Picked Up and Old Story and...

[Velkyn_Faer]

... and the first four chapters are absolute trash. I worked on it three years ago, with random corrections throughout that time, but now I'm coming back at it to finish it off and I can't believe what I wrote. A lot of it doesn't make any sense and names of races or places were (at the time of the first writing) ripped from other things.

So, do I just entirely re-write my first chapters and continue on, or is there something else I can do to fix it up?

And, for all the ripped names, I need new names for everything. Any suggustions on name generators or just plain ol' name suggustions for races and places?


Thanks a ton!

Taylor

[Josh]

If a lot of it doesn't make sense and it seems a mess of names and such, I'd suggest chopping them off and rewriting. Why muddle around with stuff that has a psychological drag to it? Start fresh, with some new energy and a drive to never let yourself write like that again. Sometimes it's easier to let the old go, rather than dragging it along behind you, flopping around and stinking the place up.

As for names...my method is to establish some kind of vocal groundwork for a particular race, species, or people. That way their names make sense within some sort of context, and they don't look like garbled, thorny text. If you want to really get into the basics, check out Holly Lisle's "Create a Language" workshop.

http://hollylisle.com/tm/create-a-language1.html

And here is her way of creating names:  http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/faqs8.html#2

[Velkyn_Faer]

Thanks, that helps a lot. I'll keep that in mind as I  continue on. I'm skipping the beginning for now, because all it does it get me down, and working on tidying up the middle and end. Then I'll go back and kick the beginning into shape.

But, yeah, starting from scratch on some of those scenes seems best.

Thanks!

Velkyn

(If anyone else has any advice, please let me know. Keep posting, please.)

[Cyclone Jack]

That's something you have to decide yourself, really. I'd suggest that you give rewriting a shot and see how it goes. If, in practice, it seems a more practical thing to restart, then do that.

As for the names, I wouldn't be overly concerned about it in a first draft. Just continue on. As your story grows in the telling, you may just find characters and places 'naming themselves'. If so, it's a simple thing to use find-and-replace to knock the previous section in line.

[Uilos]

Yeah, I'm discovering the same thing, except this is just a difference of a few months. I think it's just that I've gotten used to the world and some of the rules in it. The first few chapters were only a few pages long and only really scratched the surface. Now my chapters are at least in the 20's and go into alot more depth

[RMatthewWare]

Use what you wrote before as an outline.  Then, completely rewrite.  It's easier to rewrite trash than to fix it.  It's like a house that's falling down.  You can spend time and effort to fix it, or you can just bulldoze and rebuild.

[Uilos]

I'm doing that. I'm just looking at it and going "shit, I sucked..."

[Velkyn_Faer]

Yeah, I'm discovering the same thing, except this is just a difference of a few months. I think it's just that I've gotten used to the world and some of the rules in it. The first few chapters were only a few pages long and only really scratched the surface. Now my chapters are at least in the 20's and go into alot more depth

I feel ya, there. I finished the story and started right into the sequel, which is about halfway done, and I noticed the sequel writing and story is so much more... fitting and real for the world than the beginning of the first. And, yeah, I stared at my screen as I was going over the first chapters and wondered how I got away with writing such trash.

[Uilos]

Well, I figured I'm going to write the story, just to get the damned thing done with. Then Tool with it when I work on the manuscript.

[Velkyn_Faer]

Well, I figured I'm going to write the story, just to get the damned thing done with. Then Tool with it when I work on the manuscript.

That's true. It's a big step to just get it finished and out there, instead of a buncha ideas floatin' around inside my head. When you think about it, fixing it up is a lot less effort than doin' the story itself. Maybe not to everyone, but to me, at least.