I write through to the end of the first draft without stopping to edit along the way, for the most part. I don't get writer's block per se, but what I do is take my time to think about where the story's going and how best to say things before I write them. In a sense you could say I edit as I go a little, though it's very immediate--I'll write a sentence, reword if I don't like it, think about how to say the next sentence, write that, then write another few, reword if I don't like it, then move on and don't look back. That way I have a pretty decent first draft when I'm done but I haven't spent too much time tinkering. If I can't fix it immediately I leave it for later. Sometimes I'll get stuck and need to plan out the next few moves. But once I know them I can charge full steam ahead again. Best of both worlds, I think, and it's treated me well so far.
Ginger - "editing as you go" after you have a first draft is just plain editing or revising. "Editing as you go" means doing your editing/revising as the first draft is being written - and oftentimes means that's the only draft (other than polishing).
Really hard to vote on this because each story I write is a different 'experience' and depending on my private life certain projects can get derailed, or experience hiccups. Short stories also have a much easier go than novels but not always. A few I've written in one long edit as I go stream lasting a few days. Some I start, they sit, I come back to them much, much later. It's like they need to stew or I need to experience something else in order to complete them. Novels I can breeze through at least certain chapters and then have a hitch. ( I also edit as I go - minor edits though. If the story has a major inconsistency I make note of it usually, and then plunge on. ) My nano write novel has stalled out after a tremendous start. One problem is I read a book that had a similar subject and I doubted my ability to handle it as well as the published author did. My hang ups don't seem to be as much writer's block as crippling self doubt. Another problem is if I let too much time pass it's hard to pick up where I left off and the longer I put it off the worse it gets.
I get stuck on silly things like names. All I have to do is just put a name in there and come back later to replace it with something better, but I rarely do that. Instead, I spend an hour searching for the best name instead of writing. For example, I was stuck the other day on a type of hors d'oeuvre when it wasn't that important to the story. It just had to taste really good and be slightly messy.
If writer's block is the feeling of confusion about how to progress the story, then yes. I get it, but I religiously write a minimum of 1k words a night. Surprisingly once force myself to move a character in a direction, the story starts going from there. I have been writing in earnest for less than a year, however, and I'm sure that writers block will visit me in a stronger form. I just haven't gotten there yet.
Hmmmmmmm......Well, that's a good question, actually.... O_O I said for the purposes of this poll, let's define writer's block as a complete halt in one's writing. Let me go ahead and rephrase. For the purposes of this poll, let's define writer's block as a complete halt in one's writing endeavors. So, if you're GOAL was to FINISH a SPECIFIC first draft, and you continually find yourself switching drafts, your goal (or writing endeavor) is being halted. Therefore, you can vote option six, edit as you go and often get writer's block.
Option 2, I think. I just write, preferably short stories and in one sitting. Any editing comes after.
We had a conversation similar to this a little while back, under Multiple Viewpoints Keep Writing Fresh. Personally I don't get what you might call 'writers block', but I do sometimes feel a little too entrenched in a scene or character attitude. Just step away, write something fun and different, and then come back. Or, in my case, engage in extreme sports
I have had this idea for a story in my mind for a few of months now and have begun writing it only to realize that it's way too much like what the author of the Percy Jackson series Rick Riordan would write. I couldn't help it, I was kind of inspired by his ideas. Now I'm trying to get this idea I had for a story for the past few months out of my mind and am trying to come up with a new story, but every time I come up with an idea for a story I come back to this one idea as if I'm obsessed with it. I haven't journaled in a few days. Maybe that would help get me some better ideas. What do you think I should do. Should I continue journaling.
I don't see why you'd stop to begin with. So what if it's like Percy Jackson? Unless everything you're writing is identical in essence then you might as well keep going.
The story idea that I had was to be somewhat like Percy Jackson but based on Norse mythology instead of ancient Greek mythology. It was to be about a teenage girl named Aria and a teenage boy named Sky who find out they are long lost cousins and are both distant descendants of the Norse god Odin and together they must stop this mysterious man named Colby who turns out to be a distant descendant of Loki who is jealous of the cousins powers. I recently read that the author of the series Rick Riordan has plans of releasing a series of three books based on Norse Mythology next year sometime. there aren't very many details about his new series but he had the idea for these books since before he wrote the Percy Jackson series meaning before I came up with my idea for my story based on Norse Mythology.
The thought that comes to mind is, are you just developing a plot or are you developing a story? A story is something you want to tell. A plot is the medium for telling the story. I'm guessing you don't want to tell the same story as Percy Jackson, or you don't have a story in mind. You have a plot that is too familiar. But that's just a guess. Am I right and you are only looking at plot, or do you have a story the plot is the medium for the telling?
