Finish That Thought #17 (Judge's Comments)
Prompt: "What, did you think it was going to be all rainbows and puppies?"
Special Challenge: Include a mythical creature and a holiday
What, did you think it was going to be all rainbows and
puppies? Writing a story is hard
work. You have to have a plot. A theme.
Characters developed. Where are
they going? Why? How?
What are they hoping to accomplish?
What’s the problem and how will it resolve?
Did you seriously think you could sit down with paper and
pen and “just write” a story? Of course
you started out well. We all do. The idea is fresh and I’m motivated. But after a few paragraphs, maybe a few
chapters since you seem to be so gifted, it gets wishy-washy and becomes
mumbo-jumbo. Look at what you just
wrote. It doesn’t make any sense! Who is this Jaed who waltzed in on page seven
and why is the dragon suddenly bi-polar?
I don’t care that you’ve finished a novel. That doesn’t make you worth reading. What, you think you can force me to cooperate
now that you’ve made a complete mess of this one? More coffee isn’t going to help. Staring at what you just wrote isn’t going to
magically finish that sentence. It’s
been 19 hours since you’ve slept and you’re only on day four.
Sure, go back and edit.
Re-edit your re-editing for all I care.
You can make that fifth chapter as pretty as you want, but it isn’t
going to do you much good if you can’t get chapter six to flow right. I told you to jot down your ideas in an
outline, but did you listen to me?
No. Now you can’t remember if he
was supposed to propose on Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Honestly, I hope he doesn’t propose at
all. He started out okay, but man what a
conflicted, love-sick puppy he’s become!
I can’t stand him or comprehend how you can still think he’s a
catch. You’ve broken that backbone he
was supposed to have (yeah, I remember you describing him like that and wish
you’d hold him to it) and he’s done so many out-of-character things by now that
you should just reinvent the guy.
One week left to finish this rotten novel. No, I’m not going to come back from tea
yet. I still have a cookie to eat. And perhaps pour myself another cup of
tea. You need me to help with the epic
battle? No dice, I can’t stand the smell
of blood. Good luck, though. Don’t accidentally kill off your main
character. If I get you a cup of cocoa, will
you stop glaring at me like that?
Oh, hello. Is it time
already? Let me put down my newspaper
and we can discuss strategy. Two hours until
the deadline? Piece of cake. Now to put all these pieces together that you’ve
conveniently thrown all over the place. Roll
up your sleeves and get off Facebook, for pete’s sake. No one cares about your pathetic NaNoWriMo
complaints. You’re the bright one who
wanted to do it in the first place.
By the way, congratulations.
-Muse
I totally know how you feel. Writing is hard. And sometimes it feels as if my own motivation is beating me up! But it will...maybe......come to something. And if not, at least we can get the words out of our heads :)
ReplyDeleteI really dislike it when my muse decides to be as snarky as this one. But as you say, even if we don't get any help from our inspiration, at least we can through scenes on paper!
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