I dunno why, but whenever I start trying to plan out a story, I get really nervous. I never have good ideas, and I can't help but think about how embarrassing it'd be if someone caught me writing something really crappy before I got the chance to go over it and make it better. Probably because when I was little, I'd bring little notebooks to school with me, just for writing stories, and other kids would take them and make fun of them. I guess I'm traumatized or something :redface: But it really bothers me, because I want to write, but I get all tense and paranoid when I try. Is there anything I can do to stop that? Erm, sorry if that doesn't make any sense. I'm not really used to posting on forums.
So you know why you carry this belief inside yourself and where it comes from. Change it. Think these things instead -Some of the stuff you write is worthy of a reading without any editing. -Your writing is private. Nobody will read it if you don't want them to -If somebody else read your stuff and made fun of you, what do they know? The way to change self-limitations is to just brute force through them and reframe the negative beliefs in your head.
I dunno about your first point, but the rest makes sense. Guess I'll just have to toughen up Thank you!
I've had the same problem, so let me tell you what I've discovered. The reason you're nervous about writing is because you are not well enough prepared. If you're like me, you do not work well with chaos. Some people are discovery writers. They like to go right in with very little planned out ahead of time, if anything. Others, like myself, are preparers. The more material done beforehand, the better. It's probable that you're a preparer. This has no impact on whether or not you're being creative. You are still creating everything, you're just doing it before sending it out to the assembly line. Before writing, have as much prepared as possible. I find it's easier to write an essay than a story, so most of my notes are in essay form. My personal preference is to start with setting, then characters (because a setting has great influence on a character's job, perceptions, beliefs, and many other things), then plot. After that, I'll go even further, and take what I have for plot, and write a synopsis for each individual scene. Only then am I ready to write. Break things down into small chunks, then even smaller ones. It's not so scary after that. My next suggestion is to do research. Whenever you get stuck or apprehensive, ask yourself why you're feeling this way. I've noticed that whenever I've done this, the answer is that I lack the skill for what I'm trying to do. Your brain is telling you that it needs help before it can accomplish the task you've assigned it. Help your brain out by looking at what you're doing, and then go train yourself to do it. Often, you don't even have to leave your desk. For example, if you're stuck on a piece of description, do a google search for descriptive writing, then move on with your new toolbox. My last suggestion is to ease yourself in. Every time before I go to write, I get nervous. That blank space can be very intimidating to certain people. I think it's your brain trying to conserve energy. All that thinking surely has a biological cost, so your instinct is to reserve it indefinitely. You can trick your brain into helping you work though, and it's really not cruel or complicated. Start writing about why you can't write. Some people say to just write about anything, but even that makes me nervous. Write about your story and why you can't work on it. Inevitably, you'll realize that you are actually writing the story, and you can go from there pretty easily.
if i have the time to write, and i go and concentrate on writing, nothing gets done, id just learn how to make good paper planes, but when im busy, ill sometimes come up with a really good idea, and then go, "damn i cant write it down" do set time for u to write, just do it when u think of something. If u have the time, and u cant think of anything, then do something... go for a walk, or something, try to get somewhere completely silent, but for your thoughts, and dont think of it as "I must think of an idea to write" just relax. You'll think of something then
I just get a piece of paper before me and let the ideas flow. Try that, not preparing anything. Also, I have found out that during the day it is difficult for me to write, but that around midnight it is the best time. Try it out!
I know how you feel, i'm still in school and whenever my roommates or friends look at what i'm doing I alt tab to myspace. I used to be worst but I just try to think it's important to me and who cares if they read my first draft over my shoulder and laugh it adds fuel to the fire to improve it.
im sorry that your in a bad place in your life. for me, writing is a therapy of sorts. Sometimes i let my mood, or emotional state, guide me to which writing project(of which i have many) ill be working on. don't try to force it, let the force flow through you. i'm shameless
I didn't read all the other responses, sorry, but I will just go ahead and respond to the OP with two words: USE IT! My best writing usually comes when I'm depressed. A lot of great artists were depressed or had other mental issues. Use it. It's good food for creativity. I understand you might not want the mood of your writing to come off particularly sad sounding, but it doesn't have to. You just have to learn to take the depressed energy and sort of morph it within you, using it for fuel. That sounds weird, but it's always worked for me. Sometimes I will put on some music and have a good cry and then just write for hours. It's awesome! And if you feel your mood isn't working with a particular piece you are working on at the time, spend maybe 1/2 hour writing a poem or short piece just describing how you feel. You might be surprised at what you end up with.
