my short stories

[Teddybear]

i'm always writing stories but i never finish one my latest is based off a dream i had

[Lexington]

It's amazing how easy it is to start a story...and how hard it is to finish one.

Lex

Or how easy it is to finish one...and how hard it is to start it.

that could be just me though. I usually know the end, but not the start.

[Lexington]

Oh, right. You can write the really cool climactic battle sequence at the end, but you can't do the long boring part that explains why they're fighting in the first place.

Lex

[Teddybear]

yes because thats how some people start their stories. but how do you know when the stories right

[MusicIsLife]

Originally Posted by Haiiro

Or how easy it is to finish one...and how hard it is to start it.

that could be just me though. I usually know the end, but not the start.

iawtc. im horrid at starting stories 90% of the time.

[Teddybear]

well thats all like the process of life. you don't know how to stat it but sometimes you know how to end it.

[Gaetan]

My problem is rarely the beginning or the end. It's the in between.

[GhostDog]

Originally Posted by Teddybear

yes because thats how some people start their stories. but how do you know when the stories right

"You Just Do". =P As with any art, you just develop some sense of when what you've created is good enough.

When you think it's done, leave it. Go do something entirely different. Come back to it, read it again. You'll probably find a bunch of things you want to change. I do this with my drawings, my paintings, my comic scripts, and my stories. Looking at them with a fresh eye helps. =) Sometimes I come back and only make a few minor changes here and there, other times I'll go, "Oh god, I called THIS finished? What was I thinking? This is wrong, and this should be that, and this part here would be more effective like that..." If I make any huge changes, I'll come back and read it a few more times!

My rule of thumb is, however, to ask myself, "Would I show this to someone else and be proud of it? Or would I be embarrassed and try to explain this, this, and this?" If I'm at all hesitant about showing it, I ask myself why and what I can do to fix it.

I also suggest reading a bunch, if you don't already. Seeing what authors you like do effectively might help you know what to look for in your own work. (Though maybe not so much while you're writing? I don't know, if I'm reading a book in the same time frame that I'm writing something, I end up sounding like I'm aping their writing style. That may just be me, though.) Also, there are countless books on writing. I've read The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman, as well as On Writing by Stephen King, and I thought they were informative reads!

But man, I love writing. I love it when you have a bunch of characters in your head that start out as hazy concepts, and eventually end up becoming so much their own people that they change the story on you. <3 I'm writing a comic script at the moment and having a blast doing it, ehehe. (... Then come the thumbnail sketches, the drawing, the inking, the coloring, the lettering...)