I can't remember when the thought of creating a story first grabbed me. Perhaps it was when I read hundreds of stories in my early years of Catholic school, or when I first read the early works of Stephen King (Richard Bachman), but the desire has never left me, even now in my old age. It's not for lack of ideas and I couldn't stop them if I tried. I could, in fact, write a book of fascinating story ideas to rival The Twilight Zone. I have related my ideas to others who have gone on to write stories about them, but for the life of me, I can't seem to write them myself. I have tried using different story structures (three, five, seven act, etc.) to better define my ideas and bring them to fruition, but I can never seem to complete them. If I am fated to ideas as opposed to stories, I can live with that, but I will always feel cheated by the inability to write, as I'm sure any writer can imagine. Does anyone here have similar experiences or advise.
You don't lack ideas which is a great start. However, if you don't work past blaming fate and proclaiming "I will always feel cheated by the inability to write," you'll damn sure never learn to write. Screw structure. Write ideas down as they come to your mind, choose a favorite, then expand it and revise it until you have a story. Might take weeks. Might take years. If writing matters enough to you, you'll put in the time. Best of luck to you, Brian!
You’re not alone. I could have written your introduction myself, since it also applies to me. At the age of (almost) 51, I still have yet to complete any book or short story that I have started. Many an idea I have thought up and have begun countless stories - but always quit after writing a chapter or two. I think one of the keys, for folks like you and I, is to block a certain time out each day and sit down to write. Even if it’s only for five minutes a day, we will at least be accomplishing something. Set small goals and be realistic; a little bit of time each day is better than nothing. Author Steven Pressfield talks about this sort of problem in books like “The War of Art” and “Turning Pro.” For a writer, the hardest part is actually sitting down and doing the work. Sit down and write each day; regardless of how you feel. I guarantee that you’ll see progress and get confident enough to complete a story or two. Lastly, don’t beat yourself up. The critic within each and every one of us lives to do just that. Pressfield also alludes to this dilemma that every artist goes through - he calls it Resistance. The only way to beat Resistance is to sit down and write. Don’t worry about how good it is. Just write. I promise you’ll see results. Keep us posted and good luck. - Grogu
@Catriona Grace Thanks for your insight, but I don't blame anyone, least of all myself since I work at writing all the time. What I'm looking for is a way to get beyond my ideas and expand upon them. Though I can do this to a point, I can't seem to flesh out my ideas and characters the way I would like. This is where I need help and guidance.
@Grogu The Child Thank you for listening and understanding. I'm sorry that I can truly understand your answer and I feel your pain, but our issues are somewhat different. Yes, the "chapter or two" issue is common, but for me it is not about how many hours a day I spend writing. At times I am so enthralled in my story that I can literally fall asleep writing. I can actually complete an entire short story in a day. The issue is that I'm not satisfied with it.
Possibly what's needed is more education about writing? It isn't the kind of thing someone can just do, it requires learning certain things. Now, thanks to the internet and a lot of books on the subject (that weren't available when I was younger), we can easily find and pursue self-education. I mean, certainly you can just write if your goal is self-entertainment, and of course a lot of writing is necessary just to develop some experience at it. You develop quite a ways just by writing a lot and letting things happen. But generally we reach a point where, if we want to get somewhere near professional level, or to get things published, it's necessary to get serious and study writing. I suppose this is more true for writing novels than shorts.
We had a similar member a few months back who also had trouble adhering to a story structure. The important part is understanding that a story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. All story structures adhere to this basic fact. And writing a book with "fascinating story ideas to rival the Twilight Zone" isn't enough. Ideas come before story, they're elements that partly make up the story. A story is the "whole" thing, while an "element" is just a small part of it. You seem to understand this, but I thought I'd bring myself to the same page My theory is that you're experiencing something similar to "The grass is always greener on the other side" syndrome, but for writing. An idea always seems better than the next, and instead of learning how you can make a good story out of one idea because of the challenges that naturally brings, you give up and hop into new ideas on an endless loop, but you don't "consciously" understand this. It's purely an emotive reaction. You can't make a good story out of an idea, so you become discouraged and you think that its "bad", so you move on into the next one. In fact, another member expressed this very thing in this thread: Writing novels for dummies (links directly to the post, but its a broader discussion, so I suggest you start from top to bottom) I was the first one who responded to that because I thought I had the answer to it: Exercise discipline and stop feeding your habit of going from idea to idea. Just stick to one and try to make it read well. That's what I did. I wrote my trilogy until I thought it was good, and I did it even when I didn't feel like it, which was honestly the majority of the time because writing novels is just... damn hard! And you gotta be a good writer to tackle one of those things. This is why its suggested to either practice with scenes or short stories rather than straight up get into a novel. If you can't write a good and effective short story or individual scene, you are not likely to write a good novel. You'll just torture yourself and "die on the page" as a member describes there. And I attest to that. Man, writing that trilogy was more work and pain than my maths exam. And I'm terrible at maths! Honestly, the best way to get help is to post one of your short stories in the workshop and have some of the members tear it down for you. That's what I've been doing and I have learned a lot. You'll be afraid at first but then you'll get used to it. I know I was terrified with my first workshop post but then I got used to it and it became quite natural to just try, ask what I did wrong, and just try again. It's the good old cycle of trial and error. It's also important to set a writing goal for yourself so you stay consistent with your efforts and time. Anyway, I hope you'll post in the workshop.
I do this myself and can attest that it works. It's how my last two stories came together. Granted, the don't rival The Stand in length, but after a number of years of just not being able to get anything going, it helped me complete two stories in quick succession.
