Writing to a formula or equation SOUNDS easy. But'� Can YOU do it?

Believe me, I've tried! Unsuccessfully, most of the time!

Oh, sometimes it seems to work ' the first Mandolin story I put up on SI was done along the S=C+A+R lines, and it seemed to work well. So much so, that I typed it directly into the text box. The second one worked better (in my opinion), and it was also typed directly.

But, were they really straight from my mind onto the page?

After they were up, I was browsing through a pile of papers on my desk, and I found the same basic story in three different versions, written before I started reading the Jerry Cleaver book. They were not in a format that I'd inflict on other people ' handwritten, more diagrams (mind-maps) than anything else. So, what went onto SI was the S=CAR approach version of the same thing(s), with a couple of additions. It went quickly, because I knew how the stories would flow.

I've been trying with another story. It went terribly ' the story just didn't LIVE. The characters are realistic, the storyline is good, but it ain't readable!

Where the equation comes into its own is when we have a more-or-less story, and we want to make it work. We need to write the 'bad'� version, and get it all down on paper, from start to finish. The 'bad'� version's got all the basics ' character descriptions, the decisions and actions, and all the things that will make it a good story. Hell, I 'love'� the story I'm working on, all 6,000 plus words of it, and I keep adding more to it ' that 'draft'� looks like it will finish up around 8,000 words or so.

But the draft I might show others ' my first level of readers ' will be under 3,000 words. Maybe down to 1500 words. And it will be tighter, because I can already see what the real conflict is, what actions the characters will have to take, and how the resolution will work (BOTH the Successful and the Failure). I'm not certain which of the resultions I will use in that draft, but the possibility of both should be all the way through, right up to the ending.

So, can I write to a formula or equation?

The only answer is 'No!'�.

But, what I can do is take my 'bad'� story and make it fit to the equation, and then do the stage magician thing,and cover up all the props.
For me, the writing process is a lot of work. There are too many tangents I can find to build up the story. There is so much that I want to put in for the reader. And I know that more than 50% of it is meaningless to the reader.

Hmmm'�.

Maybe that's why I've had so many rejections ' the editors, even if they can't say why, are 'seeing'� the lack of CAR in the stories. Maybe that's why the ghost-written ones have been so easily accepted ' the CAR is there, despite me doing the writing. Maybe, despite not telling me why they rejected the pieces, the editors have not been as blind as I thought: they've detected the lack without being able to state it.

I guess my next step is to go through my rejections and see if I can edit in the CAR'�.

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