I know a book is an astonishing book when I have to put it down once a chapter and just process. Daniel khanemon(?) Thinking fast and slow did that to me. Also China Mielville Last Days of New Paris. About the art of the Surrealists coming to life to battle the Nazis. You just go away with the borders of your mind kicked in and a greater appreciation of what is allowable (anything)
I'm having this issue where whenever I go to write I may put down a paragraph or two but then lose focus and do something else. I hardly ever seem to have full on writing sessions where I'm focused on my story for as long as even thirty minutes. Rather I work in very small intervals every now and then before stopping. So, as an obvious result, nothing's getting done anytime soon. I'm trying to get myself to work for longer periods of time, but even when I turn off the wifi and leave myself with nothing but the story I still lose focus. Anyone got tips for keeping yourself concentrated on writing?
All writers work differently. I'm like a Greyhound. I have this massive spurt of writing like a maniac to the point I barely sleep, then I crash. It means I get my story done quickly, but nothing much else gets done and I end up sleep deprived. It was a real problem at one point and a reason I gave up writing years ago. It became unhealthy and something I couldn't control, no matter how much I tried to sleep my mind was buzzing and I just couldn't settle. It doesn't matter how slowly the work gets done as long as it gets done. But try writing at the same time every day and get into a routine. If you write for 10 minutes, add 5 more onto that. And see if that works. More self-discipline and less allowing yourself to lose concentration. Or, do 10 minutes writing. 1 hour whatever else. 10 minutes writing. 1 hour something else. Make yourself earn that hour of doing other stuff. But I think it's mostly discipline.
I'm acutally having the same problem now... I just can't focus on writing for more than a few minutes... Years ago when I first started writing I did it mostly during school lessons. As a result I got used to writing for more than six hours straight with little breaks only. And more importantly I got used to writing while I was focussing on something else. I kind of whipped things up just like that. Now I have the time to write but I don't have anything else to focus on at the same time... And I suck writing -.- Even though I have enough Ideas or unfinished storys at hand, I just can't put them down on paper...
Place yourself in an environment where you have little else options available to you. There is a chaotic world of infinite possibilities before you, it may prove greatly helpful to introduce some order to that chaos by staving off many distractions that fight for your consideration. I have found that this has greatly helped me at times. A quiet library is a good choice, even in a vacant parking lot somewhere peaceful might be a good place. I'd recommend somewhere "uncomfortable", or new but as free from distraction as you can find. Of course, the most difficult way to resolve this issue of focus is to discipline oneself. Though, It can be done.
Stop doing that. Writing is all about dedication and self-control. Your brain evolved to multi-task. You have to make the conscious decision to stop it. If you can't, then you'll never get anywhere as a writer. How you do it, that's up to you, but you have to do it. Writing is hard. It never gets easier.
There are many ways to focus on writing and a lot of time is to do with what's happening in your life at the time. Usually in life there's always something out of balance in our lives and this can get in the way of getting anything done. As the above poster said, writing can feel like a chore if you've got too many things going on at once. You might be thinking about the traffic or your to do list for that day or about how stressful your boss at work makes you. Luckily, there's always ways to get your head down and write. One method is to be inspired. If you feel motivated you can get a lot done and in a surprising small amount of time. I find having a job helps (some people can write for a living but I don't know if I'd be any good at this. I'd probably get stressed) because if you have a job you can schedule in time to write in the evenings or the mornings. The key is to not take the writing too seriously at first. If you've hit writer's block you should read books on writing -- I recommend 'On Writing' by Stephen King -- or even some people's works on here. The more you critique the better because it gives you a better eye for detail and you can then start to think about writing your own. Another bit of advice I'd give is to not find the writing process too overwhelming. If you let it it can really get on top of you so instead I'd say take it steady and enjoy the process. Experimentation can be a good thing but it depends on what kind of writer you are. If you like to just make it up as you go along then pantsing is a really good way to get the feel of a story. Or, if you like structure then focus on planning and plotting your potential story and seeing what happens from there. I especially recommend getting to know your characters. The more at home you feel with them and the more you connect then the more likely you are to write something special. Above all, make sure you write something that feels true to you. Don't try and people-please or write for someone else. It's good to have an idea on what's hot and what's going on in the market but don't worry too much about all that -- just focus on the writing. Finally, I'd say force yourself to write no matter what. Schedule in a certain amount of hours where you're writing no matter how you feel. Even if you sit in front of the screen and nothing is happening it doesn't matter, just write. Or at least try to. Even time trying to write isn't wasted, it's still something. You're giving yourself time to write and time to think which is important in our busy lives. Even writing this post to you has helped me immensely because it's sparked some of the writing juices and I'd say do that if it helps. Write posts on here and you'll start getting the buzz to write again.