I must be honest, I have read none of the replies so it is entirely possible I am simply restating everything which has already been stated. That being said, I am fairly apathetic. So neener-neener. I have never, in my entire life, with whatever it was that I have ever written, been entirely satisfied with what I have in fact written. If I were satisfied one hundred and fifty billion god damn percent, I would go back and look everything over again because I would be worried that I most certainly missed something. I'm currently finishing up the last few chapters of my novel right now and every day I must resist the carnal, some would say masochistic, urge to go back to the last chapter and begin editing. I know if I did that I would go to the previous one and do the same. Then suddenly I'm on chapter one again and I have to go to the last chapter to make sure everything sounds nice and peachy once more. Think of it as some strange obsession I have that I cannot kick. I am the guy who sits in his bathtub and washes each tile a thousand times before I go to the next, only to go back and clean the previous one... just in case. And you know what? I'm still not satisfied. The pallid sheen is not quite saintly enough... I can keep scrubbing until it gets so white it looks like Gods hair, I just need the time! As for you being unhappy about your work, I believe you're simply frustrated. It comes with being a writer. You're no more than a golfer with the shanks, no offense. You can either let the nicknames you've labeled yourself run freely - Shankapotomus is my favorite - or you can go back over your work and find some joy in it. I suppose beyond that, however, I will never be much of a help. You see I'm never overly joyed with my work, it can always be polished a bit more, but I have found peace in what I consider something "finished". Granted, it's only finished when I run out of polisher... I think I might in fact have an issue. That's not the point. I guess the only advice I can give you is a simple question: why do you write? If you write because you want to emulate the adulation given to our esteemed literary heroes, then you may want to quit. If, however, you write because the process makes you beam in some hedonistic, some would say masochistic, passion which makes you want to fall asleep in the arms of the story you have spawned from that little piece of meat between your ears... you might want to keep writing. Now, I'm off to go polish my bathtub.
I think this happens to many of us. It definatly does to me. When I first started writing I wrote the first chapter a million times, never being very satisfied with it. Now I realise if I do that I won't get anywhere, though I still not might be completely satsified, I really like this quote:
I used to never be happy with anything I had written because it was never what I wanted it to be. My lack of knowledge about story structure and plot/character development - as well as lack of planning - limited my ability to tell the stories that I really wanted to tell. Now that I've done a bit of research and reached out to you guys here, I am armed with the missing pieces which have facilitated my creation of awesome stories! (Okay, maybe they're not awesome yet, but I'm getting there!)
Hi, Toothache Fairy, Part of your nervousness might come from an overactive inner critic. You think of writing something, and the critic in your head tells you it's not good enough or that everyone will hate it. I find that distracting myself while writing often helps in these situations. I turn on the TV or the radio and write while listening. I hardly pay attention to what I'm writing, because I'm mostly listening to what people are saying or singing on the TV or radio. I don't have enough mental capacity to listen, write and criticize myself at the same time, so the criticism falls by the wayside. I often end up surprising myself at what I've written. You might try writing while watching or listening to something that really interests you. I think you might be surprised by what you end up writing.
Or just tell your internal critic -- the nagging one, not the one that points out flaws and how to fix them -- to shut the hell up and go suck an exhaust pipe. That voice of insecurity is an amalgam of all the bitter dead-end guidance counsellors and no-talent relatives who told you you'd never amount to anything. all the tenured teachers counting down the days to their pension and too lazy to teach, all the gloomy Gus losers that never made anything of their lives (so, of course, no one else will, either). In other words, no one you need to listen to. So just tell that voice to sod off.
I know how you feel about the trauma.. when I was 17 my DIARY was stolen. I lived in a small town where most people know each other, and in this diary I had written many different detailed and extremely honest entries about everything from my sex life to other people's sex lives to (the worst) my desire to beat up other girls in the town, which of course was just me VENTING into my diary in typical teenage girl fashion, but I knew if it got out could seriously put me in danger (I'm from the ghetto, all the gangbanger girls here don't mess around lol) It was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life, I had to seek therapy from it, and no, I never got the diary back and to this day don't have a clue who has read it or what happened to it. The way I personally dealt with it was by making the choice to let the world see me. In brutal, terrible honesty. Try and think, whats the worst that would happen if someone saw your unfinished work? Maybe they would laugh, if even that. And if they did, so what? Decide right now not to care. I think if you can start making the active choice not to care, it will help you get over your nervousness. Maybe consider posting some of your work online too, having others read it and seeing the way they react will definitely help a lot.
