So recently, I had to submit a short story for one of my classes. No problem, I love to write. Yet as I was writing, something kept nagging me, and I couldn't place it. I had this constant feeling of being unsatisfied, and couldn't really figure out why.

I got my grade back on the paper today and comments from the professor, and it hit me like a ton of bricks - my story was too vague in parts that needed detail, took far too long to get to the point, lacked any real plot or scheme and overall was a very poor example of my work. The professor's words were kind and very helpful, but I'm kicking myself.

I didn't even get a bad grade on the thing, but that's not really the principle of the matter. I just don't know why I flopped so badly on this piece. I have a feeling the word constraint caught up to me, making the ending feel rushed and the beginning eternally slow. Either way, at least I have good ideas for revision, I suppose - although I lack the will to do it at the moment.

For some reason this all makes me feel so deflated today, haha. Have any of you experienced this sort of disappointment and frustration?

Cheers!

I love to write in general and I happily spend hours doing it whenever I have the time. However, I never started writing an essay for a college course sooner than two days before it was due (because it invariably took me that long to decide what to write about)... I have never re-read a single one after I turned them in because I knew if I did I would find all kinds of ways it could have been better. Short stories were even more painful. The time constraints and low-key (sometimes intense) stress to always do my best in all my classes just kinda zapped my creativity. I never felt like I could wait for inspiration or that I could take the time to really get it right, so most of them felt forced and it showed.

It can be a little easier if you kinda do a fill-in-the-blanks using 7 point story structure:

1. Intro - the Status Quo
2. Catalyst - problem or attack forces change for the protagonist
3. Initial Struggle - either they face the conflict for the first time ill-prepared or they resist the forward momentum
4. Complications - force them to go forward as the conflict intensifies
5. Failed Attempts - they grow emotionally as they fail repeatedly (triumph = Yay! and disappointment = Boo!)
6. Major Crisis - something goes really wrong and they feel defeated until they figure out the solution (i.e. feel like they just can't win but wait!)
7. Resolution - they face the antagonistic force, they win, and we get to see a short snippet of them living their new life

These don't have to be intense and the antagonistic forces don't have to be external. The point is just to show an evolution of character for the protagonist. I like happy endings so that's the kind of examples I used but I feel like for an unhappy ending you could do the opposites for 3 through 7.

Bear in mind, this method doesn't always work. Some people work better with a structured plan and other just work better writing as they go. Some people go back and forth depending on the project. It's just an option not a requirement. :)

Yes I have got those kind of experiences too.

On the other hand there must be a good line in the story, but then again it may be too easy and too simple as that line is too much on the foreground. Precisely complicated stories with more lines that converge in the end I like. Unfortunately, not everyone likes such a complex style I like.