So, one of my curses is that I always start out really like, HYPE for an idea. I do all the worldbuildy stuff I can before I write half of the time and wind up getting hung up on details. My other hang up is I procrastinate when I get closer to a moment I had envisioned. I'm starting to think that most of the stories I want to write are too...I guess 'big' for me to write. The 'hype' always dies down on the third chapter or so. Then I get excited by some new idea. I'm starting to think my problem may be a tiny bit of commitment phobia. (I usually start wondering if my idea has been done to death/if anyone else would like it etc) And I have a perfectly small story I can write right now that's more or less entirely planned out. I'm curious what you lot think though, after all, maybe my issue with finishing a project is I've been running before I learn to crawl if that makes sense? Fanfiction comes easy enough, it's only my original works that fizzle out for some reason.
I mean that's the plan, I do wish I could finish these ideas sometime though heh. I feel kinda bad leaving one idea behind for a new shinier one.
I don't know. But if what you're doing right now isn't working, you might as well try something else. Right?
Okay, fair enough. This is known as mind f***ing yourself, but since a dignified elderly lady never countenances the use of such language, I'll call it "procrastination." Knock it off. Who cares what anyone else thinks of your idea? Your goal is to finish something, right? Write the perfectly small story from beginning to end, and don't let yourself weasel out of finishing it. I'm assuming by "perfectly small" you mean a short story and not a short novel. If so, try this: sit your butt in the nearest chair and write on that story until the first draft is finished. Doesn't have to be perfect, so don't edit while you write, don't pause to reread what you've written, just get it down in story (not outline) form. Then stick it in the drawer and go have a glass of lemonade or scotch and water or something. Play with some more shiny ideas for a few days. Then go back to the perfectly small story and rewrite it, using your first draft as a guide. You can do more editorial work this time. Repeat as needed. I promise you, I will cheer your completion of the first draft with greatest enthusiasm. So will others who know what it takes in terms of time, effort, and determination to finish something.
I echo what @AntPoems said. If what you're doing isn't working, try a different approach. If you're planning (worldbuilding) and getting nowhere, maybe stop doing that. You're right that maybe you should start to crawl before trying to walk or run, but there are many ways to do that. Maybe start with a scene (from the world you've already built?) and a couple of characters and an immediate situation. (Something that's happening to THEM, not something that's happening out there in the world. They could be arguing, or falling in love, or working to get themselves out of prison, or one of the characters could be turning the other one in for a crime, or they could be fighting a fire ...or starting a fire...or one of them could be leaving home for good and the other one is devastated, etc—whatever you think is interesting.) Write that scene, temporarily forgetting about backstory, or where this is headed, or more worldbuilding. Assume the world is built and just dive in. Pretend you're a time traveler and just landed to witness this scene. How does it play out to you? Unless it's a perfect short story, that scene will throw up yet more ideas. How did those characters get to that point? What happens next? Then write the next scene THAT OCCURS TO YOU. It doesn't have to link up directly with the first scene or be in chronological order. Just another exciting scene. Keep the same characters, or maybe add a few more. Expand on the situation you created in the first scene. Maybe work on what happened just before that scene. How did those folks end up having that experience you just wrote about? Or what happens AFTER that scene ...what does the scene lead to? Just keep going. Write scene after scene in an unconnected fashion like this ...making them as detailed and interesting as possible. Ideas will start to flow. Make those characters and EACH PARTICULAR SCENE come to life. That's how to 'crawl' your way into a novel. Here is the Pantser's Secret: At some point during this process, you will finally KNOW what the overall story is all about. Then you can knuckle down and get it fully written. By that time, you'll know what you're doing, what your characters are like and what they're doing, and how this is going to end up. Your enthusiasm will be high. You don't have to write the boring bits in between scenes (although you may end up juggling where the scenes fit together.) If certain bits bore you, they will bore your readers as well. Instead, you can connect the scenes with a transitional paragraph or two, and move straight into the interesting stuff. Of course you could also try writing your short story. But if you are the kind of person who really would rather write a novel, this might just be another way of procrastinating! Of course, if you finish it, you'll feel happy that you've accomplished something. So by all means, go ahead with it. But it might be just another sidetracking device, so don't expect it to solve all your problems.
My own writing has blossomed more since I ditched the epic sci-fi septilogies for a-person-with-a-problem-let’s-see-where-this-goes just my own anecdote. Hope that helps
Maybe you feel dauted by the fact that your project could take a while to complete. Maybe, you thought it was easier. Well...nothing is ever easy. You think that writing small stories will help...hehe...maybe, but in the end it can still lead to procrastinating. If you want to write a grand story then do it. Just...break it down into small chunks. With any story, the main plot is riddled with smaller conflicts that add to the climax and then resolution. If you are looking at the story as a whole, then yeah, you could be giving yourself snow blindness, stunting the creative cacuts juices in your brain! Buuuuut...if you focus on one thing at a time, before you know it you have a whole story. My advice: start by writing out any major scenes but do them as individual identities. Then, start writing smaller scenes that connect them. After that fill in the gaps.
Man, you probably already know this, but the hype will never last through the entire project. It's like a lot of life pursuits: enthusiasm gets you in, discipline and skill gets you through. The passive "one day x will happen" mindset is featured in certain parts of culture, and it's a little dangerous. I think it's so subtle a sabotage we don't even notice it. I say (salt grain this, I've still yet to finish a novel, but I'm quite close): pull the god damn trigger. I don't care if it's a big idea or small idea, complex or simple, pick an idea and force yourself to the finish line. Even if the first draft ends up being absolutely terrible, push yourself there. That act is a show of love for all future works (and yourself). It will build the skills and work ethic that they deserve. These ideas you have and have had are not even close to your best ones. You're going to have absolute gold pouring out of that noggin and, hopefully, into productive hands.
The idea with the smaller scale story is less chapters required to tell the whole story, most of my story ideas feel like they'd be maybe 15 or 18 chapters. This 'small' story is probably going to be half that length, even shorter when I get it into animation form. (the animation is a ways off) The 'small' story is more, actually feeling like I can finish the whole thing. Granted you are right in that I can finish a 'grand' story too, but I want to try a smaller story to get the confidence TO finish a bigger one if that makes sense? I do plan to force myself to finish it, but I'm sure you understand that a smaller / simpler story is much more reasonable than a lord of the rings length adventure. Most of my ideas don't span multiple books, but they are more intimidating than a simple opposites attract story.
When I started writing again, I wanted to do a novel instead of brief magazine articles. But my ADHD wouldn't let me finish such a project. So I set goals to increase my word count in a completed story until I had completed my first novel. One thing that made it easier as I went along was I fell in love with my characters and they were my family—and still are—that I was happy to spend time with every day. I still to this day will defend them from critics—not critique.
