Editing, definitely. Writing is easy. Making writing into something other people want to read is hard.
They call that the "five minute chunk problem." It's very common. Usually it happens when you don't have enough narrative summary and aren't transitioning enough between the blow-by-blow scenes. If your timeline permits it, you can throw in a bit of summary that glosses through a day or two of the character's lives. Good place for a little introspection too, but you don't want to lay that on too thick. It's shocking what only a few paragraphs of summary can do to make the action around it flow more naturally.
making a schedule and sticking with it. The more I write daily the easier I find that I enjoy my book and writing. The longer breaks I take from it the more difficult it is to get into the groove and then I start making excuses -- writer's block, lack of inspiration etc.
Excellent! All great answers. Mechanically, I'm in the boat with Seven Crowns. What's in my head doesn't always translate to the page.
I agree wholeheartedly. External work, honey, what's for dinner, taking care of parents, etc, etc. It hurts, but writing sometimes takes a back burner to life.
For me I think it's how time consuming writing sometimes is. Don't get me wrong, there's times where is just flows like a river and I can crank out pages effortlessly. But there are other times where I stare at my laptop screen, desperately searching for the one thing that's going to get me from point A to point B and it takes me a frakkin' hour to write two lousy paragraphs. It just feels like such an unproductive and inefficient use of the limited free time that I have.
Don't fret, you aren't alone, Laurin. At some point in their careers, every author goes through that same occurance. But in that frakkin' hour, when you write those golden two paragraphs, the ones your readers will remember forever, the ones that wrap you in a blanket of self-congratulatory, atta boy pleasure, that should be a moment of sheer elation. 'Quote the raven, nevermore,' or 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of time, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,' probably took more time to write then the respective writers would have liked, but after they were finished toiling, and looked back at their work, they probably verbalized the same sentiment. "Dag, that's good!"
Coming up with suitable plots/starting points that get me excited enough to want to write. Some people on this forum seem to have ideas coming out their ears, I on the other hand, struggle.
All my stories revolve around the World I created, so it's more of a timeline progression when it comes to my stories. For instance the MC of one of my books is a decendant of an MC from another book. (Actually there are a few who are descendants of all the previous MCs)
That sounds really cool. Something I've thought of doing. I was shown on here some world generators, and I've been planning on trying to make something that inspires me to want to write. Raymond Feist has done that though, got one main world where he writes, and the timeline moved along. I'd love to do something similar.
Well if you need inspiration or a world to create off of. Once I'm allowed to post threads, I can share it's history and development
It wouldn't let me edit my last post, but I was going to add. I'm trying to get all the lore hammered out, because once I add something to a story in the paat, I gave to update the future.
Absolutely, I can understand that. That's why it's important to have the lore sorted, otherwise you'll have plotholes and issues all over the place. Tons of work needed, but exciting all the same!
I'm training myself out of listening to that nagging voice that says "What's the point? This manuscript could be shit or it could be brilliant, nobody's going to read this either way." I'm working on replacing that self-sabotaging bullshit with Am I making progress Y/N? If Y then continue Else discard End If
Another Road Block, Video Games. . Video Games are a time killer, and right now I am horribly addicted to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Trying to avoid "direction writing". "Main character woke up and went to get a drink of water, she poured herself a nice cold glass of water and then sat down to enjoy it. She slowly sipped her glass of water and then got ready for work." You know, when you don't so much as write a story as a story and write it more as directions. :/
Doing it. Before I had kids, I could make myself sit down at my desk for an hour or more every day and type out something. Now that I have children, my mind chases squirrels all day and I'm happy if I can find enough focus to not only make a cup of tea but drink it before it gets cold. My oldest is 11 and after 11 years of interruptions and emergencies, my brain is wired to stay on high alert at all times. Not conducive to the creative process. I can also say that when I get mad at myself for not writing, I try to force it. My style of writing is very much the characters tell me what happens next, I don't work from an outline or a plan in my head. When I force it, I usually end up trashing it.
Finding time and deciding which random idea/scene that's popped into my head I actually want to spend time pursuing. Mostly finding quiet free time though.
Writing the second word. The first word is easy, but the second word requires that it fits with the first word somehow, and it's got to be the best word possible for the context, and suddenly you're involved in the mechanics and taking a coffee break suddenly seems like a very good idea.
