Help...

[Lessien]

I have this really great idea for a novel that I've been plotting out for several years now. (It's basically a reworking of "Sleeping Beauty," a rather weird reworking.) I really want to write this novel, but every time I try and write, my inner editor speaks up, saying things like "This is too weird." or "It's totally unoriginal. Scrap it."

Any advice on how to shut up your inner critic?

 

[sunstruckdream]

Yes. I have this problem sometimes, and here's what helps me.

WRITE IT ANYWAYS.

It wouldn't be fair to yourself if you let a few doubts hold you back from something you've been dreaming about for years. Just do it. You don't have to show anyone if you don't want to. You might hate what you turn out with. You might love it. You might be okay with it, and choose to better it with a second, third, and tenth draft. You don't know that now, but you never will unless you give it a shot. Just remember that you're under no obligations...do it for yourself, and see where it takes you.

So next time the voice pesters you, brush it off. Tell it, "Not now. I'm working on my novel."

And if it keeps on trying to get its two-cents-worth in (if even that), drown it out with the sounds of scribbling or pounding on your keyboard.

 

[CelticRose]

Put your editor in 'jail'; release date when your story's done.

Promise your inner editor a field day after every chapter ~ on the condition you ignore everything they say till you're done.

Pretend your inner editor is a computer program & rewrite it to only say positive & helpful things.

Cross your fingers & hope for the best?

Sorry; my inner editor wants gagging.

 

[BoxBunny]

I turn up my music. A steady beat helps me to ignore distracting thoughts. Good luck to you.

 

[Tariel]

Less, I'd say go for it!!!! There's nothing new under the sun--we all know that. But your job as a writer is to tell the old stories in new ways. Sadly, our inner editors don't like that. I'd say just write your story and that that obnoxious voice that you're writing it for yourself, and if it turns out to be horrible and unoriginal, nobody will know about it but yourself. That's what helps me. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[MrBF1V3]

In situations like that I would listen to my friends.

I have a friend who calls that inner editor her "inner weasel". Listen, but don't believe everything it says.

I have another friend who thinks there is really only eight or ten real plots for stories. All we really have is variations.

As a last resort, I have a friend who has said the first million words are practice. If you write it and it doesn't work out, you can still count it as part of your million words.

Is it possible to be too weird and too unoriginal at the same time?

B5

 

[Tariel]

I agree that there are only a handful of plots when you strip them down to their very essences. But it's the way YOU tell it, what YOU do with that plot, the characters YOU develop that make it exciting. Nobody can tell the same story the same way you can. Remember that.

 

[FriarErasmus]

Write it! (and post it here please?) I love stories that are a weird twisted version of a classic. There are entire movies that are blatant "reversionings" of classic works, and they stand quite well on their own merits. Almost every Disney classic is a movie adaption (Sleeping Beauty, White Wolf, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and many of their other stories were adaptions from old tribal stories or cultural stories.

Everytime that voice says "This is too weird. This is unoriginal." Just tell that voice "If it worked for Disney (creating a legendary franchise) it can work for me."

Also... have you thought about praying for Christ to remove these doubting thoughts?

 

[Lessien]

Thanks for all the advice!

I started writing it, and I think it'll be a good story. It's amazing how so many story elements can change in the years that you're thinking the plot over!

Friar: I haven't prayed yet, but I will. And I also love reworkings of classics (Tll We Have Faces is one of the best books ever!) But when I'm done with it, I don't know if you'd be able to tell that it's a reworking of Sleeping Beauty. It has some parallels, and Sleeping Beauty was the original idea I started with, but like I said, it's a very weird reworking. For one thing, Sleeping Beauty is still a princess...sort of. Her dad's a dictator....

 

[sunstruckdream]

hey, there are some great stories out there that are reworkings - either books or movies - of classics. take cinderella. ever after's a good movie, and right now i'm reading confessions of an ugly stepsister - not my favorite book, but a good idea. anyway, reworkings can sometimes become classics in themselves. just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[Doubtless]

I'm still waiting for someone to do a Fantasy remake of The Lion King. Seriously. It's got a great plot. Prince's uncle kills King, makes Prince think it's his fault, Prince forsakes his Kingdom and leaves, Uncle takes over, Prince returns, Uncle killed by his own minions, whom he betrays. Pretty cool.

 

[sunstruckdream]

interesting thought...not bad.

 

[Lessien]

I'm still waiting for someone to do a Fantasy remake of The Lion King. Seriously. It's got a great plot. Prince's uncle kills King, makes Prince think it's his fault, Prince forsakes his Kingdom and leaves, Uncle takes over, Prince returns, Uncle killed by his own minions, whom he betrays. Pretty cool.

Hmmm...that would be cool.....

 

[Tariel]

Hmmm...that would be cool.....

it really would