Critiquing the Idea

For those who don't know, I'm a member of a writing forum. One of the things I've seen asked a lot is for people to give advice on or critique an idea for a story or a novel. It's something that's difficult for me to get a full grasp on, because until recently, I've always been rather private with my ideas (see: how this blog has very little of my actual ideas written out!) and have never really sought advice in that stage of the process. These people obviously have a different mindset, and it makes me wonder how they're approaching the process.

Mainly, I'm curious how others' advice affects their ideas. If I were to say, here's my story: A, B, and C, and you were to say, "Change C to D", I'm not sure I'd make the change. Mostly because my thoughts would be on 'well, that's not how the story is supposed to go'. But it's not the fault of the suggester: They only have the barest of bones on the tale.

A wise man once said, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" (I said 'wise', not 'grammatically astute'). How can anyone know what's wrong with a story when there's no story? How can an "idea" be broken? No one knows what the story really is yet because the story doesn't exist. I worry for these writers because I think they're getting too plagued by the starting line.

If you ponder over ideas, making changes and asking questions about just the spark of inspiration you received, how will the story ever get made? Some writers go in with a chapter by chapter plan of their story, and some of them might start exactly as I've described here; checking up on the idea first. But I know for a fact that there are writers who get bogged down in this opening stage so much that they soon find themselves months, maybe years later with this great idea, but not a single word written toward it.

I suppose if I were inclined or qualified, my advice would be to get an idea and then write the story. Close the world out until "The End" is written, and then critique it yourself. Edit it, clean it up, leave it alone, and clean it up some more. Then, show it to the world and see what they think. You'll probably need to make more changes once other people see it, but I doubt they'll be as sweeping or story-altering as they would have been if you sought advice with just that idea. Instead, the critique will focus on style and structure, making your writing better rather than trying to make your story better.

A Month of Failure

Greetings internet! It's been a short while, eh? Let me explain. So when we last talked, I'd not been here in a while because things were getting busy around me. Well, just when I thought the storm had cleared, I got floored! My boss came in with the news that she got another job elsewhere (a better one!) so while we were all very happy for her, it did make for some real changes here in the office. We had to restructure a few things and one of the senior members of the IT team got promoted to her place. We're a medium sized delivery company, as you might know, and we also get more deliveries going in the summer because the weather makes things easier to work with. So all in all, my office time was mostly spent either working for real, or writing my book. I just didn't have time for the blog, I'm sorry to say.

I also went to a convention, got a tattoo, joined a new gym, and have been preparing for a minor surgery (nothing scary!). So my time's been pretty monopolized and what little free time I've had at home has been spent relaxing with my wife, Bishopette. So I apologize for having been a dead duck for a couple of weeks. For now, let's get the counts over with, I got more to say!

Summing up the last couple of... erm, I just looked at the date, and it's been a month. SO: Summing up the last month:

Week 1: 2597 (This was the convention week)
Week 2: 7677
Week 3: 4548
Week 4: 8625

As I said, it's been hectic. It's safe to say July was a month of failure. But, I am making progress in "Observer", the latest novel, and am about 70,000 words in. Things are really moving in the story and it's coming together beautifully.

So that sums up the return-to post, let's get to the discussions!