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idea/setting -> story

C

cabbagescribe

New Member
Well? How is it done? I can come up with crazy ideas, setting, character, but it takes me ages to actually formulate a storyline.

That's kinda why I'm stuck on 1500-word stories. My longest "story" is actually three related stories, 1200 words on average.

e.g. I've got an idea for having a story within a story - an author thinks up and revises something and the reader (you) get to see that in progress.

Also, I have the idea of two astronauts stuck for, like, 6 months alone in their trip to Mars. Nothing further than that.
 
cabbagescribe said:
Well? How is it done? I can come up with crazy ideas, setting, character, but it takes me ages to actually formulate a storyline.

That's kinda why I'm stuck on 1500-word stories. My longest "story" is actually three related stories, 1200 words on average.

e.g. I've got an idea for having a story within a story - an author thinks up and revises something and the reader (you) get to see that in progress.

Also, I have the idea of two astronauts stuck for, like, 6 months alone in their trip to Mars. Nothing further than that.
Click to expand...

Make sure they bring along some board games.
 
What might help is not starting at the beginning. Write the middle of the story or thereabouts and see what happens, then you can go back and write the beginning. More ideas may form from that one scene and you won't feel obligated to know the whole story before you start.
 
So here's the story so far:
Three (two seems unreasonable) astronauts are on their trip to Mars, the fourth crew to get there.

Main character is new to this, one of the other two has been to Mars before.

Their spacecraft is a big rotating one, giving it the feel of gravity. They spend most of the time on the level with Mars gravity getting used to it, and their physical exercise on Earth level (to rebuild bones and whatever). Their plants are in the center, along with a zero-g recreation zone.

He starts to go crazy once he loses contact with Earth - a tiny asteroid knocks out the Earth-facing satellite dish.

Realises that he's all lonely, with two guys he'll have to deal with for three years, and other such things.

So does this story sound good, or has it been done?
 
If the shorter stuff is coming natural to you stick with it...if the bigger story is still in you it will come out, if you keep working at it. And besides, the more you write the easier it will be to keep writing. It is said that it takes a person a thousand hours to become proficient in anything they attempt, whether it is playing guitar, baseball or even writing. There are exceptions to this rule, but the more a person writes then writing becomes a habit, and each time you sit down will be less of a struggle.

Keep writing!
 
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I wish that I could write short stories. It is the proper way to get published. So, perfect those tales and start sending them off. As you work on getting accepted, you are supposed to perfect your craft and graduate to larger stories (although, most novels today are just stretched short stories, but I digress). Thus, STOP COMPLAINING AND KEEP WORKING.
 
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