My problem is I'm a great SCENE writer.  I can come up with great 

moments

in a story, but overriding plots are very hard.  That's why I'm 

trying to

write a long story right now, I'm hoping with some practice I can do 

it.

I feel for you, man.  I have the exact same problem.  I can come up 

with

amazing ideas, even long-term plots occasionally, but can't put them 

down

on paper (or disk, as the case may be).  I even have a 10 novel series
bouncing around in my head that I created starting when I was 12!  The
problem is, I don't remember most of it, and much of it wasn't 

internally

consistant.  The best I've found I can do is not more than a page at a
time of writing, but that writing is _good_ (if i'm allowed to say that
about myself.  I'll include an example at the end of this letter.  
IAC, the point of all this is that you're not alone in this.

_____________________________________________________________________

    The key to writing any long story is knowing where you are going 
before you start.  I have started countless "novels" only to quit after 
a chapter or two because I couldn't figure out what do do with my 
characters, or how to advance the plot realistically etc.  I actually 
read a few books by authors on how they write, and the thing that they 
all do is have a very detailed plan before they start.  Robert Jordan, 
for example, has huge files he's created for each of his characters, for 
each country in his world, for plot outlines, and sub-plot developments 
etc.

    I recently finished the first ever long sory I've every written.  
It's still a bit short of novel length (maybe 100-110 typed pages), but 
the only reason I could do so was becuase I planned where my story was 
going from the beginning.  (I also had to put off the revisions until 
later, because nothing bogs me down faster than having to go back and 
fix the beginning before you've even gotten to the middle).  That's not 
to say that your plan can't change.  Many parts of my story "wrote 
themselves", and all kinds of plot developments came up that I had not 
anticipated.  But if I didn't have a plan to begin with, I wouldn't have 
even gotten far enough to worry about diverging plots.

    Anyways, after all this, you probably think I must think of myself 
as an expert writer.  That is not the case.  :)  But, as I pointed out, 
almost all professional writers that do long works (novels, etc.) have 
very detailed plans before they begin.



Joshua Dyal
j-dyal@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/1958/


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