Having Trouble with Writing

[Quiver]

I'm not completely sure where I'm going with this, so sorry; this is partly a 'cry-for-help' thread, partly something I really need to get off my chest. If you guys have any advice... I'd appreciate that a lot.

 

I've kind of been in a bit of a rut lately- for the last few years, if I'm being completely honest about it. I've wanted to write since I was a kid; I remember getting creative writing assignments and thinking that those were just the best ones. I'm not saying I was good at them - and looking back at it, a lot of what I did was flat out stolen from stuff I'd read that i was sure no one else had- but I still enjoyed it. I used to love just lying on the floor in my grandparents house, and scribbling whatever came to me.

 

A lot of it was terrible, but still. I liked it.

 

The problem is... well, lately, I want to write. I've been talking about writing; I have a few ideas- some original ones and, yes, some fan fiction- which I think are really good. But whenever I load up a page, I find it hard to get started; I stop and I stall, and I end up not doing anything. Everything just sounds really awkward, and rote, and dumb. A lot of the time I end up just making stuff up as I go along, and if I do get to write the big, emotional scenes that I pictured so clearly in my head...

They just come off wrong, and not as good as I wanted them to be.

 

And even when I do get writing done... it never seems quite right. For one thing, it's never long enough; I find myself struggling- really struggling- to write a few thousand words, even for an idea that I really like. Or if I do have something, and I post it as a chapter somewhere (like I have on this forum and one FiMFiction) I find it even harder to go and do a second chapter and continue it.  Even when it's stuff that i do want to continue; I just find my attention wandering, or just completely stalling, struggling to think of anything to say.

 

Which... is another part of the problem. The more I try to write, the more I get the feeling that I don't have anything to write about; even when I'm just trying to do a goofy, light-hearted adventure series, it sounds like... goofy light-hearted adventure. And completely throw-away, so why should someone spend their time reading it, when there is so much wrong with it.

 

I guess what I'm sayin is... does anyone have any advice on... getting over these issues?

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by Quiver

[A Joe in the Bush]

The best way to get out of that rut is just to write. I know that's not good advice, but let me continue.

 

I try to write at least a scene a day. Sometimes it's just a page long, other times it's closer to ten, but I write at least a scene, and they all sound horribly awkward. They all sound like something that needs to be burned up. But that doesn't matter. I can't remember who, but a famous author once said "The First draft is always perfect, because it's only purpose is to exist." As long as it's there, you can always go back and rewrite in to better match your vision.

 

As for not having anything that people want to read, I guarantee I want to read it. There are lots of people like me who just read to pass the time, so we'll read anything, no matter how odd it is. And then there are also people who enjoy reading works with flaws in them just so they can correct those flaws in a stupid condescending way. (I'm looking at you Travis  ) But anyway, there are always going to be people willing to read your work.

[Talanic]

I think a lot of us have been or are going through exactly what you describe here.  A few things that I find worked for me:

 

Stop talking about writing.  No telling any stories you don't have in print.  Talking about writing causes your brain to feel like you already finished.  It feels good, but it makes you less likely to actually write.

 

Set a goal with a meaningful objective.  For me, NaNoWriMo (done right, with a plan beforehand) worked.  For my wife, she has a goal of a thousand words a day, and excess gets some money put into her 'frivolous activities' fund.  

 

If you feel like something's wrong, like every step is against the flow, perhaps your plan has made contact with the enemy and it's time to improvise.  Maybe your last scene ended wrong, or your mind is trying to tell you that you messed up the previous chapter and your brain's trying to tell you that you're building on a crooked foundation.

 

Cut out distractions.  If you have to, do your writing on a computer without internet (extreme, I know).  Use music to drown out background noise and help focus.  I find Howard's list of soundtracks to be quite useful; I listen to them only when writing..  I suspect that music without lyrics is more useful for this purpose, but it's likely just a matter of personal taste.  Regardless, music is imperative.

