thanks, guys. i'm actually on a time frame, but i do have enough time to keep it rough for awhile. I appreciate the encouragement.
This is the exact same problem I get. I will happily spend an hour writing a piece, save it and go away. When I come back to the pages I have written I think, "This sucks!" I usually end up starting again and am yet to finish writing a short story. I am hoping to enter a weekly contest (when Uni workload dies down) as the deadline may force me to finish by a certain time.
For the newsletter stories I write, I'll do an outline of what I want to say, then fill in the sections and often combine or delete material as I see fit. If I had to start from beginning and write raw to the end, I would get lost. Now that I'm developing a novel, I started with the same concept ...an outline (chapter headings) and am developing the story one piece at a time. Sometimes I skip ahead to quckly scribble something down if I think I'm going to lose a thought, so I'm still not writng begining-to-end. Works for me. Maybe give it a try?
I'd agree with Cogito, just slam out a rough draft and then you can sit back and begin to scrutinize it. I get writers block all the time (for one reason or the other), but I just keep plugging away and then a week later or so when I come back to it I'm fresh and able to tackle the next version.
I know the feeling, Fran, and I hate it too. Sometimes though all you have to do it tells that voice inside you to shut the **** up and just keep writing. I do it all the time with my coursework and stuff. As I am writing it I cannot help but think it sounds bad and keep starting again etc, then when I finish it normally does end up sounding allright. Just give it time and ignore the voice. Heather
Whenever I try to sit down and write a piece of fiction I am struck by the futility of it, I feel that whatever I am trying to get across is worthless and it is useless to try and write it. I feel the same whenever I read a work of fiction, I can enjoy it and recognise whether or not it is a good piece of literature but I always wonder about the point of it's existence. I feel that whatever I can write has already been writen before and can guess the outcome of a lot of books that I read. I have until now always enjoyed reading and the existence of books and have always thought I would progress into writing but I am wondering whether failing to see the point of it all is a sign that it's not for me. Is this a type of writer's block that I need to work through and find my inspiration or is writing not for me? Any thoughts are welcome!
Emille, When you sit down to write a piece of fiction, the first draft will need work and refinement--probably more than one revision. And while it is true that whatever you write will not be 100% totally 'new' when compared to the vast amount of fiction out there, you can make it unique...a story with your characters, a different setting and plot and conflict. A new angle taken with a common (or even less common) theme or idea. If you're writing a mystery...get the first draft down. Once you have the basic plot, characters, events, clues and resolution, you can go back and refine the work. Make it more of a mystery...add a few clues, shade or hide a few. Put questions and turns in the narrative to keep the reader guessing and hypothesizing. Write parallel plot lines to add depth, tension, and additional dimensions to the story. I'd say don't give up trying your hand at writing fiction, believing it's futile, until you've given it a full chance and effort. While it does happen on rare occasion, the vast majority of writers take some time to develop and refine their storytelling skills. Terry
It depends how you're going about it. If you just sit down without much idea of where you want your story to go, then you will most likely find it difficult and you'll be sitting there for ages trying to think of something and it will seem pointless and not worth it. But if you take the time to go through what you want your story to be about, who are your characters, where are they going, how are they getting there, then you'll find that you can't wait to actually get down to some proper writing and get all your ideas onto paper. It can take a long time to plan everything out though, and some people do prefer the method of just sitting down and letting the ideas come out and direct you rather than you directing them, but you just need to find the balance, and remember that although writing can be grueling at times it is also supposed to be fun and creative, so if you're not enjoying it and you're finding it 'worthless', try taking a little bit of time off and really thinking about what you want your story to be. Yes, it does seem like pretty much everything has already been written, but next time someone comes up with something original and ground breaking you'll think 'of course, why didn't i think of that.' So don't give up, it might be you that has that brilliant idea
i also wondered about this and found that if i stopped writing i would have no way of expressing the things which would be inappropriate to say in real life. i suggest you see the thread inn the general writing section, Why Do You Write http://writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=4054, and see what you come up with. i posted here to get some help and a lot of people had the same problem. the best advice i got was just write, no matter how you feel about it, just write the damned story until it's over. its rare for any writer to have a published first draft so bear in mind that the vast majority of writers always have a first draft.
