INTERSTATE76.COM

deleted

It's a good start, but is too early to really critique properly.


Don't worry about screwing up any geographical information - RLF and I didn't know much about any of the actual locations we wrote about in Kid's 'N' Vigs either


For formatting purposes, It seems to work best to add a blank line between paragraphs or any other lines of text that would be sperated by being tabbed in.


The "Finish What you Start" rule applies mainly to unorganized joint stories, and not older fiction that people never got around to finishing but still want to share. We just don't want someone to post a partial story and expect others to finish it for them.

Formatting- yeah I know the convention for modern business correspondence is line between each paragraph, but I prefer the older style of tabs. Tabs don't work in HTML as we all know, and clearly my attempts to fool the page into showing multiple spaces (4 after each _ ) failed, so I'll have to switch to line between style. Harumph!

As you say, there is no story yet. I have the characters more or less in my head, with plenty of unwritten (or written and lost ) backstory to each. I also have the destinations of the characters more or less mapped out, so it's a question of making the journey a worthwhile read. The writing style is quite aggressive, at the moment. I'm not sure if I'll maintain that, or settle into a more prosaic form. It's trying to set the mood for the story, so I may not maintain the "attitude". I will try not to get too hung up on geography- I don't intend on providing a map with every route detailed out on it

Oh noes! weres teh storiez?

I've pulled the story so far off, for a few reasons. The main of which, is that I need to rewrite a fair chunk of it. In that regard, leaving the current story up only serves to confuse those who were just going to read a fresh chapter (not that my continuity has been top notch as it is), and rewritten chapters would not be highlighted.

Problems: Those of you who know the score, will probably have sussed that there's been altogether too much "making it up on the spot". While I have had this story in mind for about three years or more, and the broad ideas haven't changed, I've certainly written myself into to many corners. The result has been a story which so far has been a fair bit disjointed, with altogether too much bad exposition. There's some parts I really, really, like, so hopefully I won't have to murder my darlings. Another problem is the writing for the characters. The scope of the story has grown beyond the original core protagonists, and some characters have received less than appropriate characterisation. I expect that as I re-read and rewrite the story, I'll find the opportunity to flesh out certain aspects of each. The biggest problem, is knitting the story together. I need to take a good look at my overall plot, and make the story work within it. It hasn't helped that I've had the back end of the story in mind for a long time, but I can't face writing the chapters out of turn, which leads to frustration with the mess it's currently in.

Added to that, there's a couple of other projects I must have been sat on for the best part of (if not more than) a year, at least one of which has been a joint venture with RLF, which I'm sure he'd like to see the light of day.

So.
My task, for this month, is to knuckle down, do the changes (which I hope fill just be minor- I think most chapters will stay as is for now) and finish the damn story.

If you need help with it, just let me know. I'm not planning on writing anymore in Interstate, and I'd like to avoid it all together and take my writing more seriously. Though I don't mind helping out and I still like to read the ideas that other people can come up with.

And as far as the joint bit goes, you better damn well show me what you did with my characters. Send me a copy sometime.

RLF

I will keep you informed.

I've been going through my interstate fiction stuff, and in the cold light of some months (in some cases years) down the line, I don't like what I see for the most part.

There's a few things I really like, even now, a few things I've tinkered with and look like they're improved, but also a lot of stuff which is, frankly, embarrassing to read back. My big story, for one, is largely a mess, and due an almost complete rewrite. Fortunately (for me) the parallel nature of a lot of it means I can keep the stuff I like.

Whether I'll ever get round to it any time soon is another matter. I find it *really* hard to do any creative writing outside of midnight-3am, and I can't keep those hours right now.

It's also mildy annoying that, for example, one piece I wrote that I still quite like, is the last chapter to a story that, for the main part, hasn't been written. (This story is based around a photograph in another story )

Then there's the story that we were bouncing back n forward to each other over ICQ, which I still have up to a point. I think that's the best one to focus on right now, because it's mainly a bit of fun, and it's easier to write/finish up with that in mind.

I remember coming up with a very vague plot involving the apocalypse and having to drive with armed vehicles and other fun stuff. I thought and thought about it since eighth grade and then in college I wrote a portion of the story, which was never completely compiled, for Humanities (English Composition II) and for some reason I lost my motivation for compiling the story altogether. I never considered discussing it here because the enemies weren't human, so it really wasn't Interstate enough.

Ace English wrote:It's also mildy annoying that, for example, one piece I wrote that I still quite like, is the last chapter to a story that, for the main part, hasn't been written. (This story is based around a photograph in another story )

I have the exact same problem with my own stories. It's easy to write a few key chapters, but getting the rest of the story caught up to that point is the hardest part.


Right now I'm sitting on two completely different ideas for Interstate-related stories. One is a fairly "light" story that's mostly just action but should have a few neat plot twists and TONS of cameos from various I'76'ers from the past. The other focuses on just a few specific recurring characters and is much, much darker.

I have several scattered chapters already written for the darker story and several other good parts to write down yet, but there are some key plot points in it that will spoil parts of the "lighter" story, so I really need to write that one first despite the fact that it's a much less interesting storyline... :-/

Yeah, that's the reason I wrote cuppatea, because it's basically just a chapter on its own.

the one I'm working on is mainly based in December '83, and features Ace English and Redline Fox for the most part, on a trip to England for a race. Besides keeping the characters honest, I'm also trying to envisage an England of the time (childhood memories aren't exactly what they used to be). Besides the actual plot, there's also some themes I'm trying to work into it. It's tough work, I'm used to just doing stuff that basically goes "and then this happened, and then that sploded, and then they went here." It's also tough, because it's in the first person, which is never a comfortable way to write for me, though it is in past tense, which is a lot easier to work with than present tense (but less immediately satisfying).

Bah.

I think I'll work out a chapter limit and stick to what I can do in that constraint. It's not like it's going to be an airport bestseller.

Just finish something

Don't make writing into a chore for yourself or else it'll come out all wrong. Writing should be enjoyable first.

I'm not sure when I'll be back online on a regular basis, but I'll check in when I can to check your progress.