ditto what squishy said... to write believably, i believe one has to be somewhat 'inside' each character... otherwise, they'll be stiff and unreal... and/or all be too much like the author... i'd be very surprised if successful fiction writers don't do this either consciously or automatically...
Every character is the star of the show in his/her own mind so you have to find a way to channel that to make them believable.
I find it greatly aids in characterisation. I automatically write not from the POV of but as though I had the personality of the most prominent character in that particular scene, not so much in terms of the writing style itself but how the scene and other character's actions are described. To take one example: Jack would walk into a room and see everyone's faces and how they look at him, whereas Cael will walk into the same room and see where they're all positioned and who they're looking at. It's just another dimension of the 'showing' in 'showing and telling.' Something tells me I'm describing this abysmally, so I'll show you the same scene twice written not from the perspective of but as though it were the characters in question narrating it: You can tell a lot about the characters' personalities from how they'd describe that room, yet it's not directly them describing it, if that makes sense. As long as this connection between the narrative and the character's viewpoints is implicit from the beginning of a novel, you can add a whole new dimension to characterisation with it.
I find it difficult not to write in character. If I try, I get something that looks like a newspaper report. I rarely write in first person, though, and never for anything longer than a short story. It's too annoying; I can't easily switch POVs between scenes, and I'm restricted to the vocabulary and voice of my character. Third person limited allows me to be inside my character's head while using my own voice - best of both worlds, I think.
Whenever I get writer's block, I stop what I'm working on and move to something else. Maybe I just need a break from that particular idea. I've also experienced writer's block where I've lost stamina to write, generally after a long period of not writing anything. In those instances, I just take it a little at a time. Every word I type is a triumph and I try not to push myself. I probably won't produce anything worthwhile but it's all an exercise to build up my writer's muscle again. It's not like what I'm writing is going straight to the publisher or anything. Just take your time. Unless you're under a deadline, you've got all the time the world! Another type of writer's block I get is when I accidentally slip from what should be happening. Whether the plot has slipped or I've done something uncharacteristic for a character, my brain just grinds to a halt and doesn't let me go any further until I fix the problem and get back on track. It's frustrating but relatively easy to fix.
I'm suffering of one right now I mean, I have ideas, so it's not like creative constipation or anything, but for the past week(s) I've felt like whatever I put on paper, is utter crap, entirely sub-standard, so bad I feel like I'd rather read a phone book than anything as boring and bad and garbled as what I've managed to type down. So in a way it's a block, because it blocks my progression, snuffs the fun out of the process, curbs my creativity, whathaveyou. I hope it'll pass soon.
Well it seems I'm getting passed mine... I started writing in a notebook and it's going a lot more fluently than on the computer. I do have the feeling something are crap, but I try not to pay too much attention to it right now since writing is the only way to relax from the stress of the upcoming exams right now.
KaTrian- "I'm suffering of one right now I mean, I have ideas, so it's not like creative constipation or anything, but for the past week(s) I've felt like whatever I put on paper, is utter crap, entirely sub-standard, so bad I feel like I'd rather read a phone book than anything as boring and bad and garbled as what I've managed to type down. So in a way it's a block, because it blocks my progression, snuffs the fun out of the process, curbs my creativity, what have you. I hope it'll pass soon." I felt the same writing on a short story of mine a little while ago. Frustrated, I sat down, wrapped my thoughts into a ball and Steve Mqueened them against the wall to myself, juggling everything around. I got there but not by diving immediately back into the story I was working on. I decided to write anything, absolutely anything that came into my mind no matter how ridiculous, extreme, far-fetched.. just to stretch the imagination and see what came up. I ended up writing something like ten pages long, stuff that I wouldn't show the light of the world but it was ten pages of stuff that reincarnated my style and got me back on track. It worked for me but for you and anyone else, you'll just have to give it a go but I hope it helps and that it passes soon.