HELP!!! I have writer's block for my favorite pet project and I've been like this for the past few months. I can't get through chapter two. I posted chapter one in the Review Room under novels (entitled Halamir and Old Kalibor if anyone would like to add their comments). I don't know if this is a problem in plot development or just regular writer's block.... I have the end result of my plot fully developed. I've re-written the characters and the setting twice, but the plot didn't change. The plot's strong, but for some reason I just can't get past the first chapter. Any and all help would be seriously appreciated. Please.
Writers Block... the authors Cancer... or Ebola it really depends on how you look at it . When I have writers block, I try to think about why I'm blocked. Is it a lack of interest? Not knowing where to start? Unsure where I'm going next? Once I find out why I'm blocked, its just a matter of answering the question and finding the solution.
Yes, a disease. I'm very interested in the story, and I've already started and re-started the story several times. I know where I'm going, I just can't figure out how to get there. There's the block. I can't get where I'm going. I don't know if it's a defect in my plot or what. Perhaps I should ask in 'plot creation' and see if that helps. I've noticed that it sometimes does help with development when you're telling someone else about your plot.
get an excercise book, scrapbook, whatever and write write write. Write phrases, lines even word that pop into your mind, draw images that pop into your head. Scribble for ten or so pages. Just write anything that comes to mind. If you are really stuck stop writing it, and go back to your plot and work on that. Plot out each chapter, what you want to happen, how it is to happen, why it is to happen. etc. Still nothing? Talk to your character, interview them, have coffee with them. <it seems odd but it does work at times> Write about how they would react to coming up against their fears, or an event that happens in life. Just some things that I find help me out a but anyways. I've done all of the above. Another thing is to pick a colour, word, object, anything, and describe it or find another word that means the same thing. It is more for poetry blockages really, but it can be a quite useful activity for any form of writing. Hope this helps. \
I always think stories are character driven, not plot driven. If plot is all you have to go on, maybe that's why you're having trouble? Think about it this way: When you're watching the TV Guide channel (don't lie, I know everyone does it) and you see a movie on, it will say the movie's title, the main actors, and then summarize the plot. So say you're watching it scroll by and you see Thelma and Louise is on. What does the plot say? Something like "Two friends go on an accidental crime spree after a night on the town." Um, what? Not a word about Thelma and Louise, is there? But when you're watching the movie, you get so caught up in the characters. Not the plot. Who gives a damn why Brad Pitt is naked. He is! And Louise is seeing it for the first time, seeing it through her abusive husband and her first chance at an actual man, and who can't watch that and be elated? And the very first scene, you're just as angry as they are, it wasn't their fault! You couldn't prosecute them! Oh my God, they had better run. And when it gets to the ending...SPOILER ALERT STOP NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE and they drive into the Grand Canyon, committing suicide...you smile. You look at that last freeze frame and know it's a symbol of their immortality, their everlasting friendship, their undying care and love for their best friend, through and till the end. You understand. They have to keep going, there's no stopping now. Is any of that summarized in "Two friends go on an accidental crime spree after a night on the town"? No...it's not. The story is driven by the characters, not the plot. So no matter how good the plot of your novel is, it's the characters that are going to make us keep reading. Develop your characters to the point where you can take one of those silly online surveys that ask a thousand "What's your favorite color? Food? Plate design? Brand of electric mixer?" type questions in your character's voice without even thinking about it. Woah, that was a bit of a tangent...not my intention, haha
Urg... sounds like story board stuff to me... Though, doing the story board did help a lot with my last short story. But I don't really plot out my chapters in advance. I end and start them where-ever it seems they should end and start. I'll try. But part of the problem is that I can't think of anything to write at the moment.
