My boyfriend always tell me: "write about a place where you know what happens when you open a door". One could think it means "write about the real world" but mostly I think he's trying to tell me "write fan fiction". I've started to think along the lines urban fantasy. Based on the real world, but with some magical/mythical/other-word-on-m-that-fits-the-theme aspect. It might serve as a practice ground for world building (because damn if I will stick to writing about the realistic real world ) and I might still be able to get some writing out of it. Real world post-ap feels like it would be a bit more bleak than I could muster. I have a dream about a grim but yet happy go lucky-version that just... isn't very realistic.
I can actually write fairly fast -- it's the follow through and not allowing life (there have been some challenges over past few years that have really jarred my ability to concentrate) to give me excuses to stop. Or to project jump. Right now if I look at the history of my WIP I started in March (I think) writing out of sequence. Assembled those scenes and then started the first draft in late June. The first draft is pretty bulky I've just started chapter 25 and I'm pretty close to being done maybe seven more chapters to go? The end keeps changing. I would say this has been my best writing year in years. Even though it looks slow -- the book is epic length and will need major cutting. I'm not too worried though. But my main issue with being slow was always letting too many days go in between writing -- so hard to get back in that there would be a fear facing that blank page or that forgotten scene that I no longer felt connected with and rather than face it I'd just watch a movie or read a book. And procrastinate more. Writing daily has become a lifesaver. I manage four or five pages a day.
I think this would absolutely happen to me. Even when I have to leave a project for a few days to go work on edits or something for a different project, I feel like I lose touch with it. And I actually forget stuff - not just ideas I had, but also plot or characterization points that I included earlier in the story and then contradict later. Maybe I write fast as a way to compensate for my horrible memory!
The thing that slows me down is editing BEFORE I write, AS I write and AFTER I write. I once tried to write without the intervention of judgement and I wrote a very satisfying amount of pages per day, but for some reason that method just didn't work for me.
I didn't have a lot of guidance as a writer when I was a teen and I kept thinking it had to be perfect before going on -- Believe me when I say I had hundreds and hundreds of stories that never got past that first paragraph let alone the first page. I don't know how I got my breakthrough but it was probably the sheer frustration of wanting to write out a complete story that cured me.
There's your answer, right there. At least it's the answer that applies to me. Put simply, it's easier not to write than it is to write. You can also add to this the inability not to revise and edit, and/or edit as I write. I'm also very prone to creative fatigue and very quickly get bored of writing during any given session.
I thought that was just me. Honestly, I edit posts here somewhere in the region of four/five times for each and every one. Maybe not for the short ones, but long ones certainly.
Elizabeth Gilbert has that thing where ideas are beings that will, if ignored for too long, go find another writer. Maybe yours were packing up, than reconsidered. But you know how things get lost in moving boxes.
I'm what they call a pantser. I prefer to call it stream of consciousness. I don't get stuck so much as I'm trying to find the right word for any given situation. Maybe it's something that comes with age. If I'm really stuck though, I'll listen to some music and maybe look in a thesaurus with a word that may sound like what I'm looking for, but doesn't quite fit. That's about the only thing that really slows me up though.
Its not really the same thing - pantsers are people who don't plot , stream of consciousness is where you write whatever comes into your head regardless of whether it's relevant to your story or not
That's pretty true. I do have an idea of what I want to write. I even do an outline, but things come to my head while I'm writing, and the story I write tends to take a life of its own.
Yeah. Totally agree. It's easy to stop writing because you don't think you're good enough. It's a good idea to remember that (at least until you publish) nothing you've written is set in stone. You can change ANYTHING. So don't get focused on perfection. Focus on getting the story out there in as lively and engrossing way you can. Don't let your own enthusiasm flag. If you think you're the kind who will get sidetracked by a need for perfection, just keep writing and don't re-read anything until you're done. You can tinker all you want, after that.
Alternatively, for some of us there's no point going on if we know that what we've written isn't how we want it to be. We all just have to experiment and figure out what works for us, I think!
Yeah. I was directing that observation at people who feel their first efforts are worthless so they stop writing altogether, or start umpteen new stories that meet the same fate, rather than trying to find ways to make their story ideas work. Obviously there will be initial efforts that are better or worse than others, and there's no point beating a dead horse. If you think a story really isn't workable, by all means move on. I'd caution new writers to be careful not to let 'moving on' become the default writing mode, though. There is certainly value in recognising that something is 'bad' and then finding a way to make it work. I love that eureka moment when I can see not only what a problem is, but also how to fix it. That's one of the joys of writing, for me anyway. Mind you, I'm on my own clock here, and my time is my own.
I've done this. I've also done the thing where I hang in there and if the story needs to turn on a dime, I let it. And then I go back and fix the beginning which no longer works. Especially when I know myself and I know I have a personal hurdle I have to get past which is about the thirty page mark. Beginnings are my least favorite when it comes to writing.
A lot of times I even read over what I've don't, decide that it sucks and that I should start again without completing my original first draft. My trouble is that I feel so excited to put my idea on paper when it first comes to me, but the excitement seems to come rarely and it doesn't last. Most of the time I lose interest in my own idea and put it aside because I look at it and in that moment think that it's not something that sounds interesting to me. For the moment I'm taking a step back from actually writing and instead going online for advice and guides (as well as message boards such as this), since I think the advice that other people share might help me go into writing my first book with a clearer idea of where I want to go with it.
This is something that plagues me, too. It should be a sign that I'm doing something wrong (losing the thread, deviating too far from the plot, rambling ...) but this isn't always the case. How to keep the interest and enthusiasm for a story and its characters is probably my single biggest problem. Several days have gone by now and I haven't written anything on my novel. I know from experience this is a bad sign, and probably spells the end of yet another failed attempt to complete a first draft.
Aw, come on, Jud, I'm rooting for you! You can do this. Take the pressure off yourself. My WIP is not titled "novel" for this reason. It was originally called "Experimental Project" with the date in the title, then I changed the title to "Longform Experimental Project" when it actually became one. The word novel is nowhere in there. You can do it! If it sucks, no one ever has to see it but you, but don't rob yourself of the experience.
Thanks for the encouragement @Shenanigator I promised myself I'd keep my whining to my progress diary thread, but it just spilled out here because I'd wasted another day not writing.
Personally I have huge problems with motivation and finding the time in between work and other commitments, and even then I feel too tired and can't concentrate long enough on it. Then when I actually get to working on it, I'll make the dire mistake of trying to make it as perfect as possible. I have a story where I redid the first chapter about 20 times or more. Still haven't progressed past that first chapter. It's a sad life. By the time I get home and ready to start on my writing, suddenly I have all these distractions around me and I have even less time to do it. Especially on weekends, when I ought to have more time than ever...I just have to get in the mood, but it can take a long time.
@Saika - it never ceases to amaze me how difficult the job of writing even the first draft of a novel is. It shouldn't be THIS hard! Men have flown into space, landed on the moon, turned once-fatal diseases into a mere inconvenience, and yet I can't string 70,000 bastard words together! All we're doing is putting one word, one sentence, one scene in front of the next, and yet...
