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 Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:30 pm
I don't really know whether this goes here, but I've checked the stickies, and ... I haven't figured out where else to put it aside from "gerneral chatter."
So, here goes.
Lately, I've become absolutely obsessed with structure, and so I'd like to know what you guys are thinking about it. Do you set out with a specific structure in mind, or am I just being crazy? Does the structure of a story effect the reader's interpretation of it?
Or does it not really matter when writing a first draft?
In short, what do you think about structure and its place in literature?
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:29 pm
I like to have a vague idea about where the story is going, so I plan a few things. Then when it because too 'deep', as I like to say, I stop and have a re think.
3nodding
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:25 am
I've done that before, and it worked for me, but I also never finished anything I started that had a vague idea ... but I think that if I plan too much, I really stifle my own creativity, so it's a bit of a problem both ways.
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:27 am
I've had some of the same problems before. If you start writing with everything planned out beforehand and you follow your plan to the letter, then you can take out a creative aspect and make your story feel unsatisfying to yourself as the author. Be willing to stray from the set path that you've set up if you get an idea. Then, if it doesn't work, go be to where you quit following your structure, and rewrite it from there with your plans. That way, you explore your options and see what works best. I don't often follow a set structure on purpose. Stories just kind of form their own structure as they're written for me.
The way a story is set up would most certainly affect the reader. How you write it is how they read it. For instance, if your structure for a book is a journal, for instance, the tone of the reader when they read it would be different than if it was a tragedy. Your structure and word choice is definitely something to consider when writing. If you don't start with a specific structure planned and you let one form on its own, just make sure you're consistent with it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:53 am
Exactly. And I'm finding that structure is really fun to play around with as well.
I read a book last year that was the length of a novel, but it was only divided into three "sections" and there would be stopping points regularly in each section. It was a really good book, but it seemed like it should have been in chapter format, and that was a bit irking to me.
But then again, that was how the author chose to present it, so there must have been a reason.
Unless they just felt like doing it that way.
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