Personally I prefer the cookie method. Anyway, sometimes you have a block that's jamming the works. When this happens it's best to spend some time with the family and do something fun.
For me, it's Good'n Plenty candies, one per paragraph. CRAP! That explains all the one-sentence paragraphs lately. Hmmmm...gotta re-think this reward system.
Oh man Good 'n' Plenty's are so good.... I would have a hard time not just eating handfuls of them and not working at all.
Considering I only write for fun, I only write when I feel like writing . I don't want to loose my love of writing by forcing myself to write - it'd become a chore if I did that. However, I do have a 'motivational writing music' playlist on my ipod That tends to work when I want to write but I dont know where to start.
I love writing, and to me, it's the greatest thing in the world. But checks from publishers are also fun, and If I ever want to have one of those, I need to finish this manuscript.
I am also a lazy writer but your tip is not working on my side. do you have any other tip which can be more useful then your suggested tip.
This is kind of a harsh reality, but if you want to write you just have to force yourself. Heres a good quote from an article on quitting your day job by one of my favorite authors Holly Lisle. Bottom line? Write. You're tired? Write. You don't feel motivated? Write. You're having trouble how to start your new chapter? Too bad, write. You can revise it later. If you just write for fun then why care if you have motivation or not? If you aren't motivated then don't write. It's not your job. If you want to ever get to the "The End" especially in larger works, however, then there is no secret method other than to sit down and start typing. This has always been my "solution" since the start. This obviously will not work for everyone but like I said it's the harsh reality all writers will eventually face if they ever intend to finish their work. Caleb
I can hear it now...my agent calls, "Dean, that manuscript on the war story was due last week. What's going on?" "Sorry Berta, my local store was out of Good & Plenties. I'll have it finished this week...I bought a bag of Rolos."
I have invented a clever device called Electro Moti-writer 2000. It's basically a battery that charges from static electricity as feelers are connected to my skin. Whenever I move around, the battery charges. Once it reaches a predetermined level of power, the battery is discharged in an instant through electrodes attached to my skull. This hurts like hell. Now, the device also has wires connected to my fingers, and my computer's keyboard is grounded. So whenever I type, the battery is slowly discharged through my keyboard. As you have probably predicted, as long as I sit still and keep typing, the battery level will remain just low enough for me to avoid getting zapped. Patent pending.
Maybe I'm weird, but just seeing the words on the page is reward enough for me. One guy in my writing group, though, pays himself to write. He puts a nickel per word in a jar. At the end of the week, half of what's in the jar goes into his savings account and the rest he takes to the local used bookstore. It works for him.
So, I've been a little down on my, well, life lately, so I'll apologize for any angst in advance. I always seem to hear about people who write and enjoy writing who have these wonderful support systems in their lives. Friends and family who will help and support the writer in what can often be a long, tedious process, especially when they're like me and enjoy writing novels. I, however, lack this support. None of my friends or family are remotely interested. Not even my spouse. Whenever the topic comes up of someone reading a chapter or two I can see the guilt, they want to support me, but are just completely and utterly uninterested. I know it's nothing personal but it is hard none the less. After completing an entire novel that essentially got shelved, I find myself struggling with my current project. After letting nearly 300 pages just sit and gather dust, with literally one person reading the thing besides myself, moving on is like pulling teeth. Yet, writing is my love. It's just, well, hard. And somewhat depressing. Okay, really depressing. Especially compounded with other things in my life. Like how ironically getting my degree in English seems to have destroyed my confidence. Yay angst! Anyway... How do the rest of you motivate yourselves when you have such a daunting, thankless task ahead of you? Yes, I love writing, yes, I enjoy creating, but sharing it is a large part of my motivation. Not to mention having the assurance that I'm not just pouring line after line of crap into a word processor. Clearly, for me at least, coming to a writing forum is step one, but I'm wondering what everyone else does, or if anyone can sympathize.
What I gathered from your post is that your friends and family don't want to read your work, but they also don't entirely discourage you from writing. Well, what's the problem? I never let my family read my works because they can be the most unreliable critics. If they give you a good review, that may be just because they don't want to hurt your feelings, that is of course of no use to improve your writing. And if they give a bad review, your relationship might get strained. So, until and unless your friends and family become hindrances to your writing work, just be thankful to them. There are many other ways to share your work, you may start right here on this website.
It's my understanding, however, that throwing up something you hope to publish up on the internet is a bad idea. Correct? And this is not just me bitching about how my friends/family wont read my stuff! I know they'd be useless reviewers for all but the very basics, even if knowing someone might have enjoyed reading it would give me the warm fuzzies. I'm just wondering where people get the strength, support, the will, etc to go on, and all that other dramatic stuff. I've just been getting this weird bashing my face against the wall feeling lately whenever I fire up Word.
I can understand your feelings, Rybe. My spouse is not interested in my writing either. It's not about constructive criticism, it's about motivation and support. Fortunately, I have others in my life I can share my writing with, both off-line friends and writers I've met on this forum. I've managed to collect a small circle of people I can send out my stories to. It's true that you're unlikely to publish something that's been publicly available on the Internet. It's a little easier if you only posted it on a password-protected forum like this one. But you could also write short stories for the Internet and treat them as learning experiences. You can put up the stories which have been "contaminated" on your web site and use them as advertising / free samples.
