On poetic licence and stuff like that...

[wiseheart]

I sent the first chapter of a planned story to someone who I know generally likes what I do to have a first opinion. They sent it back with a lot of what was clearly ment to be helpful suggestions. Only that they would have changed the whole direction of the plot, the characterizations, and the basic aim of the story.

In my reply, I thanked them for their effort and explained that while I appreciate the amount of work they put into making those suggestions, they are just not compatible with what I had in mind when I started. Unfortunately, I doubt that I'd be able to continue the story in the direction I've originally planned, either. It seems that I no longer believe in it.

Perhaps I get discouraged too easily. I've got this reaction earlier - people wanting to read a completely different story than the one I was actually writing - and it usually killed the story itself for years, if not permanently. I don't know why. It's not so that I'd start second-guessing my own concept; I'm not. And yet whenever such a reaction comes, especially when it comes from someone who seemed to like my writing, the story just dies on me.

Perhaps I should stop asking people's opinion altogether and just go on doing what feels right to me. OTOH, I'm not omniscient, and I need feedback to see if the things I had in mind actually gets over to the reader. I don't know. I'm just a bit depressed over the dead of another promising plotbunny - and one that was supposed to be the pilot of an entire series, at that. :(

Comments

[dr-doomsduck.livejournal.com]

Look, I know I have little to no experience on the matter but you can't really tell where a story is going to go to from the first chapter only. The testers opinion could make a great alternative but that doesn't mean that your idea isn't good or that people won't like it. There are about a dozen WIP's I'm reading and everytime I get one of their chapters, the ending that I think should/will happen changes.

Right now, I am writing a fic (believe it or not!) and Weis is proofreading it (she is a goddess!), when she agreed to do so, I sent her the first chapter along with half a story bible and complete summary of what was going to happen. Yes, her influence changed the story (for example one character's role just got increased significantly) but the core of it, the goal that I have set for it is still very much there. Maybe it would be beneficial if you just showed one tester where you're planning to take it and another to see if the ideas you write are brought over to the reader.

Just pitching in :p

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Stories are like living entities - they change all the time. I'm not concerned about the natural way of changes. But when people try to change one of my pieces from the outside, it more often than not kills the story for me.

After 40+ years of writing, I'm an experienced enough to know what feels right and what doesn't. And even if other people disagree, it will still feel right to me. Still, when people are trying to turn it inside out and upside down, even if it happens with the best intentions, it pretty much kills it for me. Even if for a third party, the changes would seem more reasonable, it no longer feels like my story, and it just dies.

Which is what happened to the "Director Jones" pilot today. :(

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't show stuff to anyone until its done. I occasionally bounce an idea off a reader friend - but that's about it. I have a Beta with a light touch - spelling, grammar or awkward sentences gets fixed with perhaps a mention of something that wasn't clear or something they felt needed fleshing out, but never, never about the plot itself. I would have the same problem you do - it wouldn't feel like it was my work anymore.

[dr-doomsduck.livejournal.com]

Still, when people are trying to turn it inside out and upside down, even if it happens with the best intentions, it pretty much kills it for me.

Sorry, I am just trying to figure out what's happening here, because I cán be one of those nosy readers who suggest that hey, what if you did this and this! I try to be careful about it, because it's understandable that you want to write your story and not have someone else butt in, so usually, I only say those things when the writer asks for them or says that they have no idea where the story is going.

anyway, where does it go wrong? why does it kill the story? Is it because you somehow feel you lost control over it and why wouldn't it be your story anymore? I must've written hundreds of scientific reports by now, each of them checked, improved or sometimes deemed unfit enough to be rewritten completely. At the end of the day though, it's still me who's done all the work on it, it's still my research.

Obviously, if it ain't flowing, it ain't flowing, there's not much anyone can do at that point, I'm just curious where these feelings come from.

:( will be mourning the Director Jones story though.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I listen to advice but trust my instincts as the story has a life of its own. I horrified my beta reader with what I was doing in "Web of Treason", but I kept to my main plot idea and added more which fit in with what she felt and it proved one of my most popular stories.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It was flowing, sort of, until it got hacked to pieces. I could glue it together again, but it's the same as with a broken vase: it might be knitted, but it will leak water anyway.

I wanted to iron out some bumps, not to completely revamp the story. I'll just leave it.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Exactly! The reason why I sent it to this friend was because it was inspired by an idea of theirs, but it was clear from the beginning that it was going into a different direction. Ah, well...

I'd love a beta with a light touch - as I'm not a native speaker, I'll never completely certain about English grammar, which is more confusing than the timeline in the Whoniverse, and *that* is saying a lot. But people just don't seem to be able to deal with my writing. Some of my Torchwood stories, like "Atlantis Café", have been abandoned by four (!) beta readers already. They volunteered, then either dropped off the face of Earth after one chapter, or I never heard of them again at all. I've made similar experiences in other fandoms. Seems I have bad luck with betas.

I wouldn't be bothered by posting stuff un-betaed if I didn't get picked b/c of my grammar repeatedly. The even more annyoing fact is that a lot of poorly written, mediocre crap produced by native speakers is a lot worse grammatically, even with betas, and they never got bothered because of it. Life is unjust, and right now, I feel terribly sorry for myself. ;))

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

As you know, I rarely have a beta, especially for my longer pieces (and let's face it, most of my stuff is ungodly long). But I always only ask for grammar work, or find the occasional wrongly used word - my plot is beyond anyone's touch. Often even beyond mine, as the characters have a disturbing tendency to take over, and then I have to adapt. ;)

This time, it was different - more bouncing off the concept someone who had a hand in developing the basic idea in the first place, so I thought I should ask their opinion. Well, it effectively killed the story for the time being. *le sigh*

[artemis10002000]

I'm sorry to hear that worked out so badly for you! *hug*

Wahhhhhhhh...

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Wahhhhhh..... I hate it when something happens that makes you unable to continue to write a story. I hope the bunny reincarnates. Even if I know nothing of the 'verse and therefore can't evaluate that part, I have beta'd for you, and I do know you write well in this wretched native tongue of mine. (Trust me! I've edited professionally native speakers who don't do as well as you!) I'm sorry this one is at least back in the drawer for a while. Wahhhh...

Re: Wahhhhhhhh...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it really sucks, but what's done is done. There's the Epic Merlin Fic (TM) and the Tolkien Dwarf story that benefit from the temporary death of this one.