I think I suck Donkey Ballz at writing.....

Ok, as some of you know, I am writing a story which hopefully one day will become an RPG video game.

The problem is, I have several pieces of the story and I've written those down. They are "scenes" that I want to have evoke powerful emotions. Those are written exactly the way I want them to be written, but now the problem is I have scenes A, C, F, H, L, P and a tough time figuring out how to do the scenes in between that get them from point A to C and C to F.

Is this the way writing is suppose to be done? The advantage of this way is I get all the scenes I want in it, but I'm afraid my story isn't going to make sense in the end, or many parts will have to be explained in ways that make no sense or seem to contrived.

Is this the right way to write a story?

I don't think there's any one right way to write a story.

Transitions are one of the hardest thing in writing.

Don't imagine it as one big story, imagine the pieces as little stories, and imagine the gaps you have to fill are like you're making Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith.

Don't look at them as filler, or it'll be a bore to write, and be as boring for an audience to read. Make them fresh independant episodes trying to be on par with what you've got.
You won't necessarily hit that target, and probably shouldn't anyway since it's transitional to to the juicy stuff, but at least aim for that.

That's exactly how I did Heck Backlash.

People seemed to like Heck.

^What phantom and D said.

There's no "right" way to write a story, and sometimes it's tempting to write the cool stuff first, but then you are stuck figuring out how to link all those scenes together. Still, there was some kind of structure in your head when you were writing them, even if it was only "And then this happens, and then that happens, and then..."

So look at the pieces as part of a jigsaw puzzle. Mentally put them on the table in the spaces where they belong and then ask yourself what's in the blank spaces in between.

I'd just like to add to that metaphor by saying that the missing piece doesn't have to be a blank piece of sky, it can be a piece of sky with a flying saucer in it.

And then the next piece can be the loch ness monster hanging onto the saucer by it's teeth.

Y'know?

Thanks people!

Makes me feel a lil better. If I ever get a draft finished, I'll post it.

Oh, another thing:

I read some of the stuff I wrote a month ago, and I was tempted to change the wording of it a little. I find that when you put down your first draft, there are a few sentances of dialog you think you can re-word and "improve" on after reading it a month later.

Should you do this? Someone here said the first draft was better, no matter how dumb it sounds.

Can't help you there, I've never done a second draft.

I'm still not sure if it's cuz I obsess over it letter perfect in my head so long it's just right, or if I'm too close to it to ever see what's technically wrong, or if it's just cuz I suck donkey ballz.

That depends on whether or not you suck donkey ballz.

Okay, serious answer -- if you reread it and you think it sucks, rewrite the scene/dialogue/whatever, but keep the original. Wait until you've had a good solid night's sleep, then reread both. Go with the one you still like better after a sunrise and a cup of coffee.

Stephen King recommends leaving it tucked away for 6 weeks to let it wash out of your head; so that when you come back it it's like reading someone else and you can be more objective.

^^Same concept, but... bad for deadlines. Then again, I tend to forget not everybody's working this stuff under deadlines.

Well, when there's a deadline cut the time in half.
Deadline in three weeks - tuck away for 1 1/2 weeks.

Or, alternate method -- rewrite sober. Review drunk -- look but don't touch. Then review again sober.

If a sentence jumps off the page at you yelling "I suck!" put it out of its misery.

Otherwise, yeah, let the whole thing breathe for at least a couple of weeks, then go back and reread. The sucky stuff will be even more noticeable then, and you'll have found better words to replace it.

I'm blind as a bat though.

Either the whole story sucks to me, and it ain't worth rewriting for me, or I love it too much, and I don't want to touch a word.

Sometimes, Dickynoo, being a good writer means being a bad parent. Sometimes you just gotta roll up your sleeves, cry in your shirt and then go on and mutilate the baby.

And don't forget - probably won't feel so bad rewriting the little critter.

Erhm, you won't like this idea one bit, but knowing you have scenes you like and knowing how you want the story to develop, how about a complete rewrite? Put the pieces you have in the correct order, then start writing them again, but now always keeping in mind where you're supposed to go next. The pieces you need to change will jump out at you, and of course the perfect sentences you already had, you can just copy. But at least this will let you pillage the 'good scenes' without having the feeling of destroying them. You're just recycling them. Or maybe this is the recipe for disaster.

^Not a bad idea. I once made the mistake of writing a story from the middle to the end, then started at the beginning and hoped to meet up with the middle once I got there.

Well, by the time I got there, the fault lines had shifted, and I not only had to rewrite the two parts that joined up in the middle, but I had to tweak a number of scenes from the middle to the end to get them to mesh with the beginning.

Never tried that again. However, the book was ultimately a success, and no one else knew the pieces originally hadn't fit.

Whoa, whoa, there's that rewrite thing again.

I woulda built bypasses and adapters.

^Different styles for different writers. Nothing wrong with that.