Yes this is really more of a plot then a story as I have yet to come up with the whole story. And yeah the idea is similar to some other ideas out there but it was not my intention for my idea to be this much like other ideas. I got most of my inspiration for this idea believe it not from the history channel series ancient aliens.
Work with it for a while. So what if it's similar or moves along similar lines? Hell, use his characters and make it fan fiction. Look, you have to accept that what you are writing is either being done a) for the money or b) because it's what you want to write and it makes you happy. If you are writing for the money, then there's probably some amount of market for fan fiction. If you are writing because it makes you happy, then hey, this sounds like what will make you happy.
Holy hell, I am just completely burnt out on all things creative. It's not just writing, either. I don't want to paint or sculpt or anything. Even video games aren't appealing to me. I have no idea if this is related, but my face also feels really weird. Been like this for about two solid weeks, and I'm really not sure what to do about it. It feels like I'm thinking to clearly and too precisely lately to be properly creative, which is just a strange feeling to say the least. Anyone have any good suggestions on how to break out of this?
YouTube Epic Music. I always listen to inspiring music when I'm in a creative slump. It helps a lot! I suggest music by artists such as "Two Steps from Hell", "Audiomachine", and "Thomas Bergersen."
Might be a good time to just get away from it for a while and maybe read what other creative people have done. A useful diversion might be Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use It for Life.
Look at things that might inspire you, or has inspired you earlier. This only you can know. My source for inspiration is epic music as listed above, movies I find superb, history, games and trying to imagine a epic confrontation or scene, which as led to many events that will unfold later in my novel, some even in introduction chapters.
Have you made any life or habit changes recently? This story is going to be much longer than it's worth: I blog about perfume. That means that I do a lot of online perfume shopping, though I don't actually buy much. I look at bottles, read descriptions, read reviews, send off for samples--I engage in a lot of shopping activity with very little actual spending. About a year and a half ago I decided that I was engaging in too much consumer activity, so I decided to stop all perfume shopping for six months. I was going to merrily sample the huge sample backlog I had, and divorce my perfume blogging from all that nasty commercial activity. But, despite all my intentions, I stopped perfume blogging. And non-perfume blogging. And sewing. And gardening. And every other creative activity. For six months. After the six months was up, I started looking at samples and perfume sales again. And I started perfume blogging again. And non-perfume blogging. And sewing. And gardening. And every other creative activity. I noticed the connection, and went Googling, and read that shopping, whether you buy anything or not, increases your serotonin levels. Just the *possibility* of buying something gives you that boost. So however ridiculous it sounds, I think that my shopping moratorium killed my creativity. Now, I think that I've always been extra dependent on anything that boosts my serotonin. Most of my favorite snack combinations are exactly the right combinations to increase serotonin levels, for example--snack combinations that I've been eating all my life, since long before I ever heard the word. I said it was longer than it's worth, but I'd suggest either (1) analyzing for any change in habits or (2) start eating lots of turkey sandwiches on white bread with big glasses of milk. Or both.
@ChickenFreak I think you might be on to something. Ever since taking this job out in the desert I'd been putting on weight, so about two weeks ago I started dieting, cutting out all the sugar and excess carbs and such. It's been working well for my waistline so far, but my mind has been a creative wasteland ever since I started, which is such total bullcrap that I am about ready to start throwing rocks at people out of spite. Not even well-aimed spite, just petulant little kid spite with lots of rock throwing. This is so not fair.
I feel like there's this thing I go through with writing (and everything else, really). First, I'll get inspired. I'll write like crazy and a few days later, I'll stop. I don't know if it's because I'm no longer interested or if I got hit with writer's block. I don't know if it's because all previous motivation is lost. All I do know is, I can't continue. I often give up and a few months later, repeat the process. I think I lack the discipline needed to sit down every day and just write. I don't know how to make myself do it. Instead, I clean, do homework, play with the cats, or just stare blankly at Internet web pages like Facebook and DeviantART. I do nothing. I want to write for a living. I really do. I love the idea of sharing the millions of stories I've come up with over the years. But I feel like I want to write for the wrong reasons. I've been told time and time again that there's no money in it. I feel like my goal with writing is more of a fame/fortune goal. Everyone with experience has said, "Don't write for the money." But I feel like that's the main reason for it. I feel like that's the one thing I want to do--it's the one job I want--and getting paid for it feels like the biggest reason behind it. I don't want it to be that way, but it is. It's gotten to the point where I want to give up on writing completely because I feel like I'm not doing it for the right reasons. I've known I wanted to write full time for almost four years. But if writing isn't in my future, what is? I can't imagine doing anything else. So, what do I do? I mean, I don't even like reading all that much! I feel like such an oddball when it comes to writing even though I've been writing for what feels like forever. I don't know how to motivate myself and I often feel like I'm not meant to do it because I like the idea of getting paid for it (and from what I hear, that's bad).
