For the past four or so years, constant ideas for novels and short stories have been popping up in my head, some I have been continually working for years. I have three really good ideas that are completely fleshed out and I think that if I got it onto paper they would be great! But I just don't like writing. I'm not good at typing, I get bored easily, and I'm never motivated to do it. I have tried probably a hundred times to write my ideas dowm, but I never get past 10 pages because I am just so sick of writing. With no way for me to put down my ideas, my imagination is making me go insane. I have tried to stop thinking about them, but I always find myself day dreaming and advancing my plot. GRRRR help me!
At one time I was in the same situation. This is how I got around it. When the ideas pop into your head, write them down. Now maybe you aren't the kind of person who like to/ wants to sit down at a computer and write everything down. Instead, just grab any piece of paper that happens to be handy. The important thing to do is keep each story separate. I used envelopes. As you allow your plot to organically develop, just keep adding the updates. Whether you formally develop the story or not, you will have gotten it down and satisfied that part of your mind that is determined to develop the story. ~EB
Well has that translated into you starting to write the story and eventually completing it? I just feel like I wont be satisfied until it's all done.
Not all stories have to be written. Why not try recording your story instead? If you think telling the story would be easier, just record a CD. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. All you need is to tell the story. Whether or not it ever gets transfered into writing would depend on you. Even if you just let friends or family listen to it, it will be a step in getting the story out of your head and into the world. Write your notes, put them in logical order, and tell your story. Not all stories are in book form. Actually, in many cultures, stories used to be passed down orally, and in some cultures they still are.
I can relate somewhat. Just tonight (while jogging) I was wondering how I was going to get any of the five short stories, three kids stories, one young adult and one general novel finished while still keeping track of other ideas that pop up. The only conclusion I came to was to write as the inspiration comes. If that means working on one project one day and another project another day (or one hour then another hour) then so be it. But yes it does require actually writing, and having many years of not writing (while wishful thinking about writing) behind me I can only say that if you want to see your ideas in print you will have to.... well... write Unless you dictate it to someone ;-) Take it as a mental health exercise - if you don't get them out of your head they will just keep rattling around. It doesn't actually take that much time to write a first draft if all you do is write what comes into your mind as it comes. Edit later. That way at least the basics are out of your head and before you know it you will have a few stories on paper. I really liked the envelope idea. Get a notebook and carry it with you, write a bit here and there then tear the pages out and put into corresponding folder. Then set aside a few hours to type it all up into a first draft.
lol - excuse my saying so, but you don't sound very satisfied now. Writing the ideas out, even if you don't flesh them out into full stories, would seem to be a relief - for me, at least. Finishing them is separate, and if you don't like to, then you don't have to. But it sounds like you have to write them to remove them from your head. Good luck
I thought the original question was what to do about the runaway ideas and your lack of desire to actually write them. For me, this method was a starting point which eventually resulted in a ton of finished stories and a few published ones.
Ideas are easy. I can come up with a dozen in an idle afternoon. Writing a book is difficult. It can take years. The only way to do it, is to do it. One sentence, one page at a time. Outline or plot if you want. Research if necessary. Write out a quick first draft, and then go back and polish it. Over time, you'll get better at all aspects of it, but that, too, takes years. If, as you say, you don't like writing, consider your imagination and your ideas to be idle dreams, and go watch a re-run of Seinfeld or Everybody Loves Raymond. Don't even try. In the words of Yoda, "Either do, or do not. There is no try." Charlie
Bongo, your options are limited. You can always ask your mom to get you a scrip for Thorazine. ORrr you could get a ghost writer/writing partner who does enjoy writing and, while you tell the story, the writer half of your partnership puts it down. Ooorrr, there are incredible storyteller guilds and societies for the oral story teller. These groups focus on keeping alive the gifts and talents of story tellers of old who handed down social, Biblical, and family tales from one generation to the next, sometimes within a family, as often as not to a larger geographical audience. Find one close to you. You may discover there is an outlet for your storytelling gift after all!
I would say write down you ideas on your computer or something. Just a simple list. Then select one you think you might want to write about. Part of what I'm still learning now is what kind of stories can capture my attention to write and what kind of stories might turn out somewhat okay.
Easiest way to overcome this is to write even if you don't feel like it. Keep going, don't look back. After a couple thousand words, turn around, look at what you've written. Scratch out what you don't like, edit it. Then go on from that point. Eventually, you will write a part of the literature that you will like no matter what, and that will drive you to keep going.
My favourite writing quotation... "Anybody can write a short story - a bad one, I mean - who has industry and paper and time enough; but not every one may hope to write even a bad novel. It is the length that kills." Of course, you could get yourself a ghost writer to do the leg-work for you. Personally i'm very much like yourself, tending to have a new idea every second which makes it hard to really focus on something. What i usually do is just write down what I think, sometimes a few sentences, sometimes a few pages. All you have to do is continue fleshing things out, save it all in different files, re-read them on a regular basis and add more to them. You should find it then becomes very easy to sew these idea's/scenes etc together as they naturally begin to merge into each other...well, aslong as you have a coherent story in mind at least!
