Choosing among variations on a theme

Warp9 · Sep 18, 2011

I like to play with ideas and look at various alternate ways in which I might set things up with regard to my stories. Some of these alternatives are fairly similar to each other, and some a quite a bit different, but they all deal with most of the same main characters, and most of the same basic themes.

The problem is that I end up with a number of cool variations on my story, and I'm finding it hard to choose the one I want to go with---leading to a writing paralysis. Sure, I can pick one and start writing, but "the grass is always greener" and all that, so I start to wish I'd gone with a different variation before I get very far.

Are other writers having this problem? And what is the best way to deal with it?

I have tried making lists of pros and cons for each variation, and that does help a bit. Yet many of the alternatives are still pretty close in terms of pros and cons, and each variation has its own unique charms.

Zombie Kat · Sep 18, 2011

In my experience, if I can't decide about how to go about writing a story, none of the ideas I have are right. Otherwise, I find something I like and stick with it. A lot of the time, the books and shorts I write have pretty much the same themes (at least to start with) but they're all completely different because of the varying plots and characters. Are you sure you're not coming up with ideas for lots of different stories while being so attached to certain characters that you want to use them in every story? Could you use the ideas in several stories?

But, in the end, you have to pick one and there's no easy solution. It might be hard, but you'll never write anything if you don't make a choice. Maybe force yourself to write a detailed plan for the story so you can get your head around one idea and develop it far enough that the others stop feeling real? Don't allow yourself to start writing until that plot is so fixed in your head that changing it doesn't cross your mind. Coming up with excuses to not pick will only stop you from writing and then you'll never get anywhere!

Warp9 · Sep 18, 2011

Zombie Kat said:
In my experience, if I can't decide about how to go about writing a story, none of the ideas I have are right.

It is more like I have too many ideas that seem right.

Zombie Kat said:
Are you sure you're not coming up with ideas for lots of different stories while being so attached to certain characters that you want to use them in every story?

I think part of it might have partly to do with attachment to my current characters, but I believe that it has to do more with the way I approach matters. . . .

To use 2 hypothetical examples:

If I were writing Star Wars, I'd ask: what if Darth Vader didn't get so badly hurt in his fight with Obi-wan? Or I might ask: what if Luke and Leia were raised together?

If I were writing Harry Potter, I'd ask: what if the Sorting Hat had put Harry in House Slytherin (as it had been tempted to do), or what if Harry had a brother?

I'd run with these questions, and probably a lot more alternatives like those, and get to other versions of those stories.

In other words, I don't think that it is just the story I'm currently working on, I think that this would happen with any story I work on.

Zombie Kat said:
Could you use the ideas in several stories?

Hmm. Maybe.

Although, even though there are some major differences, things are similar enough that I think they would be a bit too similar. ALL the alternative stories feature an alien world which has been colonized by humans. And ALL the alternate versions are about a love triangle between 2 aliens and a human. And the circumstances are always the same: alien boy finds alien girl, who then falls in love with human boy.

Zombie Kat said:
But, in the end, you have to pick one and there's no easy solution. It might be hard, but you'll never write anything if you don't make a choice. Maybe force yourself to write a detailed plan for the story so you can get your head around one idea and develop it far enough that the others stop feeling real? Don't allow yourself to start writing until that plot is so fixed in your head that changing it doesn't cross your mind. Coming up with excuses to not pick will only stop you from writing and then you'll never get anywhere!

I actually did just pick a version last year and went with it for NaNoWriMo. I do like how it turned out. . . yet, there is still at least two other versions that have a lot of things which I like better (all of them have at least a few points that I like better than the others).

The alternative that I'm considering is to write ALL of them (perhaps do a different one each Nov), and then maybe I'll be able to pick the story that I like the best.

HapiSofi · Sep 19, 2011

You're not writing fast enough to keep your brain occupied. Speed up.

I know one fast-thinking writer who sets himself all sorts of complicated meaningless challenges (exact wordcounts, initial letters, everything in threes, etc.) to soak up his excess mental cycles while he's working.

shakeysix · Sep 19, 2011

I do this, so I know what you are going through. It's maddening. Just pick one--even if you have to flip a coin or see which one your pet hamster poops on first. Pick one and don't look back. Write the whole thing out. Then try to sell it. While you are selling it start another list of variations and pick one of those. Perfectionism is procrastination's best friend! --s6

froley · Sep 19, 2011

This is just one of those things you'll have to get right as a writer. That's part of the job description: to know what to put where, and how much, and for what purpose.