A tangent? You mean a mile-long-completely-confusing-no-end-in-site-wow-that's-some-energetic-and-really-hyper-and-health- rabbit-trail? To sum up, WHAT? I've never even heard of that movie, and I don't watch that channel because I don't have cable... or anything else, for that matter. I guess I include a little more in my plot than other people. To me, your plot and your characters are intimately connected. You can't have the one without the other, because the outcome of the plot feeds off the nature, emotions, and actions of your characters. The nature, emotions, and actions of your characters depend entirely upon what's going on in the story. You can tell what's going to happen at the end, but how are you going to get there unless your characters are doing what they're supposed to be doing? You can tell what your characters are feeling, but what sense does it make unless you tell what's going on around them? I know my characters, they're a part of me. I don't need to do those.. character chart thingies that frustrate me so. They are part of my plot. They were born with the plot (like twins or something). Frankly, I don't know what's wrong with my story, why I can't progress.
like torana i suggest you just write. until you fall asleep. whether it be on paper tissue or whatever, so long as you're writing something, it doesn't matter if you think it's garbage. i usually find that going to hang out at a cafe and write on the napkins gives me a good i dont care sense and i can write freely and unclog the creative pipes. just try to find a place where you can write without the inhibition of 'this has to be perfect', write something different for a couple of days and see how it works out. it works for me and a lot of other writers ive met. hope i helped
Well, what movies have you seen? Sheesh. I'll guess you've seen the Lion King, since you mention something similar in your signature. The basic plot of the Lion King is a young lion runs away from his right to the throne and eventually comes home to save his kingdom. Whoo-friggin-hoo. It's Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumba, Scar, Mufassa, and Rafiki (the monkey) that make the story so captivating. Or how about a book example? A young Wizard named Harry Potter must defeat the greatest evil wizard of the century, or die trying. Well sure that does sound a little interesting, but the series is what, five thousand pages? You don't trudge your way through 700+ pages in the fifth Harry Potter book because you care about the plot, because there's really not any more plot in that book than there is in the more modest 300 page third book. But the characters develop so much.... I often have trouble writing longer works because I can't come up with an overarching plot, so it's definitely a good thing to have, and indeed, a necessity for the story, especially in a fantasy story, which so often revolves around a quest. But without the characters, I don't care how good the plot is, I couldn't write more than a chapter either. I wouldn't know what to do. And curse you for replying to my tangent, you made it longer!!! >_< On topic, really the only way to get past writer's block is to write your ass off, or wait it out. I'm a wait it out'er myself. But it seems like it would dissipate much faster if i would sit down and just write anything i could.
Thanks a lot guys, I'll take these tips in for future reference, but for now, I figured out the problem: music. Whenever I write, normally, I have some sort of music going. I find classical music keeps my creative pipes clean while I write and keeps me focused. When I turned it on, I got going again. Thanks anyway. I'm sure I'll need these tips later when music won't help, though I'll probably forget them anyway.
If you really would prefer to wait it out, why didn't you just say so and have done with it? Then I wouldn't have replied to your tangent, we could have all gone on our merry ways and forgotten all about it the next day. I mean, goodness, you didn't even say anything about waiting it out the first run through. It took until the very end of your second post to say anything about it at all. And since you had to go through another tangent, I have to reply again I get your whole thing about the previews, because that's one of my pet peeves as well, but more because it doesn't have anything of the story in it, just one character and the end result. Come ON!!! So much more happened. As for Harry Potter, I like the books and all, but I think Rowling overdeveloped her characters just a little bit. Harry was just a little annoying by the end of book five, but she slacked off on six and seven and came to a nice ending. I mean, that's the whole point of fantasy, to get away from the real world, not to have the real world mimicked by the characters. Sure, they have to seem real, but not so real as you might run into them at the super-market. Do you honestly think of running into superman in Walmart? Besides people dressed like him? Or what about ... Sauron or Souroman at Bilo? That would be just a little bit unsettling, don't you think? Now look, I'm off on rabbit trails!
