Hiya fellow writers, I'm very new to the site but I've come looking for answers and I'm hoping you might understand - no one in my every day life does as they're not in the same situation. Do you ever get that feeling where you have so much to go at - loads of plot twists and ideas, so much so you can see the scenes playing out in your head - but you feel utterly hopeless about it? I'm very much a pantser - I write for myself and to discover how the story plays out so once I know, I lose interest... except for the series I'm working on at the moment. I've been writing it for the best part of 5 years (with no planning or structure whatsoever) but this is the first time I've felt like this. Every time I sit down to write, I feel hopeless and overwhelmed - I don't know what to do about it. Anyone know what I mean, or have any suggestions on how to get over it?
I know what you mean. It used to happen to me whenever I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. Fighting through dead-ends, boredom, lack of interest, plot holes, etc, is what separates those that can from those that can’t. Word power, ideas, enthusiasm, intelligence.,.. they all count for very little when it comes to actually finishing a novel. The ability to do that requires something few possess. To sum up, there’s no ‘solution’, no magic key or fancy-pants word processor that organises stuff for you. All you need is the ability to fight through and get it finished.... and then basically re-write the whole thing to hone things. I decided long ago to stop trying and it was the best thing I ever did.
^ If you can't be a shining example, be a dire warning. I'm largely a discovery writer myself (I don't like the term pantser), but I find it's necessary to understand structure in order to keep ideas organized enough so they form a coherent story, otherwise I get lost and can't find my way again. For this you need to study three act structure and the various mechanics of narrative form. Forging ahead without this knowledge is like trying to build a house board by board without knowing how it's done—just nailing boards together one after the other with no plan. It might feel satisfying, and at first it might look unique and fun, but you won't be able to build anything approximating an actual house. I can see that if you don't know how to structure a novel it would feel overwhelming and cause lots of anxiety. Note I didn't say you need to necessarily use structure, just learn it. I believe in the adage Learn as much as you can about composition and then work intuitively. It comes from the visual arts, but composition applies to writing as well, doesn't it?
so what i did was i voraciously read books about the craft of storytelling. seriously I read like 20 books just about story structure and the real truth about stories etc. etc. and so on. I crammed it all into my head even if the arguments conflicted with each other and then I broke down stories. every story I read, every story I watched--I would do this thing where I would watch something on my computer, alone, and I would literally stop the episode every 5 minutes and go over what happened and what purpose it served and how I felt about what I was watching--I would take *notes.* handwritten in a moleskeine notes. story was water and I was dying of thirst. I experimented with constructing stories with structural guides and outlines and all that but you know what I *hated* it. I need to pants when the story is that long. I need to be surprised and excited, and outlines kill that feeling dead for me. so now I don't outline, really. Instead I explore my characters and my world and my theme and let moments of drama or emotional depth kind of bubble up. I jot them down real quick on index cards and when I'm done jotting I *shuffle* them. because they are not an outline! they're just moments. and then I write the book. I let all that knowledge I absorbed be there if I need it, but I just. write a scene. and that scene is the most important thing. I write the scene, i give it my all, and then I let what I wrote guide me to what the next scene is. I might know about an event in the story's future, and I'm headed toward it, but I'm reckoning, not following GPS. first couple of times were messy. that was okay. I learned a lot. I learn every time. that's the fun of it, honestly.
