I think my imagination is a scam.
I spent three days excited to write one scene, finally wrote it, and it wasn’t even my favorite scene in the chapter.
Apparently there’s a thing called the “illusion of explanatory depth” that kind of reminded me of this:
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/the-illusion-of-explanatory-depth
Anyone else ever hype up a scene in their own head?
For the sake of not feeding anyone’s potential depression: they can’t become “worse”; only reveal themselves to be not as good or great as one initially thought they were. … And that is from the author’s perspective.
[Worse than what? If it was already perceived as “bad” from the start, why bother with it?]
Hi, In my opinion this happens with a lot of writers. Sometimes the version we create in our head feels perfect because our imagination fills in all the missing details, emotions and atmosphere. When we actually write it down, we suddenly see the gaps or realize another scene works better.
I do not think it means the idea was bad though, sometimes writing it is what helps uncover the real story hiding underneath. It’s happened to me where a less exciting scene on paper becomes the one that actually moves the whole chapter forward.
This why ideas are the easy part.
This is often a foible of the discovery writer. The idea, the ideation, the creation, all take on this magnificence that, once recorded does not justice to recent memory of the emotions that ran while composing it.
I suffer it often, along with it’s cousin, “I remember there being more here.” when I remember a whole chapter and see only 400 words of structure.
This is one of the bigger reasons why many people suggest that you let the manuscript rest between drafts, so you can come back down to Earth before picking up the pieces and improving them.
It is the same with non-fiction. It is also a good excuse to procrastinate.
At least you know what is not working.
Another, thing is that it may only seem disappointing to you but not other readers because they do not have the same expectations for it that you did. But if other readers also think it is dreck then into the round file it goes.
This is what I meant by my first post. And it is very true. (Ranking among the most important things to be aware of, in my opinion.)
Plus, readers have no idea what else what they are reading could have been. (Also factor in that they contribute a lot to “their version” of your novel. And they want to read a good book, so they won’t pour in their worst contribution. [Whether they are aware of their actual contribution or not is irrelevant. They are doing it.] You tell them what to see, but in the end it is them who are drawing the images and whatnot they perceive. [If my memory serves, Stephen King explained this wonderfully in On writing ; the rabbit with the “8” painted on its back.])
The author’s perspective is, by design, the worse possible seat. … Just because you don’t like something so much doesn’t mean it is bad. An author’s set of criterias – self-criticism – is bound to be off. Else, you ain’t giving writing your best shot.
Aim for 100, score 80. That’s how it is. (No one else knows.)
Even if you improve (and inevitably one does, given he/she keeps going), yes, you will write better. –But, satisfied? not a bit a more. You are still aiming for 100, except it is a disguised 120, and you are still scoring 80, which in turn is a disguised 96 (worth 96 to others, but not to you).
The only way to find bliss in writing is to don’t care a bit about quality and improving yourself as a writer. Which makes all of the above impossible – a paradox.
[Of course, this is just my opinion ; based on where I’m at as a writer.]
. . . . . . . .
About ideas in the context of writing a novel : they are like shoelaces making knots on their own. (Not always the knot you want where you want it. – Just to be precise : I don’t mean self-tying shoes.)
Write a short story. And read.
Read the comment threads on this forum.
As a matter of fact, this is how I desaturate my brain during my writing sessions. (When revising/editing, more accurately.)
[You don’t see me around much when I am in the composition phase.]
I am writing this on a note card and pinning it to a wall in my study.
But as much as I love it, you should not blame your imagination. You might just as easily have had some actual notable lived experience that you finally wrote up (in the guise of fiction or not) and end up in the same place. What let you down? Not your imagination.
It seems to me that if you have a series of events that happen in the world — no matter what else is true — these are not themselves a story, nor do they have a built-in story dynamic. This is something you bring to the table when you present or relate these happenings in some way. The very same is true of a series of imagined events. These are just episodes/happenings in the world of your fiction. The story dynamic is always in the telling — which is just not what your imagination dishes up. Your imagination is just “making things happen”.
My two discontinued U.S. cents.
That’s a good point 
Yeah, that’s probably the part I mixed up. The scene felt finished in my head, but writing it showed me it still had a lot of work left.
Fair enough. “Worse” was probably the wrong word. More like the idea lost some of the shine once I had to make it actually work on the page.
Yeah, I think that’s exactly what caught me off guard. The scene I was obsessed with ended up being fine, but the one I barely thought about before writing turned out to be the one that actually carried the chapter. Funny how that works.
ISW “I remember there being more here” is painfully so damn real 
Lmao yeah 
I’ve definitely had that happen. I’ll spend days thinking “this is gonna be THE scene,” then I finally write it and I’m just… “that’s it?”
Meanwhile some filler scene I barely cared about ends up being my favorite. Writing is weird like that.