An hour of work, a half-hour of time — what do you do?

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  • #199350
    jhmcmullen
    Participant
      0 Pirate Gold Coins

      I was writing yesterday and got to the point where I was caught up in the scene–it’s the second-last scene in the story, I was rushed along trying to get stuff down–and frankly, we had to be someplace.

      So I wrote something that finishes the story; it’ll have to be fixed in rewrite.

      For me, having finished the story kind of releases the tension, and it will have to sit for a while for the rewrite. But the point is, even given limited choices, I had two options:

      • Write placeholder stuff (which is what I did)
      • I could have just stopped and continued the next day. I do write every day.

      I’d be vaguely dissatisfied no matter what I had chosen to do. And framing the question has me going, so why didn’t I finish it the next day? Poor impulse control? An urge to have it done done done?

      My question to you is:

      About an hour of writing to finish it off. You have half that or less. What would you choose to do?

      Great at theory, terrible at practice.

      #218974
      JuneDrexler
      Participant
        0 Pirate Gold Coins

        I would, as you did, make a decision in the moment. Maybe I would write a place holder if I had some idea of where I thought I wanted the ending to go — something I could fix later. Or, if I felt that I really had no idea what I wanted to do with those last (let’s see, for me 1/2 hour of writing — about 300 words) I would wait. For me, there wouldn’t be one answer for every story. It would vary in the moment.

        If I could, I would probably prefer to have a ‘rough’ ending than have left it hanging. So, if I could do what you did, I would.

        –June

        #218975
        KatsInCommand
        Participant
          0 Pirate Gold Coins

          I’d have done the same thing. In fact, I did on my SAD #1. I knew if I didn’t finish it, I would lose the ‘feel’ of what I was working on. Story can be added and revised later. Pausing before the finish line is a great way to quit (at least for me).

          #218976
          Ashe Elton Parker
          Moderator
            38 Pirate Gold Coins

            Since I generally try to write one scene per “sitting” or writing period, I generally don’t write if I have a limited amount of time and a whole scene to write. I find it more difficult to pick up a scene I’ve stopped writing in the middle. So, I would probably wait until I knew I had a decent block of time (at least an hour) to write the scene.

            Ashe Elton Parker
            "Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
            ~*~
            Member since 1998.
            ~*~
            #218977
            zette
            Moderator
              126 Pirate Gold Coins

              This often depends on what I’m going to be working on the next day. If I want the first draft done and out of the way for other work that needs my attention, I’ll rush the end. But last night I stopped on a short story with probably no more than 300 to 500 words to go. I knew it would be there the next day and I would actually enjoy finishing it more after I had other non-writing work out of the way.

              I do write every day, too, so I knew it wasn’t likely to be dropped and forgotten. Especially since I have my rule about finishing everything I start. So I guess for me there is less pressure about getting it done right now, which allows me to take a bit more time and enjoy it.

              #218978
              jhmcmullen
              Participant
                0 Pirate Gold Coins

                In fact, I thought of this because I write every day. Yes, I rushed to get the story done, and then I said, “Hey, why rush? It’s not like you won’t be at the keyboard tomorrow.”

                Interesting to see that some others get caught up the same way.

                Great at theory, terrible at practice.

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