If you love to write . . . write! There's no magic to make you suddenly more productive. If what you put down isn't perfect then keep working on it until you do like it. Writing is a craft as much as an art, and like any craft it takes practice. The more practice the better you get. There are a few writers who write clean copy and can be satisfied with the first version of their work. But they are rare. Everyone else has to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Doing this is work. Doing it consistantly and well is damned hard work. You will be doing the work of a goddess -- creating life, creating worlds, deciding which characters will live, and which will die. Should that be an easy task?
Just write. You wouldn't expect to make a perfect basket every time during basketball practice, and you shouldn't expect to like every sentence or paragraph when you start writing (or when you come back to it after some time away). At first, in fact, you might very well find yourself writing dreck. It happens to the best of us. But a lot of writers say that you need to write a million words of crap to get to the gold, and that's because writing is a skill like any other. It takes time. It goes slow. Things get messed up, or we find ourselves with a dull plot, bad spelling, flat and unrealistic characters, or whatever. We just have to keep going. If you stop yourself every time your writing isn't perfect, you won't get anywhere. None of us would. So keep writing, and good luck.
Not true. A friend of mine at school had written three full novels and has been compensated with jack ****.
Heres what I do, it sounds a little ridiculous but it works so just hang with me here: I go into my living room or [insert room where you write the most], prop up my laptop, turn on the TV for background noise (it might just be me, or it might actually help) and I do stupid things. I walk in circles, I jump around, I pretend I'm a kickboxer, I lay on my back and draw things in the popcorn ceiling, I act like a ninja, I walk in imaginary lines. Do anything and everything that comes to mind, just keep moving. Now you might ACTUALLY have to do this stuff or it might just work for me to get my mind off of it, off my writing. Then if you start feeling like an idiot and a little bit guilty for doing absolutely nothing in the last [insert how much time you took to accomplish above things] then maybe start doing habitual things that your MC does. Does your MC walk a certain way? Try it. Does your MC push back his/her hair or pull his/her sleeves over hands ect.? It might help, and somewhere in there I tend to get good ideas. PS propping up your laptop or setting your notebook where you can see it is super important! Then if your having a massive brain wave you waste no time starting to write it down and if forget where you are in your novel you have it right there to freshen the mind.
Try taking something you've already written and editing it. It might help you get into the right mindset^^
As she took her last breath, she thought... "Why did he wait this long? Why now? But...no matter what he did, no matter how he treated me, he loved me, I know it. I feel it. Only love means something, only love ever meant anything." She felt herself slipping into a darkness she was suddenly frightened of, but somewhere in the blackness shone a tiny prick of light. That was where she was going - she had to let it take her. In all honesty, I don't know where to take your characters thoughts! Only you should really take her last moments and create something with them.. All I can do is guess and I'm not sure how "authentic" that would feel. But I took a stab at it anyway. It might give you an idea, if nothing else I enjoyed reading your piece, though.
I highly advise against this type of post. I think you should figure it out for yourself. It won't feel like it's entirely yours if someone else writes your ending. Get to work you can do it!
I do feel that getting ideas/help from members is one thing - we all need inspiration from somewhere - but I advise against lifting the ending that somebody has written and using it as your own. I gave you an example but I do agree with JWatson - it won't feel like "yours" this way. Good luck anyway
For inspirational purpose only: As she took her last breath, she thought, ... her mind was serene and peaceful, as she knew he would be holding her hand forever. ... she smiled realising death was a comfortable cocoon. ... she came to peace with herself in the awareness that the next could only become better. ... she came to peace with herself in the awareness that her body was only a dying shell around her forever-lasting spirit. [Note: I have English as second language, so the exact wording requires further elaboration!]
only you, the writer of the piece, can know how you want this character to feel and 'go out'... do you want this to be your own creative work, or a 'story by committee'?...
