We all have them. I thought it might be useful to start a thread where we can chat about them and how to improve on them. It could also turn out to be a resource for those reviewing our work because if they knew where we thought our weak points were, they would know what to concentrate on. Problems I find in my writing: Too long of sentences Varying sentence structure Too much dialogue, not enough narrative Tackling 3rd person omniscient point of view comma use (too many)
Good idea. But lest we get too negative about ourselves, why not also list what some of our strengths are as well. I wager that will be harder for most of us to put in writing for all to see! Some problems of mine that I am most aware of: Reluctance to add supporting characters Not fluid with dialog A tendency to rush the plot Poetry eludes me on most levels Some of my strengths: A strong vocabulary Decent at spelling, punctuation, and grammar A somewhat twisted imagination A brain that is flypaper for odd trivia
Let me see... Run-on sentences When writing serious prose, constantly bogged down in unneeded thought Poor characterization in serious prose Procrastination (Getting better lately) And then... Good at humor (All-around better than serious- better characters, pace, etc.) Good for my age Good grammar/spelling/punctuation Improving my procrastination habits
Excellent idea Cogito. I can't help but add mine in. Strengths: Formatting dialogue World building Not procrastinating Setting short and long term goals Believeable characters
I'd say something like: Weaknesses: Dialogue - thus I don't attempt it Direction Prior Planning Consistancy Time in the Day! And strengths - the blowing of one's own trumpet Narrative Description Aesthetics SPAG Vocabulary Range? A tough exercise on both counts!
Hmmm... Strengths: Ability to come up with plots Good with less than serious prose Decent Vocab A sorta wild imagination Weaknesses: EXTREMELY bad spelling! Too many commas Inconsistency of style when writing different genres Too few characters
Does anyone else have this? I keep writing different stories at once. I have one humor story going, one general fiction, a continuation of a story I posted here, and other incomplete works. It gets in my mind crazily. I try to finish one story, but a good idea pops up for another, and sometimes the idea expands to a whole new story. Is there any way to cure this? I hope I'm not the only one suffering from this problem.
I do it all the time. It's a miricle I've ever finished anything. I think starting a story is the easy part, then things get bogged down and the real work begins, so i take the easy way out and start something new. Now I'm on this forum instead of finishing an editorial I stared last week, the novel I'm writing is going nowhere, the children's story has tanked and my blog sucks wind lately. I do have a great idea for a shoort story...gotta go, I've got writing to do!
Yeah this is a big problem for me. Or at least it used to be. I just kept coming up with more stories and tried to juggle them all at once. Being a writer of low talent as it was, I couldn't handle it. Most stories just ended up suffering as a result. My "cure" is to write a series that can successfully utalize your new story ideas as a new plotline. Like, it's story is flexible enough that it can do humor, tragedy, drama, horror, or whatever. It's the only cure I know. Either that or just get so invested in your story that you don't have any brainroom for anything else. lol
Thanks guys. Before, I wrote 'novels'--some were fanfics, others were just original--and I would post and update on a forum I went to. Then, I just lost interest in the story because a. no one would comment on my story, so what was the point of writing, and b. school had interrupted my progress. So now I'm sticking with short stories, with maybe a companion short story. But I've just got to let go of all these ideas and take it one step at a time... Thanks for the encouragement.
It gets worse, I'm reading three books at the same time and trying to figure out the lead to Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter. Talk about a jack of all trades and master of none.
Hah! Man, that's got to suck... Three books? I wouldn't go as far as that... But this writing thing is just overloading me with stress. Why am I even devoting myself to you guys anyways? Just joking.
Oh, yes! I always have dozens of stories in my "works in progress" folder, and just as many that are only outlined. If I skip around from one to another randomly, it takes months or years to finish any of them. So I try to focus on just one or two, switching between them as needed until they're done. Whenever I get a new idea, I'll open a new file for the story and write an outline along with any bits of dialogue or quick scenes that accompany the idea . . . but I won't start writing it. That way it's there and ready to go when I've finished what I'm working on.