Your two examples are fairly easily addressed. Lucas and Rowling made very specific decisions in order to shape the protagonist and the story. If Luke had grown up with a sister, or Harry a brother, the entire plot would collapse like a house of cards.

If you can't see why, think about the reason Luke joins Obi-Wan in the first place. The inciting incident is the death of his caretakers--a tragic but not unwelcome chance to escape the doldrums of youth on Tatooine. In order for that motivation to work, in your example, Leia would have to die on Tatooine as well. Which would mean some other, unrelated woman would have to take the Leia role, which would foul up the Luke/Han rivalry, and damage the conflict down the road, kill the 'there is another' twist, etc... Same with Harry Potter: the novel's theme isn't sibling rivalry. Giving Harry a brother would just distract unnecessarily--he has a new family now, bound by bonds stronger than mere blood. And so on...

Most writers follow their nose on this kind of thing. Best of luck to you!

Lovely Decadence · Sep 19, 2011

I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon of just write, as well as you're not giving yourself the chance to get your ideas down on paper before your mind starts to go afoul into other ideas. Pick one, run with it, and if your mind is apt for coming up with as many ideas as you're describing, then it's likely once you've finally written one scenario it will evolve into something much better than any of the other scenarios you initially envisioned. Happens to me all the time. So just write for now and let the ideas fall where they may. I doubt you'll be looking back at your old ideas once you've got one fully composed one written down that is likely to stand hand shoulders over those others.

Sagana · Sep 20, 2011

Do you know how your story ends? I agree with froley, any of the things in your examples would break those stories. Maybe if you know your own ending, you will be able to tell which options will break the storyline and so know which to choose. You might try writing the climax/last chapter and then write the rest to that.

Layla Nahar · Sep 20, 2011

froley said:
This is just one of those things you'll have to get right as a writer. ... If Luke had grown up with a sister, or Harry a brother, the entire plot would collapse like a house of cards.

If you can't see why, think about the reason Luke joins Obi-Wan in the first place. The inciting incident is the death of his caretakers--a tragic but not unwelcome chance to escape the doldrums of youth on Tatooine. In order for that motivation to work, in your example, Leia would have to die on Tatooine as well. ...
Giving Harry a brother would just distract unnecessarily--he has a new family now, bound by bonds stronger than mere blood. And so on...

Hi Warp9

Hope all these answers are helping.

I can really relate to what you are describing. I see this problem as similar to bouncing 'plot-bunnies' - eg a person starts writing and comes up with all kinds of additions and tangents (as opposed to multiple versions, which you describe) to their plot. In either case, the result is paralysis, correct?

I'm like you, I see infinite possibilities and I come to a halt.

What I have learned to do is quickly finish off any work that is causing me lots of frustration and start a new one.* I think that the more you do this, the better you and your subconcious will get at finding the ideas that fit into a story. Some people are very fortunate in that they have a connection to their creative subconcious that is free of self-sabotage. They sit down, write and keep writing till they have a story at the end. Other of us will have some struggle...

So, the above post says the same thing - figure out how to tell a compelling story.

I write a clear grammatically correct sentence, logical paragraphs etc. I have a great deal of difficulty with stories. In my four (yikes - I think it's five now) years of self-apprenticeship, I only have one finished 3rd-party readable story longer than 800 words. Wait - two. One is good, the other is a bit meh. BUT - I'm starting to get a method to work, and it is allowing me to be productive.

Anyway, the way I see it, those four or five years were about cleaning the dreck from my mind that was interfering with my ability to make the art I wanted to make.

The first thing I would advise you to focus on is finishing everything you start, even if it's some kind of terrible put-it-out-of-it's-misery one paragraph ending, as long as there is a conclusion, you can put it away and get on to the next. If you keep at it, you'll get somewhere.

buon lavoro!

* The book "Art and Fear" describes a teacher who graded one class on the quality of pots they threw, another on the number of pots they threw. Guess which class made better pots? The class that was racking up the numbers!