 

Short's not necessarily bad.  I like telling stories but I tend to cut through fluff and description and go straight to the point.  And even if you feel like a piece is of no consequence, so what?  You may think up a joke that you'll use in a work that means more to you later.  Or you might wind up figuring out halfway through that things are a lot more important than you thought.  Even if those things don't happen, you're exercising your mind, making more connections, honing your skills.

 

Lastly, my most useful piece of advice: Find an audience.  If you can make it into something you make for them rather than something you make for you, that's a complete paradigm shift.  I would never have made it through NaNoWriMo without people commenting on my work here on Creator's Corner.  Be brave; it may get you burned - I know exactly how much it can hurt even when someone's trying to be nice - but take your work and post it here.  It'll be worth it; I promise.

[Tyson]

Talanic's advice on talking about writing and finding an audience is spot on.

Though it sounds silly, it is incredibly easy to trick yourself into thinking you have completed a novel before you have even wrote a single chapter. All the ideas in the world don't mean anything unless you have something on paper, even in the most basic prose.

Audiences can be difficult to find. Instead I would encourage all aspiring writers to join or set up a small writing group. Nothing large mind, a group of 4-6 people is the ideal number in my own experience. Setting a weekly deadline for submitting a piece of writing will motivate you to write, think of it similar to school work. Providing feedback on the other members weekly submissions, helps build a critical eye of your own work and also gives you a chance to learn from your fellow writers varied writing styles. Try it for 3 months and I garuntee you will not be disappointed.

Our writing group used this very forum to find members over a year ago and although a few dropped out early on, four of us have become good friends and better writers because of the group.

I've read the work you posted here before. It's good stuff.

[Kaymyth]

I'll second NaNo; it got me started on my story.  And it frees you from the constraints of trying to make it "good".  The emphasis is on quantity, not quality; the intent is that you'll go back and revise later.  The point is to get the basic bones of the story OUT, and you'll find that the further you get into the story, the easier it flows and the better it gets.

 

And it's okay to stop and think, but instead of worrying so hard about what comes next, start bouncing the characters off of each other.  How do they interact?  What are their different reactions to the things that just happened to them, and how might those reactions agree/clash with each other?  Does someone's reaction to stress drive someone else bonkers?  Does your main character bottle emotions up, or regurgitate them all over his/her friends?  What happens if someone throws a paperclip at someone else's head?  Or starts pondering the philosophical ramifications of cheese?  Ask questions.  Poke your characters.  Find out what it takes to make them poke back, and suddenly story will appear.

[ccstat]

First, I want to say that I have also been there. For the most part these issues are an emotional state for me. People can tell me "your work is great" or "it doesn't matter if it's terrible" but it takes me believing it to actually make a difference. So I hope our encouragement is helpful!

 

There has already been some good advice on the "is-it good-enough" concerns, and I can say from my experience that those issues don't go away, you just get better at dealing with them--my tolerance for lousy drafts goes up when I learn that I really can fix it later. (I probably could have benefited from the "Don't talk about writing" advice. That's one I wish I'd heard before.)

 

What I want to address is the point that stopped me from writing for a while: the "do-I-have-anything-worth-saying" concern. That can be at least as debilitating as worrying about the artistic quality. My experience: Though I enjoy writing stories, I am more of a poet than a novelist. There was a period when I thought that the message of a work (any medium) was what gave it real importance, and I started to despise my own poetry because it was usually just an exploration of images, or a juxtaposition of rhythms and sounds. Basically fluff. I stopped writing for a while because I didn't have anything I wanted to say with my poems. I have since become a firm believer in the value of art for art's sake, both for the creator and for the audience, and I think it is important, perhaps crucial, that "superfluous fluff" is made and experienced. Some of my favorite poems, looking back, are the ones that are fun just for the sake of being fun. Trying to relate an important emotion or idea can make for good poetry too, but in many ways that's harder.

