Betrayal: Part 7 [story]
Attentive Dragon
For an unexplained reason, this was the only chapter I didn't constantly
backup to my harddrive every time I modified it.
The chapter, being the conclusion to the story, was about twice as long as
any of the preceding chapters, and was only about two or three paragraphs to
completion.
I'm sitting here, with the first paragraph in front of me (which is all that
I was able to salvage from the file) and just can't gather up the will to
sit down and write this damn thing over again, espessially knowing that it
won't be the same, and I probably won't be able to get those scenes just the
way I wanted them again. I'm also remembering how many weeks it took me to
finally work out how I was going to make the story ideas work together
without contradicting each other, or contradicting what I had already
written. I spend hours pouring over some of the Ultima Dragon's sites just
so I could get a few small details (which made up perhaps only two or three
sentances of the entire thing) right.
I'm going to go bang my head against the walls for awhile now.
Don't expect the final chapter anytime soon. :(
p.s. - If anyone has magic "disk recovery powers," I'm open to suggestions.
gil
>
> ...was on a disk which spontaneously decided to stop working.
>
> For an unexplained reason, this was the only chapter I didn't constantly
> backup to my harddrive every time I modified it.
Damn.
> The chapter, being the conclusion to the story, was about twice as long as
> any of the preceding chapters, and was only about two or three paragraphs to
> completion.
>
> I'm sitting here, with the first paragraph in front of me (which is all that
> I was able to salvage from the file) and just can't gather up the will to
> sit down and write this damn thing over again, espessially knowing that it
> won't be the same, and I probably won't be able to get those scenes just the
> way I wanted them again. I'm also remembering how many weeks it took me to
> finally work out how I was going to make the story ideas work together
> without contradicting each other, or contradicting what I had already
> written. I spend hours pouring over some of the Ultima Dragon's sites just
> so I could get a few small details (which made up perhaps only two or three
> sentances of the entire thing) right.
Double Damn.
> I'm going to go bang my head against the walls for awhile now.
>
> Don't expect the final chapter anytime soon. :(
Like Feanor and the Silmarils, sometimes a creation can only be
accomplicsed once :(
gil
Castile Elan
<dex...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>...was on a disk which spontaneously decided to stop working.
>
>For an unexplained reason, this was the only chapter I didn't constantly
>backup to my harddrive every time I modified it.
>
Arggh. Since we dumped the typewriter and carbon paper, this has
happened at least once to every writer. I feel for you.
The best way to overcome this and finish the tale is to dump the
paragraph you have. Start entirely afresh, with a new plot line so
that you are not trying to re-wrtie the chapter. Trying to recapture
what has been written is an exercise in futility and frustration. One
has no passion for trying to re-create lost work. Create something new
that will engage you as the writer.
Thus the research you did will be new research and the ending may
surprise you. I'm a firm believer in only writing what excites you,
and letting the material surprise even you, its creator. Trying to
re-write something lost is tedious. (Of course, I am referring to
re-doing the same lost story here rather than the entirely necessary
work of re-drafting).
Consign the previous attempt to unremembered history and let your mind
wander onto new ideas - I feel sure the final chapter hiding in there
will be awesome.
--
Haruchai, Agha-Khan of the Golden Horde
"For the Phoenix to rise, first it must burn."
http://www.ecomouse.u-net.com
Todd Bailey
>...was on a disk which spontaneously decided to stop working.
>
>For an unexplained reason, this was the only chapter I didn't constantly
>backup to my harddrive every time I modified it.
>
>The chapter, being the conclusion to the story, was about twice as long as
>any of the preceding chapters, and was only about two or three paragraphs
to
>completion.
Man that sucks... This is on a floppy??
:-(
:-(
:-(
That is why I keep about 3 copies of my stuff. The question is not whether I am paranoid, but whether I am paranoid enough! :-(
Myrex
rec.games.computer.ultima.online writing in message
news:k27f7.3097$D4.2...@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net
The other thing he can try is seeing if it will read on someone elses
machine.
I don't recall any pc programs that attempted repair of damaged floppies,
but he could try *gulp* scandisk on it.
--
I am pulling rabbits out of this hat, but they
seem to come out as cheese on toast.
*pulls out "Spell Checker"* Ahh, they're rarebits!
www.myrex.co.uk - www.deane-saunders.co.uk
R.G.C.U.O irc - irc.stratics.com port 6667 #rgcuo