One story or series? (1 Viewer)

[archangel leila]

Hey yall, I've been reading several of the showcase MWs for 04 (which are all fabulous by the way if the dearly departed are reading this ) and I haven't read ONE work that is a series of stories... At the moment I'm leaning towards 3 stories from different time periods and was wondering if anyone else was doing something similar?

My initial reasoning was that I find it hard to sustain an engaging/decent plotline but i'm starting to think that maybe the main characters won't be as developed as I (or a reader) would like...? Im a tad interested...any thoughts on the subject?

 

[daemonic666]

doing a series may look hard, but im consdering too. it just needs to have the characters in each others parts, or something related to all them (an object or a person or summat) not too difficult.

 

[:: dreami ::]

well you OBVIOUSLY skimmed over my story hun!

i was set from the start to do 3 seperate stories set in 3 different time periods. everything started from there. my work focused on the perception of women and their conflicts with the 'male'.

there was so much to cover - in fact i found that the most difficult part was to choose what to put in it and what not.

i'd be happy to help you further if you'd PM me or email me at mxu2595@bigpond.net.au

btw... my work is at: http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=7248

 

[Llyrai]

I had also considered constructing a series of short stories, as did many others in my year (2004). From what I've seen, most ditch the idea once they get deeper into their stories.

There are several reasons for this, although, keep in mind that this should not deter you from pursuing this idea. Some people find that they cannot get into enough depth with 8000 words, let alone dividing this restriction into smaller quantities. However, usually it is because composing a series of stories has a very different nature to one short story. There are questions to be answered. How are the stories linked? Motifs? Relationship of the protagonists?

Its a very different style.

If youre to do a series of short stories, make sure you have bound it real tight. Have fun composing and good luck!

 

[danie]

Mine was a series of threads that made up the big story, essentially though it had a theme that bound it all together, it seemed disjointed at first but came together at the end the more the reader read it and knew more about the characters and their subsequent stories. The problem I encountered was my ability to write something that achieved depth in character and narrative in a space of 8000 words, I ended up cutting out a character all together and taking out and rearranging scenes. The ending is even different from how it was originally.

My theme itself wasn't revolutionary in fact it was almost cliche, and I wouldn't consider my work post-modern either. I was surprisingly, merit listed (which I was stoked about) considering all my apalling grammar not to mention all my spelling errors (I am a very poor editor). But I'm glad the markers were able to see my piece as a whole because essentially the little stories made up my big one. Of course though you would have to incorporate something in those stories that would make it all relevant and strong enough for the markers. One of the things that brought my piece together was that all the characters talked to each other on the net every Tuesday. Like I said in my reflection statement my work was "deceivingly simplistic", but sometimes a strong, simple theme can be a good one.

My piece of advice would be to write something YOU want to, not something you THINK would get you the marks. I reverted from a complex piece to the one I ended up handing in, and I haven't looked back. Because I was writing what I wanted to ee2 became my favourite subject and a way to relax especially from all the other stuff you have to deal with.

Good Luck.

 

[archangel leila]

Cool Thanks for the advice guys, and for screwing with my head a little. Hey, that's my job I had 3 ideas pretty definitely decided upon but now i've got to thinking...Character development might be insufficient, or worse yet, non-existent. Might ditch one that wasn't really working and just concentrate on 2? I really want to have separate time settings, maybe just 2 periods as contexts for 2 stories showing 2 aspects of one theme...?

Hmm.

2.

We shall see.

Any other thoughts re: the 1 almighty vs party of less than 5 election welcome :uhhuh:

 

[iheartjm]

hey everyone!
archangel leila that idea is really interesting! i'm also doing my major work this year and while doing some research and reading some past major works i came across one you might be interested in. it's called "Spinning Straight" and deals with three different stories in three different periods. one is medieval time, one is like merlin time and one is contemporary present time. it's worth taking a look at. it was in, i think, 2003's showcase, i'll look it up for you to be sure, but yeh, i thought i was really well written and hey, it's in the showcase for a reason! so yeh take a look into that.

good luck with your major work. do something you love, that way you will feel passionate about it and treat it like your baby!

 

[KungPow]

Fabulous eh? I guess mine wasn't in there then. Oh wait, it's a showcase. Of course they're all fabulous.

As for the story vs series, I'd say a single story is easier, as you can have more development. It also seems easier to sustain an idea over one story rather than write two stories using the same idea but making them different. It's too much trouble! That's just me though. It might be easier for you.