I couldn't make it through the end of LoTR (I know, sacrilege) because at the end it was just moving too slowly for me. But I did read the Hobbit and the first LoTR book. And I disagree with you completely. I hate characters that are unreal, too perfect, they're contrived and cliched and bothersome. Bilbo Baggins was a flawed character, with very human weaknesses. Although I don't like how angsty Harry got in the fifth book, I appreciate that he did capture the essence of a fifteen year old kid. When fantasy removes itself from the real world, I think it has the unique opportunity to be both a commentary on reality as well as a philosophical expose (sp?) as well as an excellent story. Take, for instance, another thing you won't have seen, Star Trek: Voyager. The episode today dealt with the issue of saving one of the crew members (B'Elanna, for anyone that follows the series) from an alien life form that had attached itself to her and was sapping her life away. The Doctor did not know how to save her, so he created an assistant: a holographic recreation of the greatest xenobiologist ever, who happened to be a Kardassian (read: Bad guy.) The new assistant could save B'Elanna, but doing so would validate and make it seem like the Federation (read: good guys) approved of the Kardassian research methods. All of which were eerily reminiscent of the techniques used during WWII on the Jews by the Angel of Death. So, this one episode of a TV show became a moral argument, (do you save your crew member with knowledge gained by the torture and wrongful death of hundreds, or let her die knowing you COULD save her) a historical commentary, (look at what these humans did and how it appears from an outside perspective) and a simple episode of a scifi show (OMG Janeway totally kept her cool while Paris was slamming on Chakotay for not wanting to save B'Elanna, and Seven of Nine....) damnit. that was a totally different tangent than the first one.
I've been going to Anime Mid-Atlantic for the last three years, nothing like Darth Vader and his entourage of Stormtroopers hitting on Sailor Moon. Seeing Sauron at the Supermarket would be great.
I don't like your language, but I love your tangents. Rabbit trails. It is sacrilege! I couldn't put them down when I first got my hands on them, and I was (calculating) ten! I don't mean perfect characters, I mean... too deep characters. A book is a temporary haven from the real world where everything is predictable and goes as planned. The second time you read it, nothing changes. They're not your best friends because they're not real. I'm speaking in terms of children who are hiding in their books. I love reading, I love the characters, but there is such a thing as too much, especially to a younger child. And Harry Potter is supposed to be for younger children (though I disagree). To contradict, I have seen Voyager, though not in a while. I have seen at least five episodes (probably more) of each different Star Trek series, plus most of the movies. Voyager was my favorite of the series (I can't think of the name of it, but the movie with the whales is my favorite of the movies). I liked Janeway and Kirk better. Cisco was OK, but I didn't like Piccard. I liked... what's his face, Piccard's #1 and Dianna Troy, and Data, Leforge (I have no idea how to spell any of these), the doctor and Wesley... ect. I know Star Trek. We used to have cable. My favorite of the episodes was Trouble with Tribbles, the old and the new. I don't remember that particular episode, but that was a long time ago. So what was Seven doing? Was this before or after she and Chakotay started to date?
Anime Mid-Atlantic is a convention where people dress up as their favorite movie, anime, cartoon, book, video game, etc. characters (called "cosplay," short for "costume play") Although I appreciate meeting another semi-trekkie, I disagree with this: No it's not! Not everything should be predictable! Characters should wrestle with decisions! We shouldn't go into the seventh book knowing who will live and who will die, or whether or not Snape was on the right side. Things that are unfair and inexplicable should happen, like Cedric Diggory's death - a total innocent who had never done anything wrong, and isn't Harry to blame, because he insisted Cedric take the cup with him? We should be shocked when our characters do unpredictable things! Sometimes there's no write answer to a situation, and i HATE reading a book where Batman can save his girlfriend, or Robin (Who are you really, Batman or Bruce Wayne?) and he manages to save them both. Show me Spiderman, who has to choose between avenging the death of his aunt/uncle by killing his best friend's father, or letting it go unpunished and potentially putting more people at risk. Show me a flawed character. Maybe someone with supernatural strength, inhuman powers, but human failings and faults. I'm glad you disagree that Harry Potter is made for younger children, because Rowling has said over and over (i'll find a source if you desire) that she thinks it's completely inappropriate for anyone under about 10 or so, and that's the early books. She didn't start reading them to her own daughter until she was 8, and then they read them together. It's much more adult fiction than you would think, considering the publisher is Scholastic. It was before Seven and Chakotay hooked up, and she wasn't doing a whole lot, actually, I just happened to think of her name. Edit: I re-read what you said about little children disappearing in books ala Matilda. To that, I must say two things: One, which is better, books or TV? And two, I was under the impression we were talking about adult fiction here..I certainly don't write for children, and children's books, like cartoons, SHOULD be predictable