I'd say killbill nailed it, in respect of family, friends, and spouse. Just be thankful they're honest. There are some good critique/feedback websites out there that will advance your writing. They should give you constructive criticism and encouragement. As long as you know your craft can always improve, those sites are the best. Islander covered the publishing issue. Post excerpts, chapters, etc, on password protected sites. As long as the work is not viewable publically, in most cases you're fine. Posting work on public sites is considered published. Sometimes writing is a slog. It's not always a joy. Certainly in regards to novel writing. It takes a lot of work, and there is a huge difference between writing for yourself, and writing to be read -- or published. Chin up old boy. You're not alone.
Well, yes, but one possibility could be to do some writing that you don't want to publish. In my case, that's blogging. You won't make money from a blog, but it feels good to get your writing out there and maybe get some interaction about it. While it won't directly add one thing to the writing you want to publish, it might give you some energy and inspiration and also teach you what works with readers and what doesn't. ChickenFreak
Hmmm, I've only just started writing for fun and I don't know how I would handle your situation. I obviously haven't written an entire novel. I'm in the process now of writing my first story, outside of school. For me, the reason I'm writing it, is just because I want to and I'm confident in that I have a compelling story in my head. My only concern is if I'm telling it in the right way, if I'm stringing together the right words, am I creating a nice steady flow in the story where it can be read at a comfortable pace, and be immediately comprehended while still painting a vivid picture in the minds of readers. To me, what would be a good source of motivation is what others have already said. Write on websites, or blogs, and write things specifically for those. Take the criticism from the smaller, less ambitious works and apply it to your novels. That's how I would go about getting advice on my writing, without posting on the internet something I put in a lot of work and effort into. Or, I know in my area there are a few writers groups on meet-up.com that if I wanted to I could join and get writing advice/ inspiration from. So maybe there is something similar for you.
Also an early draft or small excerpts are not going to cause any problems. Other sites offer the option of a member, password protected area and the ability to remove work. Authors from those sites have not had trouble getting their work published. The other alternative is like ChickenFreak suggested and write other work specifically to put it up online. Motivation for me comes from the characters once I get into their head or they get into mine they nag me to write the stories.
I am more or less in your situation. The only one who has read both of my novels is my mom, and she doesn't offer any constructive criticism. I don't see that as a problem, like you I love writing so much that it is its own reward, I don't see it as thankless at all. Sure I'd love to know some people I could have reading my mss and get constructive criticism, but I prefer not letting friends and the rest of the family read what I've written until I have had some kind of approval from someone who knows if it's good enough to submit or not. I think it's easier to submit my work to people (publishers) I don't know and never have met rather than letting my friends read it. Ok, they want to read it and I am the one not letting them, I guess that is where we are different.
I still regret the day I told my family I was writing... Well, if I didn't tell them, most likely I wouldn't have the notebook I am typing this right now, but they want to read! And I don't want to show them. It's really great that you have the guts to show your friends and your spouse, but, to be fair, if you want your work to be published, their opinions most likely won't count. Most often they won't offer the criticism that you need to improve your work. Anyway... It must suck that you don't have their support, but if you love writing, why do you need any further motivation...? Isn't that what you love to do? Perhaps -- ahem, for sure -- you feel down that your first novel didn't work but if you are writing just to get published, you should do something else, no? And the lost of confidence. I feel your pain. Everything I write sounds utterly silly to me, to the point I really don't show my work to anyone! But if you are not satisfied, then you should work even harder to make it better. At least, that's what I do.
^ My sympathies. People keep asking me, "When can I read that novel?" and I keep saying, "Once I've worked over it"... of course that may never happen. I dread the day I read it again. Motivation. I don't really know. I don't even know if I can say writing is the love of my life like so many people around here. In fact, it's not. I write because it's fun to write. On the day it stops being fun, I would stop writing. I don't consider myself tied to writing by love or career. And as far as criticism goes, you get all types: I wouldn't let my family read my stuff if they asked. They do ask. In my experience, when my family reads my stuff, they say, "Hm... hm... it could use a little work... maybe you just need to look at it in general." Which is a bad euphemism for "Go rewrite it. It's terrible." And they're right. But no one likes to hear that.
I'm perfectly happy with the half of my family smiling at me indulgently. It's the other half that's a bit on the damaging side. Heck, I'd prefer the other half to not care rather than attacking the fact. Motivation comes from with in. That's the sad bit about it, you'd think that having family and spouse being extremely interested in it would change the fact, but it's doubtful. I'm going to go with Cassiopeia, it sounds more like you're a little bit disappointed in the first completed novel. I don't know when you finished it, but it could really just be a burn out. Something that will pass in some time.
I'm in a similiar spot in the sense that I don't have any real outside support. My girlfriend is not really a reader, neither are most of my friends. My parents read, but they're not into the genre I write in. I don't need an overwhelming amount of support, however, because I'm extremely motivated to write the particular story I'm currently writing, and I think that comes from addressing themes beneath the story surface; themes that are meaningful and important to you. Do you ever ask yourself questions about life, death, love, spirtuality, etc? Better yet, do you have views that you might not share with others directly because they're just too different? This is the venue for them. Weave them into your characters' viewpoints, and watch the meaningfulness of the project change dramatically. At that point -- when you have a thematic exposition in your story that you've been dying to shout out to the world -- motivation is no longer an issue.