I do this sometimes. But rather than write a new short story/novel, I will just try to use those new ideas in my old short story/novel. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
Hi, Risen Glory. You're definately not the only one with the problem of having too many ideas on your plate. I've always had a tendency to write several stories at a time myself. Recently, though, I've discovered I can get a lot more done if I just force myself to sit down and focus on only one. It's good when other ideas come to you; you should encourage that. But don't let it distract you from the work you've currently got going on. Write all those other ideas down somewhere and move on to exploring them after you've finished your current story.
I'm another one of those with several stories going at once. They tend to come in clusters *g* I have periods when I write absolutely nothing, and then periods when I write like crazy. During those periods new ideas tend to pop up without warning and I'd have to start working on them, thus leaving the other stories for a while. I try to finish one story at a time, but at the same time I like having a few stories going at once. That way if Irun out of ideas for one I can just move on to one of the others and continue writing.
My problem is that while I may have some new ideas and even loose plots for other stories stewing in my head, I don't start anything new until I've finished the one I'm working on. That in itself doesn't sound like too much of a problem, but it is, especially when I'm sitting with a story half or three quarters finished and I'm not working on it, because I've lost the impetus and/or the motivation. So in the end, I'm not writing anything creative or constructive at all. I know my problem is really a discipline one. I absolutely NEED to write every day, but I don't. It's as if I need deadlines to drive me, and I don't understand why because I do love writing, but the pressure of a deadline definitely makes me write better and more consistently. I'm definitely thinking about trying to write for NaNoWriMo this year. A 50 000 word novel to be completed between 1st and 30 November. Getting into the habit of writing every single day to achieve that word count is really what I am aiming for, even if the novel itself is not that fantastic.
A writer writes. Sometimes you don't need to finish the story to get what's on your chest, off it. You may find when you read back through all those old outlines and un-ended stories that there are polished gems inside - an extremely well put-together paragraph, a powerful one-liner - gems you can use in something else you're writing and make it that much better. Cannabilization, you could say. A story with an ending is a dead one - it'll only be that story. A story without an ending, well...it's alive - at least I think so.
I set my own deadlines to keep myself writing. It does seem to work. It used to bring me a lot of pressure but then I got so addicted that I started getting WAY ahead of the deadlines I set. So now I slack a bit again, but I still push myself every now and then to finish the next episode.
I've always got numerous projects going on at the same time, but for me it's not a problem. If I get bored with one thing I can just move on to another. I'm not literally being overwhelmed with ideas or anything. I think the only real solution to your problem is, once you've got a story idea and have started working on it, to stick to it. Don't LET yourself be distracted by all those other ideas. Jot them down in a notebook or Wordpad or something, so you don't forget them, but don't let them overwhelm you either. The only reason they're overwhelming you is because you're giving in to them. They're your ideas; only you can decide whether you should write about them RIGHT NOW or not. They're still going to be there to write about later should you choose. If you honestly can't choose between focusing on what you really want to finish, or running off with some new idea, then you'll just have to get used to being scattered. *shrug*
I'm glad that I'm not the only one. But I'm not glad that this is something that eliminates people's energy to focus on just one story. It's really a pain. But I'm FINALLY done the continuation of a story. Gonna post it soon.
I have two on the go Which isn't too bad. The one I've been writing for ages and it's just turned into a confused mess.. random chapters everywhere, so I'm having a long break so I can come back with helpful additions.
I seldom have less than 5 or 6 active projects at a time, but I do have to walk a fine line between the projects that pay the bills and the projects that aren't paying yet.
I am exactly like that! I'll have a period of weeks or months where I can't write a thing, and if I try and force myself to write something it'll end up being horrible. But then it's like a light switch is flipped on, and I'll start writing again. It really drives me crazy, because I never know how long a "no writing" spell is going to last. My only consolation is that when I do write, I write a lot. Is this problem as common as too many story ideas at one time?
Yeah, I'm crazy when it comes to stories and stuff....I'm in the middle of writing, like, ten right now. My general rule is to only write when I can really see what's going to happen in it. I jump around in the parts in the story, too. I usually have a general idea of a few things that are going to happen in it, and write those when I've got a good idea or two about them. Does anyone else do that?
