[OT] Help! I need short story ideas, fast!

[MerakSpielman]

Hard to say what my style is, really. I have an unusual habit of writing similar to whoever it is that I'm reading at the time. I guess it's good that I can notice it. I usually write in first person. I love fantasy, but haven't been well-read in that genre since high school. I've been stuck on chapter four of a book for so long that it behooves me to stop telling people I'm writing a book. After I graduate I'll have time to write again.

It turns out that my first story for this class had a copy on my work computer I'll attach it here, if you want to read it. It's considerably better than the current story, probably because I thought about it in great detail for a week before writing it.

Warning: Potentially offensive subject matter. If the mods disapprove, I will understand.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Oh, just had a thought - next time you're running low on ideas, there's a limitless (well, practically limitless) supply here...

-Hyp.

 

[takyris]

Coming late to the game, obviously

Anyway, this was just something I want to comment on. I know that once you're in "writing mode", you can churn out a lot of pages in relatively short time.
However, I believe that it seriously hurts the quality of the story.

I disagree. It certainly depends on the person, but I find that I really hit my stride after about 45 minutes. If I can only write for a half hour at a time, I produce garbage. It I can write for two or three hours, I produce a lot more good stuff. Writing-mode is my friend.

I'm trying to get myself to writing stories early, just to give me at least a day or so to edit it one last time, and correct the gravest mistakes.

This, on the other hand, is an excellent idea. Many people will say "You wrote this too quickly" when what they really mean is "You didn't edit this".

My writing style is generally to outline, then crank out a rough draft while editing only where necessary to correct massive problems -- and then to go back through and edit things. Once you've got the whole of a first draft, even if it's a skeletal whole, you've got somewhere to go. The "revise it to perfection, then proceed" method has resulted in many really wonderful first chapters of novels that will never get written.

For me, at least. If heavy revision while still trying to make forward progress works for you and results in a finished product, good on ya!