I cannot end the story for you as the idea is your own, but put it this way. Imagine your are the character. When I read it, I did this and felt sorry for her and then seeing it suddenly stopped. Then the idea got to me, what would I say on my death bed. What will be my last thought before I die. The first thing that came into my head was in humourously sense by cursing ...she thought, 'Aw s***' Sensible one ...she thought, 'dad...' and she ended muffling out the words, 'I love you.' And stop there because then I think the reader can decide if she lives or dies.
So we've all got a billion ways to get out of writer's block, anybody got any tips for editor's block? I've always got 5 or 6 projects on the table at any given time, right now they're mostly things I need to edit. Unfortunately I'm getting so sick of reading my own work that I can't seem to focus on it. What do you do then?
Everyone’s approach is different, but for me writing and editing are the same thing. If you are doing a painting, you can sketch an outline, fill in the background, add detail and color. Which bit is the painting, which is the editing?—Similarly to me, writing is a continual process. So maybe don’t think of it as editing, just thing of it as a continuation of writing. Probably that won’t help, but anyhow…
I'm the same as ojduffelworth to me it is exciting because editing is what turns my drafts into my story. I see it as like sculpting really - i love finding just the right touch to turn my story from rough stone to a work of art.
hahaha, Editors block? that was a new one, Lol. i think i sort of like it too, but i probably wouldnt if i had more than one ongoing text to work on at a time. maybe thats the problem, they are too many!
It's all just procrastination and avoidance. I swear, I should get a psychology degree and go into literary therapy, because it's all just mental. Whether writing or editor's block, it's all mental. Figure out what you're avoiding, why you aren't working, what you're afraid will happen, why it isn't a top priority, and you'll suddenly, as if by magic, no longer have issues with writer's or editor's block. Example: I'm not writing right now, and haven't for a few months to be honest. I'm just burned out after several years of school and working my butt off. I'm taking a few lit classes, one classical one focused around teaching YA literature (is fun class so far!). I just got done applying to grad programs. I might send a few stories out to journals, if I get bored (am not really in a race, and don't mind not being published asap, I'll wait until I'm good enough to get published where I want, not just anywhere). I'm not stressed or freaking out or feeling like a failure. I'm not trying to write, and not able. I'm not pointing to writer's block (or reviser's block). I'm just burned out, have realized how and why, am taking a short term break and keeping my eye on long-term goals. Sometimes even writers need a vacation. Especially writers. Would-could a vacation from ourselves, but the alternative is to look inward when it comes to writer's block, not externally.
My suggestion would be to take one thing at a time. Don't think about the 5 or 6 but concentrate on one. Once you are done with that "one", move on to the next. Another suggestion is to step away from it all and give it a rest. Sometimes, after a nice break, you return with a fresh mind and new perspective that should ignite some excitement in the creative process, even if it is the editing and polishing part of it. Like other posters mentioned before... it is like working with a painting or sculpting. Finishing touches can be a challenge, but necessary for the final work to become a piece of art.
Try having someone else (someone who's a writer, has a job involving writing or is just really good at SPAG) edit it. Ask them to think about things like character development, plot etc and not just the comma stuff.
Thanks for all the tips. I will definitely say that writing and editing are two seperate things, but then I've got quite a bit more finished work than most people. Taking popsicledeath death's advice, I'm pretty sure I figured out what's wrong. Like most of you, I, too, am an addict. The substance in question is the high we all get from writing, and more specifically the huge high you feel when you finish a project. Even if that project is a new rough draft or the last revision of an old favorite, you feel something when you get to the end. The bigger the project, the bigger the high. The problem is, like an addict, if you've had an enormous high in the past, then you need an even bigger one to feel that same rush of endorphines. I just finished a project recently that I've been working on for 10 years, so obviously I'm not going to be feeling anything like that again any time soon. The ubspot is, unlike crack heads, we writers don't have to deal with the same addiction cycles, and if we just take a break for a while(which is fairly easy), the next high will be plenty big enough to last a while.
Well, if it makes you feel better, it's not really 'finished' until it's fully revised, edited, polished and published. So your best high is yet to come, perhaps.
