I have been working on writing a novel off and on for a very long time now (years, actually) and, like many other aspiring authors that may or may not ever make it beyond that hurdle, my writing always goes in fits and starts. I have had the same story burning a hole in my brain unrelentingly for decades, demanding to be written. I never seem to be up to the task. I get started, make progress, then become completely dissatisfied with the direction that the story is going and scrap everything. I think I may have finally identified one of my primary obstacles. Whenever scenes go through my brain, they always do so in the form of extended exchanges of dialogue. I naturally try not to bog myself down in dialogue while I am writing however, and I think that might be where the disconnect is occurring. I see a complete scene in my mind playing clearer than any movie could ever hope to be, but it is either a long monologue or characters that are locked in deep and often philosophical debates. I then take that scene and try to write it with as little of that dialogue included as possible. Inevitably, this leads me to try and 'show not tell' and the devices used for showing drive everything completely off of the original intended trajectory. My question is whether or not anyone has any experience with this particular obstacle and might have advice that I can use for overcoming it.
Hi There is always more than one way to do everything , but I would sugest . You try to find a time slot to write , preferably the same time every day .Stop analysing what you have written, maybe read the last few lines , but only to recap .Don't edit . Don't worry about anything , just press on to the end . When you have finished your first draft , put it in a box , and read a book . After, as long as you can wait , start on the second draft .
Have you considered screen or playwriting? Put your high volume of dialogue into a medium that calls for it? The other suggestion I have is write the dialogue and then like the person above me says, start the second draft. Once you have the speaking down, you can go back through and put the movements and other things in. Hope this helps.
A lot of dialogue is fine, but only if it's good dialogue. Good dialogue is pretty much all showing. It's capable of all the literary tasks: development, tension, etc... Bad dialogue is usually heavily expository, tone/character deaf, or rambly. As the others have said, get that dialogue written down first. Actions can come later, and you might see what needs to be be pared away in the editing phase.
You're probably limiting yourself by focusing your writing on what your imagine sees and hears. Writing can do so much more. Just how a story forms on the page can be a sort of expression. I'm not listening for the words of a character to tell me a story. Listen for the words that actually tell the story. Easier said than done, but this is what separates writers from people who just have good imaginations.
I'm not a fan of tons of dialogue in a story, especially if it takes the place of every other kind of narrative. However, if this is the way you see your story unfolding, write it. If it's all dialogue, so be it. Get it written. THEN once you've finished, you can start working to get it into shape. If it looks like a play, you've written a play. (But keep in mind it will be up to the actors to convey what your dialogue means.) You have a lot more control over that, if it's a novel and you use narrative as well. But your first obstacle is getting it written. So ...just write the way you're most comfortable about writing, till you get it finished. You say the story is burning to get out. So let it out. We all have to start somewhere. Pretend nobody is ever going to see this but you. (And they won't either, until you feel you're ready to show it around.) Write however pleases you. If it's all dialogue, write it that way. I subscribe to the saying: Write without fear; edit without mercy. So write without fear. The rest comes later. It's easier to learn a craft when you have raw material to work with. At the moment, you don't have any raw material, because you keep throwing it away!
Just going yo echo what others have said really. Like you I've been on and off my first writing project for years but I've found that I'll start each new section the same - I'll make a few attempts at starting it until I find a mood/voice I like for the section and just go with it.