KaTrian- "I'm suffering of one right now I mean, I have ideas, so it's not like creative constipation or anything, but for the past week(s) I've felt like whatever I put on paper, is utter crap, entirely sub-standard, so bad I feel like I'd rather read a phone book than anything as boring and bad and garbled as what I've managed to type down. So in a way it's a block, because it blocks my progression, snuffs the fun out of the process, curbs my creativity, what have you. I hope it'll pass soon." I felt the same writing on a short story of mine a little while ago. Frustrated, I sat down, wrapped my thoughts into a ball and Steve Mqueened them against the wall to myself, juggling everything around. I got there but not by diving immediately back into the story I was working on. I decided to write anything, absolutely anything that came into my mind no matter how ridiculous, extreme, far-fetched.. just to stretch the imagination and see what came up. I ended up writing something like ten pages long, stuff that I wouldn't show the light of the world but it was ten pages of stuff that reincarnated my style and got me back on track. It worked for me but for you and anyone else, you'll just have to give it a go but I hope it helps and that it passes soon.
I don't have the concentration and with all the medical nonsense I have going on at the moment my brain is always foggy and all I can do is sleep. I have so many ideas floating in my head but as soon as I sit at the laptop to start typing I have an instant brain fog and dizziness and need to lie down. Also, my mother. My partner and I are currently living with her while waiting for our house to be ready and every time I do have the energy to flesh out an idea she decides to talk to me about ridiculous stuff.
I don't have the concentration and with all the medical nonsense I have going on at the moment my brain is always foggy and all I can do is sleep. I have so many ideas floating in my head but as soon as I sit at the laptop to start typing I have an instant brain fog and dizziness and need to lie down. Also, my mother. My partner and I are currently living with her while waiting for our house to be ready and every time I do have the energy to flesh out an idea she decides to talk to me about ridiculous stuff.
Work I'm an interpreter and translator by trade, focusing primarily on translation work right now. Translation is written work, interpretation is spoken. After translating a fifty page extradition package, the last thing I want to look at is WORDS. Reading When I go back over my work, it's often only too evident what or who I was reading during the writing of a particular part of my work. When I'm really in the groove, I have to put my reading away, which sucks because I love reading.
For me, most of my problems in being able to write is the personal life and the time crunch/attention span. Despite the fact I only sleep about 2-8hrs a week (god I wish I could change that lol) I can never seem to find the time to write anymore, there's always something else going on that demands my attention or pulls me away from stuff. Then when I do find the time to sit down and do some writing I usually end up getting distracted or pulled away from it by a lot of things, having ADD definitely doesn't help either.
Yeah... there's this one here on the very first page, What's The Hardest Thing To Do In The Process Of Writing For You?
My guess is that you're sometimes attempting to write a story before you think it out, live with it a while. Don't be too quick to sit down and start typing the minute an idea pops into your head. Spend a few days developing the idea before you ever go near a keyboard. Just before you go to sleep, just after you wake up, while you're walking someplace on your own—these are all good times to get your imagination going, take the idea you have as far as you can, make up some interesting characters, emotional situations. Might be a good idea to keep a notebook handy, so you can scribble down ideas when they come to you. Think of what the worst things are that could happen to your character. Is your character betrayed or attacked by someone? Is it worse if the 'someone' is a best friend, a family member, a lover? Make it as bad as you can imagine, then find a way out of the situation, or a way to deal with it if the character can't get out. This kind of thing. Only after you've lived with your story idea a while will it come alive and be interesting to you. Then writing it down will be a skoosh!
ideas that become overcomplicated >.< Being too damned creative (sometimes it would be nice to be good at just one thing, but no, its almost a curse...) After training/gradbay, work, ill be doing all sorts of hours
Frustration, and the knowledge that it's a damn lot of work. I haven't written anything since March, so right now I feel terribly rusty, which doesn't help.
In response to sitting still. I kid you not, there is a device that goes over a treadmill and holds your laptop. This is for people that cannot sit still or who have to be at the PC for a long time and cannot get more exercise.
The internet is so distracting... I was planning to work on my outline for a little bit but now I'm sitting here writing about how easily distracted I am