I write 200 words a day, no more or less. It takes me less than half an hour most days and because I stop myself I'm always excited to get back into it. I can't imagine trying to write a thousand a day or dedicating a set couple of hours.
Hi The question I would ask myself is how much time do you actually have to write? In my experience writing is taking up more and more of my time and that will enevitably enchroach on my time for other things. That leads to my second question, how important is writing to you? Is it more or less important than other things / people? I find that my best time for writing is when I wake up, by 12 to 1Pm it is usually all over as other things are going on. Although sometimes I may start writing at 10pm but that is a rocky road that leads to not having enough sleep!
Right now I'm in my senior year of college, so I have work outside of just writing but my classes aren't that difficult so I still have plenty of time left over. And I plan to become a novelist so writing is certainly important to me when I'm gonna be doing it for a living at some point. Honestly sometimes I just feel afraid to write and I don't know why. I become really hesitant on whether I want to actually start or not, and other times I can't even look at the page.
There are 24 hours in a day. You get to choose how to fill them up. You have as much time as you want to have. You set your own priorities. I just see a lot of people, no criticism here, that seem to think that writing is something that they have to get out of the way. They hit some arbitrary small goal and then go off to do other things that they'd really rather do. If writing isn't a driving force in your life, I don't know why you do it. I picked 5k a day because it's pretty much what I'd write regardless, but I'm not counting every single word so that I can stop writing. I write because I want to write. I track my words to make sure I'm being productive. I don't even worry about it most of the time. If I get up to get a drink or go to the bathroom, I'll update my word count, but that's about it. If I'm not at my 5k, I continue when I get back. If I'm on a roll, I'll continue until I reach a stopping point or I have to go to work or something. I don't necessarily stop at 5k, I just never do less than 5k. You have to decide what's important to you.
Sounds like anxiety is messing with your flow. It might help if you create a tradition for every time you write. There's something calming to performing a series of actions that gets you in the right mind set.
I’ll try the tradition thing. I managed to get a bit of writing in today but once again after I finished class I went back to it and I’m having the same issue again.
Try writing something else! This may seem like strange advice, but if your story is your darling even before you start to write, you'll perhaps over-estimate the task and under-value yourself. I started my current project since I just couldn't bear to write anything for my previously planned plot. I thought to myself: "Let's write something stupid. A full length novel, sure, but nothing too serious." So I put very little time into plotting (A few hours). Thought up a nice character to base the story on, and just started writing. The plan was to write something that was "good enough", to the best of my abilities. Now it's turning out pretty good! The hardest place to start is a blank canvas, be it in writing stories or music. By treating my story like nothing serious, I got those main events and connecting scenes plotted out (They didn't need to be brilliant, just interesting while making sense). More importantly, I got to writing the first chapters, not worrying too much about the results. Now it's much easier to write something good. I (mostly) got rid of my mental blocks, and got the ball rolling. If you don't want to write something else, you could do similar injury to your current project. It may seem like something holy or untouchable, but if a scene doesn't sit right with you, just throw the scene away! Last week, I felt that I needed a prologue before the first chapter, so I wrote one. It was okay, but it really didn't fit in the story, so I killed it. Now I'm writing a new first chapter to put before my original "first chapter". Feels really good! Sometimes I just write some dialogue for a scene which may fit in somewhere. So far, about 40% of those made it into the book. The rest, I see as me getting to know the characters. Hope that helps! Edit: Oh, by the way, I have even altered the plot skeleton pretty heavily a few chapters in. Cut major events, and added new stuff. Nothing is set in stone etc.
