Hi guys, I know I don't come in here much...and it's due to my turning into the world's biggest procrastinator when it comes to writing. There's a ton of stories and plot points and characters in my head, but whenever I sit down to write or type anything out these days, I stare at the screen then let out a big *sigh* and go do something else.
But a few years ago, I...couldn't help myself and would just do it. I don't know what's changed since then and now to make it so impossible for me to get anything out
Part of it is I think that when I write something that I don't like, I just sort of *facepalm* and tell myself how crap it is. Then agonise over making it better instead of continuing on. Which isn't healthy
How do you guys get beyond this? Does anyone else experience it? I've tried just letting it all flow and worrying about whether it meets my standards or not afterwards, but I can't help myself; if I think it's crap, I have to go back and 'fix' it. Then I get into an editing loop.
Any ideas appreciated
...shucks
It's time for your treatment, seeeeriously. Join the Dollhouse: Cardiff movement...
Yeah, I get that too. Atm, I have a daily word quota which I have to fill. It doesn't matter what I write, I just have to put down 200 words of creative writing every day. This way, if I want to procrastinate, I have to come up with something else to write about, which is classified as effort, which is something I try to avoid. So that makes me write what I wanted to in the first place. The really good thing about this is that I once I start, I tend to end up with 1000 words a day by the end.
And then, sometimes you just have to force it out. Remember the bit about running in The Gathering? How once you've pushed through the pain barrier, it becomes a lot easier. I think that applies to a certain extent with writing too. Once you've started ignoring the voice in your head, it gets easier to ignore. *used to not have a negative voice in her head**grumbles about year seven English teachers and the word plan* To the end of worrying about whether it meets your standards later, have you tried write or die?
Location: "Here at the fountain's sliding foot, Or at some fruit tree's grassy root." Posts: 3419
I've been doing the same, Sian. Once I sit down and just start typing, my goal of a few hundred words rapidly turns into 1000. I think the key to ignoring that annoying little voice in your head is to tell it 'shut up, we can edit when we're done' ... at least, that's what works for me (though it still makes me go back to fix grammar mistakes )
But it could be that your problem, Min, is that you have too many ideas and when you sit down to write, you can't get them to sort themselves out long enough for them to be translated into words. If this is the case, try writing down the basic ideas. Just point form: character names, general plot ideas, specific character arcs, whatever it is that's running around in your head. Then you can pair up characters with plots (if you haven't already done that) and then you can start to write. This excersise helped me get a few things sorted, and I wish I'd done it for my most recent project 'cause I've had to rewrite it for plot-issues three times now and don't even want to look at it anymore .
But then again, that might not be your problem at all; that's just the impression I got from the first paragraph of your post
I tend to, once I have written something, not go back and look at it at all, or not until a long time later, unless I need a phrase or part of a plot for the rest of my story. Otherwise, I would do the same thing, and not get anything written, which would extremely annoy me. I have just tought myself not to look back, and it generally works. Hope that helps.
Guild: Wanderers Location: Ariel's kitchen lair -- stealing his cookies weaponmachines Posts: 3474
DON'T EDIT! DON'T EVEN READ OVER IT!
For about two years I had written roughly 50,000words of my novel because I would keep going back to change and edit and correct and then I would end up frustrated and grumpy with it, then not touch it for months on end. SO, enough was enough. I told myself no more editing and no more reading and I just wrote and wrote and now I have totally burned myself out writing wise but I almost got it all writen. Sure once I finally actually get into the editing stage I will probably want to burn it all but at least there is something bigger to work from.
Set goals, just like the others have said. Weekly, monthly, daily, whatever.
As soon as I can work out how, I will upload an excel document that a friend sent me during NaNo. It's just a sort of form I guess that allows you to set a goal of how many words you want to write in a month or whatever time-line you set it for. It works out the amount you need to write everday and if you skip a day or go ahead or get behind it will adjust for how much you need to do. I found it really helpful to get me motivated since I had it all there to tell me what I had to do and once I got into a routine it was easy to write 2,000words a day.
Also plan out what you want to write, like Ama suggested, dot point stuff. If you do know what you want to write then still do it because it's a lot easier to stop and give up when there is nothing there to tell you what you should be writing next.