 

In the Firefight tour Brandon's pre-signing talk was about the forms that creativity takes and that the value of writing for the writer. I recommend going back and watching one of those videos or reading the transcripts. I agree with him that the act of writing changes the writer by their engagement with the material. I know that writing a novel (I am tempted to count it as three since it has gone through such dramatic revisions to try to fix things that still don't work very well) has been a benefit to me in multiple ways. Perhaps most importantly, I take pride in the parts that turned out well--it's an emotional boost to have created something good, even if it's a small part of what I set out to do. The process also changed my approach to works I read, appreciating some things more than I did before, and being more critical of other things. I also had a co-author on that particular work, and I learned a lot about working with someone with creative differences, giving and receiving feedback, and feeling ownership of ideas.

 

A related aspect that you alluded to was "is my contribution worth adding." The answer should be yes, even if your audience is just yourself. But if you are excited to explore more space in something that has already been well covered, that is an indication that others likely will be too.

What you said about cleverly stealing something you thought nobody else had read reminds me exactly of several junior-high creative writing projects I did. But I am sure that the act of writing those, and my recognition of why the product was pretty terrible, inform a lot of my writing now (such as it is). And since I haven't made time to write at all recently, I'm not getting better. 

 

To sum up, regardless of quality or gravity or originality, writing is definitely worthwhile. I have more to say on that if you need more convincing, but this is already a long post, so I'll sign off with a "good luck!"

[Delightful]

Quiver, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. When people ask if I seriously write my answer is always "i write less than I want to". *

I found just earlier this week, I was randomly motivated to sit down and write a scene which ended up being a page. I then printed it, and suddenly felt like I'd accomplished something when I held the tangible paper in my hand. I'm hoping it'll help motivate me to keep going, it might be worth a try.

*speaking of, why the heck is that a common question? You never ask a pianist if they 'actually play' or an artist of they 'actually draw'. But I've had many conversations:

Person: so what do you enjoy doing?

Me: yeah, I love writing stories!

Person: so do you actually write/much?

.......

Edited May 3, 2015 by Delightful

[Ben]

Hi Quiver.

 

I've had that problem in the past, and I’m sure that I’ll experience it again someday in the future. I guess it’s one of those things that we’ll have to deal with over and over again. For me, the key to the problem is motivation. It’s like waking up in the morning on a holiday and you had to find the right motivation to get out of the bed instead of pulling the blanket over your head and get back to sleep.

 

I’ve finished my first book and self-publish it, but during the writing process there was a major obstacle I had to overcome. Near the end of chapter 3, I felt that everything was wrong so I stopped writing for almost 2 years. Getting back to the book after so long was not easy. At first I wanted to rewrite everything - which might just be a good thing to do - but then I decided against it. After revisiting the three chapters (and the prologue) a few times, I found some things that I really liked and I don’t want to lose them.

 

So instead of rewriting I decided to put a carrot on a stick in front of me. I detailed most plots and subplots on the later chapters, especially the ones I think were ‘a stroke of genius’. Well, they were not, but I really liked them. The ending was of course one of them, so it motivated me to go all the way to the end. It took me more than a year after I restarted, including the proofreading and editing. The problems in chapters 1-3 were finally dealt with during this step.

 

Between chapters 4-18 there were relapses of the problem. There were days when I stared blankly at the monitor although I knew what had to be written. During the first few times I just left the computer to do something else, but then I realized that I was wasting precious time. If I can’t continue the novel that day, at least I must practice things related to writing. So every time these ‘blocks’ show up, either I write plots for a new novel or I write short stories not directly related to the book.

 

The book itself is a mammoth consisting of 215,000 words, too large for a newbie with limited ability to find a decent publisher. So I decided to choose self-publishing without even trying to find one. Having the book published and holding a copy of it in my hand now served as my new motivation, I wanted to have the second volume in the series next to it in my bookshelf.

 

So, Quiver, what motivated you the most? With the right motivation, you can overlook all those problems and kept on writing. Don’t worry that it might be a goofy light-hearted adventure. Get started, continue, finish and then fix them. Newbies like us were meant to have those flaws, don’t let it stop you. I might turn into a decent writer after my 5^th, 10^th or 50^th book. I don’t mind, I know my limitations and I also know this was not going to be an easy ride. If you really wanted to be a writer, during the long process you are actually living your dream, there’s nothing better than that.