Yes I think that my problem has been that I have thought of a huge project and guess what...Once I actually started writing it it got much bigger still. Three years later it is starting to take shape. These projects can sometimes run away with us but it is really important to remember, everything we do wether we succeed or fail, helps us learn and evolve. Thats how we become better writers. The most important thing is if you love something then dont give up. Remember Lex Storm that often after we hit a bump in the road or face something we cant possibly imagine overcoming, we often have our best ideas and produce our best performance as we are stretched to our limits. Most importantly of all enjoy it, if it becomes like a chore then we are doing it all wrong. Just my opinions.
Because people are allowed to enjoy things without dedicating their lives to it. I've got a lot of hobbies, and none of them drive my life any more than the others.
But writers who can't bring themselves to write aren't really writers. The OP says he wants to be a novelist and write for a living. And that is something that is going to take dedication and discipline. I write for a living and there are days when I don't feel like doing it. And that's fine for a day or even a few days. But it's my job. And before it was my job, I still treated it like a job. There's nothing wrong with writing as a hobby, but don't people usually enjoy their hobbies and want to do them? I also don't really understand choosing a career path in something that you're having a hard time doing before even reaching that level. I'm not saying that the OP or anyone else can't daydream about being a novelist or writer, but to do more than dream about it requires real work and dedication. Writers write.
edit: sry, hit the wrong button early @deadrats Agreed, writers write. But I'm a hobby writer as well and I don't want to make writing a living. Not ever in my life, I'd probably suck. Even though I do enjoy writing when I do it I currently have trouble focussing so and I find enough reasons not to start writing... I actually have to force myself to do so lately. I don't know why, I just know it's like that.
Writers do write, you're right. My issue was with the "driving force in your life" part. We don't need to be obsessed with writing to do it.
I only see a problem with this if you're in a hurry. Do you have a deadline? are you trying to get it published before you're [insert less reasonable age]? For me, I struggle with staying focused. Sometime i will get a burst of inspiration on something else. Thats why I have 4 WIPs going, 2 that are sci fi, 1 thats general fiction, and another thats semi fantasy. That way, if i cant focus on my 1950's backwoods North Carolina plot then I can transport myself to a desert planet in one of my sci fis or a tropical island in my fantasy. This works well for me! Even though I jump around a lot, I write when I feel creative. Forcing myself to stick to one thing makes writing a chore and i hit a massive writers block. These WIPs are at various stages with one being almost 200 pages long, to the shortest being only 38 pages. point is, find what works for you. I disagree with @Cephus when they said "Writing is all about dedication and self-control." that may be true for Cephus as an individual, but you might find that writing is different for you. Personally, writing is about being creative, and enjoying the process, however frustrating it might seem at times. As long as it gets done to where you are satisfied with it, I see no harm in writing when you can, however much you can.
I didn't say "the", I said "a". And yes, if you are serious about it, especially if you want to do it professionally as the OP does, it needs to be one of the major driving forces of your life.
Not when you're talking about doing it professionally, which is what this thread is about. Professional writers don't decide "I don't feel like writing today". They sit down and they write no matter what they feel like, at least if they want to be productive and get paid. You have to make writing a habit. Hobbyists, they can do whatever they want because they're not relying on their writing to put food on the table.
Asimov wrote to support himself while he was doing his PhD. At that time, it wasn't his primary focus - that was his academic studies. It turned out ok for him.
The OP never specified writing as a profession. So I interpreted it as "writing in general." In my response, I did say that unless there was a deadline or they were on a time crunch to get published, then I see no problem with writing sporadically.
Unplug the router before starting, have a dedicated work area that's relatively free from distractions, and stock up on snacks and beverages beforehand. If I find myself particularly stuck for more than a bit, then I grab my tablet and Bluetooth keyboard and go somewhere like the beach, the pub, or this one graveyard I know that no one ever frequents for the change of pace. Sometimes working out of the house for a bit resets the some of the situational bad habits I pick up when I've been hanging out in the same rut for too long.