I don't discuss what I am writing with anyone. No family or friends. I simply say I am working on yet another project and no they can't read it. I don't let anyone read what I write till I am good and ready. But fear of writing stupid crap doesn't stop me from writing it. I've got some doozies of stories on my computer that I wouldn't want another living soul to be subjected to. THey might actually induce bleeding from the eyes. Didn't stop me from thinking it was the greatest thing since slice bread while I was writing it. You have to get in touch with your inner narcissus. Build yourself up to think you're the greatest thing since Elvis and that everything you write is gold. And the best way to do that is to fake it till you make it. Approach every story idea like it is the next greatest story every told and then write it. Don't worry about proper planning, or outlining, or any of the school-taught crap, just write. Once you start to see where it is going then you can decide if you want to plan it out a little more thoroughly or if you can just keep plugging away at it till it is done. Then edit, edit, edit, put it away, come back and edit some more. Also reading bad writing is another way to feel good about your own story telling ability. If you can't identify bad writing, which I know you should be able to, then you need to get yourself some books on writing and how to analyze writing. If you're still afraid to write, then don't. It would be like for me, to go skydiving. I am terrified of heights. SO I don't go sky diving. I do however, go on rollercoasters and some other rides. As long as I am strapped in I'm ok. But, I'm not going to do something that makes me feel uncomfortable. You shouldn't either. If you want to write, then the desire to create and craft a story should overcome your fear of failure and being made fun of. WHy do you give a darn about what other people think at this point in you life? I know I don't. LIfe is too short to care what other people think.
I think it's easier to relax and write when you have some materials already planned, like some people said. For me, what I did was to capture new ideas by compressing them into few words or less. Whenever I am in a mood for some writing, I just go look over the fleeting thoughts already caught in some note.
(I don't know if this section of the forum is the place for this, so I apologize if I should have posted this elsewhere.) I have a writing issue that is related to general writing... sort of. The problem is I want to write, but I can't. So it is essentially a writer's block. But it's a bit more complicated than that. I don't want to get into details because it would just be boring. But I can say that that's a large part of the problem. Boredom. Everything I write down feels so... b-o-r-i-n-g. I've been wanting to write about certain themes for years. This "project" I have going on right now is about 2-3 years old, and in that time I've managed to write down one single page that I can say I'm satisfied with. In that time I haven't written anything else. I don't want to. I need to write this "thing" I have in my head, but I can't get past that first page. So perhaps I should just quit for good. This obsession with this "thing" I need to write down is affecting negatively my life. The problem is whenever I try to quit I just find out I can't. So is it an addiction then? I've never been a good writer. I haven't actually finished anything. I can't get past the first few sentences because they always feel so... boring. Meaningless. Now I know writer's have blocks. I'm no special. And I've been wondering if anyone else here been struggling with thoughts like these. Then again this is possibly a wrong place to ask this. I guess I should head to www.not writing ever again forums.org. Finally, I want to make clear that I'm not after sympathy or encouraging comments. I was thinking that perhaps someone here could give me insightful thoughts that would help me to leave writing and move on. Sometimes it's best to just move on, but it seems I can't do it on my own. I'm too weak to give up. But not everybody has a talent, and some of us can never become rockstars despite the burning desire.
Congratulations! You've come to an important part in your writing career. I'm actually quite serious. Every writer either has reached this point or will at sometime. You've realized thta writing is work on par with the most mundane job or prying yourself out of bed at five a.m. to get that morning run in. Gichin Funakoshi, a late, great martial artist, described this same situation. To paraphrase him, sooner or later you will come to the point that your interest in the art begins to wane. this is an entirely natural part of being human. When this comes, you must redouble your efforts until the feeling passes - and it honestly will.
I think I may have had a similar problem. I have projects and subjects I keep trying to write about, but can never seem to find the right way to put it. I found there was no point in even trying to seriously write a novel, because I am too anal about how this subject matter is presented. I wouldn't say give up, but I did. I'm not going to try write about this subject that I've been trying to write about and try to get it published. I'm not concerned about being published at all or even going beyond hobby right now. My focus is completely on my topic. My effort in this area, using forums and groups, has not yielded the results I was looking for. No one has commented on the stories I posted and it's made me self-conscious about posting it elsewhere. Nothing has been posted here. When I write it's as if I just need to get rid of this subject. Like I need to release this idea into the world. That's not exactly true, though, is it? It's become more of my own "spiritual" endeavor. I don't know if that makes any sense... Anyway, instead of trying to write something long- which I end up getting frustrated with, I've made two document filled to the brim with my personal writing and stories. They are fragments and incomplete piece, the majority of them attempts to get out this one subject that's preoccupied my mind for a while. If I ever finish one maybe I'll do something with it. At the very least I'll have the satisfaction of finishing it. If I were to write seriously at this point I wouldn't try to make it about this topic. If I had decided to write a novel it would be a genre, entertainment novel. It would be hard, but that would be the way I would have to do it. Forum role playing has been a way for me to write without being overly concerned about the subject matter. I really enjoy it, but I also keep up my personal writing. Continuing this bizarre quest to get the idea out of my head and completed. I don't know if we're experience the same problem. That's just what happened with me. I didn't really get bored, I got boggled down.