If all else fails I have a program I can send the link for that will actually start deleating your words if you sit there and look at it for too long
HAve you tried going back over some of your older writing to see where you were back then and where you are now. There might be something you could continue with to get you started.
The other thing that I do is to get someone to set me a topic, something like the 15 min fic, but more concrete. Instead of a prompt word I like to start with a set idea; a boy riding a bike, an oragange cat stuck up a tree, that sort of thing.
Mind you I don't do a whole lot of writing myself these days but I have been trying to do little bits lately.
I have times of inspiration then nothing. In those times I will take little scenes that come into my head and just write it. It may not fit in anywhere, I just has a feeling that I have to get out. Often I find that when I have written out that little scene, paragraph, or whatever it was that wrote that it fits in somewhere.
Sometimes I write out my dreams in stroy form, or my feelings from the day I turn into a short story.
And I hand write most of my work then type it up. I have found that it has a better quality to it in other peoples work when they start it out with a hand written draft.
Guild: Mystics Location: here, at least i think here.or maybe i'm over there....or maybe it's the fridge i'm at, not the computer..... why doesn't anyone tell me anything!!! i'm sure it the fridge that has the keyboard....maybe.... or maybe it is the free Posts: 431
i just write, i often go over things, especially if they dont make sense in my mind but you have to know when to stop editing.
sometimes it helps just to keep writting, forget about how bad it may be *Grumbles about not being allowed to use the word bad*stupid PLP stupid happiness from teacher* and then you get anout 12 pages and get writers block
just write all your ideas down, no matter if they dont fit with anything else. write up note pages for books if that helps.
Sionainn wrote ... For about two years I had written roughly 50,000words of my novel because I would keep going back to change and edit and correct and then I would end up frustrated and grumpy with it, then not touch it for months on end.
Yeah, that's me too
I think I will start with what you've mentioned there, Deb. Going back over my v.much older writing...and see if it kicks things into gear again. Though, that has the danger of pulling me back into the editing loop at first it's like 'oh, I'll just change that one word there' and before I know it, I'm re-writing entire passages and culling like nobody's business...
The only problem I have with this write-write-write method is - and again, it's personal here - if I don't somewhat edit as I go through - it effects the story. I've found that during some editing bouts, a new idea has hit me that was eluding me before, that's determined something that happens later on that I didn't even realise had to happen...etc. Anything - from the reason I'm actually writing it, to something as simple as realising to a better extent the motivations behind a character's existence. Which changes what and how I write for the next bits so I guess my justification for editing - to myself - is that I'm not wasting time by continuing a thread that won't exist once I figure it out.
I guess what I'm asking is - no editing whatsoever as you go? Or edit once? And do you leave it for a while, then go back over it, or write it, edit it straight away (which counts as still the same session) and then move on?
...shucks
It's time for your treatment, seeeeriously. Join the Dollhouse: Cardiff movement...
Guild: Wanderers Location: Ariel's kitchen lair -- stealing his cookies weaponmachines Posts: 3474
I've found that during some editing bouts, a new idea has hit me that was eluding me before, that's determined something that happens later on that I didn't even realise had to happen
I think this is what stopped me from the write write write method for so long . . . but nothing else for me worked (and really I'm not ven sure if the write write write method has really gotten me anywhere but a exceedingly long novel) I always tended to run through scenes and the like a million times in my head before I actually sat down and wrote anything so maybe I was still internally editing because I would still get the sudden revelation of things that needed to be added or changed.
Then again I guess thast methods depends alot on how much you actually know about where the story is heading. I plan in great detail and for a very long time before I even think about writing so I already knew practically everything that needed to be done and said.
Anyway the past few month I strictly told myself no editing but before that I would write however much I felt like, read over it, fix what needed to be and then leave it for a while before I'd go over it again, so everything would be fresher.
Location: "Here at the fountain's sliding foot, Or at some fruit tree's grassy root." Posts: 3419
I go back and edit only if I get stuck. Usually, it turns out that I'm stuck because something happened/didn't happen that shouldn't have/needed to happen, and I'll go back to edit and be able to locate that something and delete it/add it in/re-write the necessary passages. But so long as I can keep typing, I won't go back to edit.
