your feedback is appreciated, please communicate with me on a level above the basal

Bumbling could work, I've been doing random scenes and gradually organizing them together into a coherent plot, though I have a loose outline already drawn out.

"the moment-glimpses of a character's life" are just the things stories are made of, so I definitely think they're worth telling in story form, as long as there's a story to tell about them :v And I wouldn't worry as much about having some amazingly epic ending as I would about the stories leading up to it, because even if there doesn't turn out to be an ending (the story gets abandoned or whatever) there will still those earlier adventures written down. I guess I can't say it better than the old "it's more about the journey and not the destination."
I think it's much more important to have a good story than a good ending to the story, or even any ending. Look how many book and TV series played out without any proper ending, and people still enjoy them for what they are: stories that don't lead to any grand overarching plot's conclusion but just good fun bumbling stories.

Sasfsets already created my response for me.

Yes. You grew up Brinnelander. There, everyone's trying to get the good happy ending. All their stories end with 'And he reigned long and justly, until the peaceful last of his wakes.' That's what every asshole wants you to think but in two alba he got stabbed or poisoned or his wife ran off with a cuter nath or whatever. Dumbass Brinneland ideology, don't get suckered into it. Everyone's looking at the forever-horizon but the horizon don't move.

Speaking as someone who has written five novels along those same lines, four of which are at least modestly satisfactory, I'd say you absolutely have the right to tell any story you like, even if you haven't, in a sense, crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's. In fact, I find that leaving things a little bit loose can actually be a big help as it gives you some leeway for character and/or world development that you might not have planned for when you started. My writing group has had endless debates over whether you should outline and plan everything out or not, and as far as I can see, it's really up to what works best for you. But every story, every story, is worth the journey if it's something you're interested in and willing to put in the time to tell.

Which isn't to say I don't totally understand where you're coming from. There have been plenty of times if I've wondered if I wasn't wasting my time and whether it would be better to just chuck it all and have done. I think that's something every creative person goes through sometimes.

unfortunately in the time between making this journal and this reply i have already mostly sorted out the entire story, go figure

im very wary of wasting a reader's time with something that is meandering and pointless but sometimes you want to get out and have a good meander anyway

im also gunshy because the longest thing i ever wrote was written without a planned end and now i'm staring at nearly 1000 pages where the conflict in the last half of it isn't even mentioned in the first and oh god

that's so much editing

I wouldn't call that unfortunate at all! I'm glad you got it figured out. And sometimes posting a journal like this, or talking to someone, can clear some of the mental gunk out, too, so I'd say it's still worth it.

I always figure that's kind of what the rough draft of a story is for. I don't want to waste my readers' time, either, but sometimes you have to just let the ideas come as they may, and pretty it up later. I remember reading some of your stories before you stopped posting them here, and I thought you had a lot of talent, and still do, so I'm sure you can find a way to get it all smoothed out.

Wow. I think the longest thing I've ever written was just slightly over 300 pages, so that's really impressive! A lot of editing, indeed, but I think there's ways to enjoy that, too. Maybe I'm weird, but I've always found a certain satisfaction in going back over my stories and polishing them up. That's when it starts to feel like an actual novel, y'know?

Anyway, I know I'm not saying anything you don't already know, so I'll stop rambling on. But I'm glad you're back on track, and I hope you have fun with the project! I'm sure it'll turn out really well!

i still DO do writing, it's just short, continuous stories underneath pictures because oh WOW as i'm sure you know it's so absolutely difficult to get people to pay attention to writing on furaffinity that the only way i can do it is by tricking people into looking at a picture and then oh, what's this, there's a little story underneath? well guess you gotta read that too HAH that's how i GET EM

i don't even really particularly enjoy drawing it's something i learned entirely to trick people into reading my writing lol

it's also just been a rough two years, the world ending has made it hard to like

i don't know, do you do writing by running simulations of the stories in your head in your spare time? i usually hold little snapshot moments of story play out in my head over and over until i refine the words and actions and when i sit down to write it's just transcribing a play i've seen several times, but the disaster of the past few years has left precious little space on the stage for anything entertaining to be performed

Fair point. I should have specified remembering your longer pieces, because I do still read the ones under the pictures as well. And yeah, I absolutely do know about people not wanting to read! I've pretty much stopped posting stories here, too, except maybe short vignettes under a commission or two. It's a shame to have to resort to commissions, or doing art yourself, to get any attention for stories, though for what it's worth, I do enjoy the art you post as well.