I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon of just write,

Ahh - If he(?) could just write, he'd be writing, wouldn't he?
(sigh)

Laura J · Sep 20, 2011

froley said:
This is just one of those things you'll have to get right as a writer. That's part of the job description: to know what to put where, and how much, and for what purpose.

Your two examples are fairly easily addressed. Lucas and Rowling made very specific decisions in order to shape the protagonist and the story. If Luke had grown up with a sister, or Harry a brother, the entire plot would collapse like a house of cards.

If you can't see why, think about the reason Luke joins Obi-Wan in the first place. The inciting incident is the death of his caretakers--a tragic but not unwelcome chance to escape the doldrums of youth on Tatooine. In order for that motivation to work, in your example, Leia would have to die on Tatooine as well. Which would mean some other, unrelated woman would have to take the Leia role, which would foul up the Luke/Han rivalry, and damage the conflict down the road, kill the 'there is another' twist, etc... Same with Harry Potter: the novel's theme isn't sibling rivalry. Giving Harry a brother would just distract unnecessarily--he has a new family now, bound by bonds stronger than mere blood. And so on...

Most writers follow their nose on this kind of thing. Best of luck to you!

Thanks, this made some things very clear for me. I'm battling with trying to find the best way for my story to progress, which beginning to choose and I'm getting bogged down. It was a good practice for me, but it makes sense to choose one path, because of what you said above. Thanks.

Oh, and the person who wrote about the hamster pooping, very funny, made coffee almost shoot out of my nose.

Warp9 · Sep 20, 2011

froley said:
This is just one of those things you'll have to get right as a writer. That's part of the job description: to know what to put where, and how much, and for what purpose.

Your two examples are fairly easily addressed. Lucas and Rowling made very specific decisions in order to shape the protagonist and the story. If Luke had grown up with a sister, or Harry a brother, the entire plot would collapse like a house of cards.

If you can't see why, think about the reason Luke joins Obi-Wan in the first place. The inciting incident is the death of his caretakers--a tragic but not unwelcome chance to escape the doldrums of youth on Tatooine. In order for that motivation to work, in your example, Leia would have to die on Tatooine as well. Which would mean some other, unrelated woman would have to take the Leia role, which would foul up the Luke/Han rivalry, and damage the conflict down the road, kill the 'there is another' twist, etc... Same with Harry Potter: the novel's theme isn't sibling rivalry. Giving Harry a brother would just distract unnecessarily--he has a new family now, bound by bonds stronger than mere blood. And so on...

Most writers follow their nose on this kind of thing. Best of luck to you!

I agree that changing the characters will have a big affect on the course of the plot. But while making changes may close some doors, it will also open some new ones.

As you've pointed out above, the example changes I gave would make the stories no longer work as written, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't be the basis for some new versions of those stories.

Warp9 · Sep 20, 2011

Sagana said:
Do you know how your story ends? I agree with froley, any of the things in your examples would break those stories. Maybe if you know your own ending, you will be able to tell which options will break the storyline and so know which to choose. You might try writing the climax/last chapter and then write the rest to that.

You have put your finger on a key point here. . . I don't know how the story ends.

I let my characters tell the story, so I don't really know the ending of a given situation until it all plays out.

It is not so much a given end I'm after, but an interesting time walking down the path to get where ever it is the characters are going.

When doing NaNoWriMo last year, every day it was sort of like watching a Reality TV show in my little world. The characters would go after their goals, and they'd face opposition from various other forces/characters, and day-by-day, I'd see how it played out. I didn't even know I was on the last page, until I was actually on the last page and found a really good point to wrap things up.

Obviously, that process will lead to a mass of stuff that would need to be finessed quite a bit to ultimately fit into a more normal Act I, Act II, and Act III structure. But that is what re-writing is for.

Anyway, getting back to the point of the discussion. In one case, as you suggest above, we have target ending, and use the elements of the story as a means to move toward it. In the other case, we start with an interesting initial situation, and then see where it goes from there.

Jonathan Dalar · Sep 20, 2011

It sounds to me you're more enamored with the concepts of those ideas than with any specific idea itself. Concepts are wonderful, and help get a story out of the blocks. Problem is, if you can't really get into the groove with one of them, it's not going to work.

The problem might lie with the characters, though. I find I empathize so much with my characters along the way, that however the plot twists, I'm engaged because I have to resolve their issues to satisfaction.

froley · Sep 20, 2011

Warp9 said:
As you've pointed out above, the example changes I gave would make the stories no longer work as written, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't be the basis for some new versions of those stories.

