Hey guys, I would make an introduction topic first but I don't know how often I'll have time to sign onto the forums. Anyways. Two issues. I like to try and expand my characters and explore everything about them so I write lots of fanfiction of my own stories, what-if stuff that wouldn't fit into the canon story. Whenever I write those, it all flows and the results are amazing to me and who I usually show them to. They're quite lengthy too. But when I sit and try to write the actual plot, same characters, setting, everything the exact same, I get writer's block SO bad. As in one, mediocre, page in 2 weeks. Do you guys have any tips to get through that? I don't understand why it would be so different... The less confusing one is I want to include a dream sequence as the start of something. It's about a page long, and I tried to make it foggy and dream like. There isn't any dialouge. Is that boring for a beginning? Would you want to read further if that was how you were introduced to the story? Thanks in advance!
lol don't call it fan fiction if its your own work you're basing it on XD if the results of your supposedly unrelated work are of a high quality as you say they are, and you can't write what is suposed to be the main story, why not just scrap what you originally intended and go with one of the other ones? You clearly think they're good enough...besides that, any other way of getting through writer's block - there are plenty of threads already open that deal with that, no need to start a new one... As for the dream sequence (I think there was a thread for this as well), I would say don't do it, but if you're a good enough writer you may be able to pull it off. It seems like you already realised that it shouldn't be linear or realistic, but its still a bit of a stretch...some readers will be put off simply by the idea of a dream sequence opening...it really depends on how you are using the dream...if its just an excuse for an info dump, then scrap it....but if its genuinely interesting and necessary, then try it, you might pull it off...you could always post it here and get some feedback on just that sequence....
I get a similar sort of writer's block sometimes, and it's tough for me to work through as well, but here's one solution that usually works for me. Write down the part of your story you're having trouble with on paper or... if you already use paper, something that feels less formal to you. perhaps unlined paper or even napkins if you have to. the point of that is you'll feel a lot less pressured to write something 'good.' now, all you have to do is write. allow yourself to be unhappy with the words, as long as it follows the plot. once you're done, copy it down and edit it as you go. that method doesn't always work for me, but when it does, it works well. as for your second question, i think the concept sounds interesting, but i'd have to actually see it in practice. Welcome to writing forums!
Eeek, I didn't know that stuff was covered. I just joined like a half hour ago, but I will search for those topics, thanks. I think I will get rid of the dream. They *are* cliches, I just thought it'd be an easy way to convey the character's mood. It might be hard to let my original plot go (it's been in-progress for 3 years) but that's something to consider. Of course those would have to be altered as well, because they are more graphic and I was intending to let family read it, but I won't sacrifice good writing for that. This is a really great forum, by the way.
Maybe that's because you're letting all your ideas flow into other writings rather than the main story. If you can somehow work all your other writings about your story into one story, then you're good to go. And one page a week isn't all that bad. Dream sequences are fine if they play into the story later.
I have a feeling that any time a writer makes a choice because it's an "easy way to convey" something crucial to building the story, he probably ought to think of another alternative--very likely, something that isn't so easy. Otherwise, the writer risks having the reader "easily" intuit the lack of originality and passion that went into the choice, to begin with.
As far as the first issue goes, you probably should have more than one page in two weeks, but it all depends on how much effort you're putting into it. If you're sitting down every day for at least an hour and you're still not coming up with much stuff, it's just a matter of working out the kinks. It all gets better with practice. I write extremely slowly, too, often putting out no more than 500 words in an hour or two. But that's because I labor over every phrase, almost to a fault, to make sure it's just right. However, if you're not putting in enough work and you're not happy with your production, your only solution is to work more. Even if you sit down and you don't feel like it's your day, write anyway. See what comes out. It's better to write when you feel unprepared than to put it off for tomorrow, because you get into some bad habits that way. You can always go back and change/fix what you wrote when you were in a funk. It's like baseball — you don't get out of your slump by sitting on the bench, you do it by taking your hacks at the plate, and eventually it all comes together. As for your second issue, you'll get the same response everyone else gets: It's all a matter of how you write it. Everything has been done before. There's really no such thing as a "bad concept." It's all in how you weave it.