And gosh yes, the last two years have been really tough on my drive to write as well. I've mostly been editing old stories, and have written maybe 30 pages of new material since February '20. I don't know if my own process is quite like yours, but I do very often imagine scenes or even whole stories like that before I write them down, and I can visualize things almost perfectly sometimes, so I think I know at least something of what you describe. Here's hoping things will get a little easier for you, and for all of us, soon!

Well real life is kinda like that anyway, isn't it? We don't have grand adventures that have satisfying conclusions. Our lives are just a series of things that happen. So its not a bad thing at all. I like to think of these events as character vignettes. So maybe you don't have a story. But you have a character. I think that's the more important aspect.

that is exactly the thing, actual life is in fact obnoxiously poorly scripted because the mindless idiot's coils can only repeat the same story, and therefore most people do nothing but tell one story in a repeating loop so there's no such thing as a conclucsion but more a moment when you are tired of watching the wheel spin and want to watch another have a go

'w'! Set a goal, find the goal, poke the goal! Can be hard to set goal, but sometimes it is simple. Like... Word association can help! 'w'!

hobbits reference goes here
Some of the best stuff is just captured in moments. Besides, are you creating the story or are you just the storyteller? Are you the potter or are you the tool that molds the clay?
It'll sort itself out in time, and ultimately it's about what you want to do: not with them, but whether you want to write the stories or not. Besides, spinning a wheel isn't necessarily time wasted. And even if it is, you can learn a lot from wasting time. I learned more from the various failures and fanfictions I created than I ever did from things I had to work on to impress people.

i am in fact the world and can only simulate the lives inside me just as our lives are simulated by an equally shitty author i will one day break free from because fuck this ASSHOLE i can do so much better

my rebellion's going poorly lately however

Hard to break that slavery loop.

I really enjoyed the story that shall not be named even though it never ended.

Slice of life or little bits of story are still enjoyable, you often only remember specific bits of a story over time anyway. I would say the only time the ending not happening would be a sin is if that is what you're building up to, and never have a payoff.

what story shall not be named??

One involving a coracleboat that never got finished.

?? i don't understand

Sabhaxlia

good beacuse i've ultimately decided to subject everyone to my disaster of a world that churns inside me

i still have to draw fucking images for each thing i write tho because otherwise no one on FA will ever look at it, lol

I think that watching your characters wander and ramble and go on "dumb bumbling adventures" is fun, even if there's not an endgame.

unfortunately i might even have conclusions in mind now woops

the finality of a story's end now draws tight on the throat

Oh! Congratulations, then~

I find even if I have ideas planned out, they tend to mutate and diverge, sometimes drastically, as I move from merely kind of having an idea of having an idea, and am instead suddenly sitting in front of a blank canvas pencil in hand with the expectation of bringing said idea to life.

So yeah from my perspective as an artist I think it’s fine to not 100% know your story arc since by the act of adapting it to the outside world might change it so much in practice even if your vision was concrete that you may as well have just winged it. Then again I’m not really a story guy, more like “explosions/muscles/fetish fuel go brrrrr” so I tend to kind of gravitate towards certain set pieces and want to make the story later so maybe I am not the best source of advice on the matter.

I personally only get glimpses in my mind, and i have thought something similar for a long time. I have even stopped doing storytelling for years cause i felt it wasn't right, but in the end i resolved doing this kind of art again because is good for my brain and who cares. It's not that we're resolved creatures anyway.