Star Wars and Harry Potter are generally regarded as being alarmingly close to pure narratives--at least in the first iterations, the creators rarely put a foot wrong. Every beat rings true, every character is compelling, there's no filler, etc. (YMMV, of course--there are people who hate Star Wars) Changing things might have opened more doors, but would probably have made the story a lot less compelling.

At the end of the day, it isn't really about how much fun you have with the characters along the way, it's about how much fun the reader has. If that wasn't true, writers would gleefully write million-words novels and never publish anything.

On a more productive note, it sounds like you're a 'pantser.' There's lots of advice and suggestions from experienced AWers on how to sculpt your free-writing sessions into a more traditional narrative. I'm an obsessive planner, so I can't help you there! Hit the search button and see what you can find.

Hope you find a method that works for you!

Sagana · Sep 21, 2011

Warp9 said:
It is not so much a given end I'm after, but an interesting time walking down the path to get where ever it is the characters are going.

Hm, I guess that's why I'm also not a seat-of-the-pants type. For me, to tell a story, I have to feel like I have a story to tell and that means a plot. I guess I'm the same way when I read. I like stories that feel like they're moving forward, going somewhere and become impatient quickly if the characters just seem to be looking at the scenery (even if the scenery is compelling).

Each to their own.

Warp9 · Sep 21, 2011

Zombie Kat said:
In my experience, if I can't decide about how to go about writing a story, none of the ideas I have are right.

Taking a second look at this point here. . . .

I said previously that the problem was that I had too many ideas which seemed "right." I'm not really backing off of that---yet it does seem like there might be a quest for a version that would really stand out above all the rest. A version that really clicks as being "the one." And, as some level that drive is what keeps me looking for new, better, versions.

Warp9 · Sep 21, 2011

froley said:
Star Wars and Harry Potter are generally regarded as being alarmingly close to pure narratives--at least in the first iterations, the creators rarely put a foot wrong. Every beat rings true, every character is compelling, there's no filler, etc. (YMMV, of course--there are people who hate Star Wars) Changing things might have opened more doors, but would probably have made the story a lot less compelling.

Well, the Star Wars and Harry Potter cases were just off the cuff examples. I have no inclination to actually re-write either of those stories (I have enough trouble with my own work). But, if I were dealing with a "pure narrative," it remains to be seen if I'd really want to change it or not. Hopefully if I did reach a "perfect version" I'd go with that and be happy.

Maybe I could rephrase things in these terms as saying that my problem is that I don't have a single optimal choice in many cases (at least not one that I am personally able to see).

froley said:
At the end of the day, it isn't really about how much fun you have with the characters along the way, it's about how much fun the reader has.

I guess that comes down to how much I care about being a successful writer, rather than just writing to please myself. Although adding some new criteria for good vs bad by view of the reader could help me narrow things down more, and maybe find that "best" version.

froley said:
On a more productive note, it sounds like you're a 'pantser.' There's lots of advice and suggestions from experienced AWers on how to sculpt your free-writing sessions into a more traditional narrative. I'm an obsessive planner, so I can't help you there! Hit the search button and see what you can find.

There is a lot of planning out of the initial situations. But the 'pantser' part comes in seeing where that actually goes from there. There is where the whole process of trying something new and playing it out, comes in.

There are a number of ways to guide things later on after that, and maybe I should be thinking more along those lines. But I'm always obsessed with making the characters seem as natural and "uncontrived" as possible. And a part of that, for me, involves letting things go as they will.

Warp9 · Sep 21, 2011

Sagana said:
Hm, I guess that's why I'm also not a seat-of-the-pants type. For me, to tell a story, I have to feel like I have a story to tell and that means a plot. I guess I'm the same way when I read. I like stories that feel like they're moving forward, going somewhere and become impatient quickly if the characters just seem to be looking at the scenery (even if the scenery is compelling). Each to their own.

But isn't that partly dependent on who the main characters are?

If the main characters have interesting goals and push hard towards them, that is a lot different than "looking at the scenery." For example, a story where Jack the Ripper is your main character is probably not going to end up with him spending a lot of time out in the country, smelling the wild flowers.

Choosing among variations on a theme

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