATE IT. I've learned to post immediately before going to bed or doing another activity which will take me firmly off my computer so I'm not just sat refreshing AO3 and stressing.

Generally the point where I finally start liking it again for good is after I've posted the NEXT story. (Actually I've been doing well right now where I post one in chapters at the same time as I'm already writing my next long-fic. Then I've been focused on the one I'm writing and it's taken the stress off the one I've been posting as that's already gone into the "prev story" box in my head!)

[marycrawford]

This is so relatable, though I think I hit the THIS IS TERRBL stage much earlier - maybe I could train myself out of it? (Probably not, let's face it...)

And I so know the "everyone will hate it" stage, too, alas; what helps for me is getting beta feedback, because I trust them and I know they won't let me post something that has no ending or bizarre characterization or what have you. But it's still a very tense moment.

The idea of writing and posting two separate stories at once is mind-boggling, though, my hat's off to you!

[frith_in_thorns]

Oh, I don't mean that I'm writing two stories at once! Just that I don't start posting my chapter-fic until it's actually finished and sliced up, so then I don't need to do anything to it except release it in its chapters on schedule. And in the meantime I can be writing story B, which occupies the majority of my brain so keeps down the stress about how story A is doing!

[extrapenguin]

Yeah, I suspect some variant of this is universal for any sort of longer project, though the precise order and timing of ARGHs is individual. I'm currently in "But wheeeeeen will this ever eeeeeend????" angst with a WIP and I relate so hard. (Answer: it will end in four scenes, penguin. Get off your butt and write them.) I wish you a speedy transition into actual completion, or at least stage 4.

[marycrawford]

Thank you for the good wishes! And yeah, I think stage 3 is the one that lasts the longest, so stage 4 would be nice to arrive at.
Edit: similar best wishes for your current WIP, of course!

[dorinda]

Yes, this feels entirely accurate!

There are other stages after that

There sure are. Some including a sternly rolled-up newspaper.

Also, what's the matter with a scarf for elephants anyway? Wouldn't an elephant taking a vacation in a cooler climate appreciate a nice jaunty scarf?

[marycrawford]

The Newspaper Stage is a special one, that can be employed at any suitable interval. :D

I don't know why a scarf for elephants either! I just picture a large unwieldy kind of knitted thing that looks like it has holes for something with huge teeth...

[umadoshi]

All of this is so horribly true.

[marycrawford]

AND YET WE SOLDIER ON (initially typed as 'solder on', which is maybe even more to the point).

[trobadora]

This feels very true, except there's a stage missing shortly before the end that goes approximately like, "this is the worst thing I ever wrote; I need to ditch it all and start from scratch." *g*

[marycrawford]

Awww I have encountered this stage as well but I try to skip it, because that never leads anywhere good if I give in...

[dorinda]

Yeah, hopefully if you are hitting this stage and you mention it to friends and betas, they will pummel you back into line! Lovingly.

[trobadora]

I wish I knew how to skip it. It happens to me at least half the time. (Any tips for how not to succumb? *g*)

[marycrawford]

The only tip I have, other than Dorinda's (i.e. outsource your angst!) is the Planes On the Runway model that astolat posted once upon a long ago:

"Every story CAN'T be better than the last. They're planes on a runway. Some of them are 747s and some of them are commuter jets and some of them are six-seater Cessnas with mechanical problems, and every once in a while you get the Concorde. But the Concorde can't take off until you've got the five commuter jets and the Cessna out of the way."

I find this a helpful mental image to let me focus on getting this STUPID CRAPPY PLANE OFF THE GD RUNWAY rather than try and install a new engine mid-flight, as it were.

[trobadora]

That's great analogy! Thank you for the link.

[sakana17]

Oh, this is tooo true! I'm sort of in stages 2-8 all at once...

I love the planes on a runway analogy. I'd never seen that before, and it's a very helpful way to look at it!

[marycrawford]

SO much sympathy! I can last a long time in stage 3, but I can recognize the progression when I start liking earlier bits of a story :)

Yeah, I really like astolat's way with that analogy, it's sort of comforting to me.

[yantantether]

Sorry to hear you've currently hit a stage three moment! *cheers you on*

[marycrawford]

Thank you, much appreciated!