Would it be possible to take a note of the changes you want to make and continue on without actually making the edit? So that write what follows as if you've already made the change, but actually go back and change it when you go back to edit the rest. I'm just thinking that if you keep stopping and working these things as you go, the changes will end up overlapping each other (as in, you'll have an idea and go back to change something you've already redone once or twice), but if you take a note of them in dot point form as you go, you'll have them all together when you put them in, which means that you can fit them all together the second time and cut down on your workload. Maybe make an edit quota? As in, you need to put down a certain number of words, or a scene or something before you can go back and edit?
I tend to write until I'm all written out then go back and do a general check for spelling, grammer and glaryingly obvious stuff ups, then either put it aside or go on writing. I rarely do a complete edit until I'm done with a story or a plot line. If I do go back and edit I always use 'save as' so I have my original to go back to if needed.
I think its good to keep on top of typo's, grammer and formatting but not so good to continually make changes to a storyline before the story is done.
Location: "Here at the fountain's sliding foot, Or at some fruit tree's grassy root." Posts: 3419
I use the 'save as' function, too.
As for making notes of what needs to be edited, I can only do that if I already know what it is that needs to be changed. If not, I'll go back and edit for typoes and better sentences until I know what it is that needs to be changed. If it's a little thing, I'll just put it in and continue writing. If it's a big thing, I'll put a bunch of line breaks where the changes need to start and change the colour of the text that needs to be edited, then continue writing from where I left off as though the edited section has been edited. Then I can work on the editing part when I need a break from the actual writing.
If THAT was coherent, lol
I find it also helps if I have some reason to stay seated at my computer. Lately, I'll brew a large pot of tea and set it on a tea-light warming stand (or whatever they're called). Then a.)I can't leave the candle unattended for more time than it takes to go to the washroom, b.) I'll want to stay and drink the tea before it gets cold or bitter, and c.) I can drink tea while I ponder my next few paragraphs. Maybe it's silly or weird, but it works for me.
Location: "Here at the fountain's sliding foot, Or at some fruit tree's grassy root." Posts: 3419
: is too busy writing to notice*
I was just watching The Writing Life; it's a show that interview Canadian writers about their habbits and advice to other aspiring writers. This week it was an interview with Stevie Cameron, a Canadian Investigative Journalist who has several published books. I wrote down a few quotes people might find useful and thought I'd share.
"You know what you do: you write the story. You write everything you can." She went on about this for a while, but the exact quote is more relevant to journalism than to fiction. Her point, though, is that it's not our job to censure ourselves, especially in the first draft, no matter how hard it is.
"I believe that wonderful writing is much more than being born a writer/learning how to be a good writier. It's the ability to research, to structure, to edit, to rewrite, to discard. And it's narrative, and it's pacing, and it's tone. And you can learn that, and you can fake it: if you can do all that, you can pretend you're a writer. If you can master and surpass that, you will be a writer."
And, perhaps most helpful of all:
"The biggest secret, I think, of being a successful writer, asside from understanding that the reader is more important than you are, is doing some writing. You gotta sit there. And the biggest secret to doing some writing is AOC --- [[censored]]* on chair."
*I edited that one a touch, 'cause I don't think the word she used is acceptable for a PG rating.
Guild: Mystics Location: wherever my ipod is... Posts: 589
I'm one of those people that has these terrific ideas, plans them all out, then goes back to it a while later with a voice in my head saying, 'You know, this isn't that great.' I literally have to push that aside and DO NOT EDIT anything I have until I'm one hundred percent sure it's finished. Then I'll print it and have a billion red corrections on the paper. Sigh...
Currently, I'm working on a novel and have absolutely no idea how to begin, or even just plainly write it. I plan everything a million times, but find that it helps. I keep these little books of just notes and notes and notes; at 11 at night I jump up, turn on the light and scribble in something brilliant that just popped into my head.
My main advice is to pursue your idea to the end, ignore it for a while, then go back to it and see how it sounds. Make sure to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN: even the littlest things can just jump out at you suddenly, and it's good to have it written down somewhere. Don't worry if it doesn't sound that great - get others to read it and give feedback, and maybe you'll find that something pretty ordinary to you might be brilliance to someone else.
Oooh! Min! I have a new friend at uni and she's writing a novel and to stop herself from editing, she has this note book thing and she is litterally writing it from page one to the end. All editing happens when she types it up. Admitedly, it's a memoir, so somewhat easier. But if you're trying to boost your out put, that could be very much the way to go.
Guild: Mystics Location: Seguing in the Void....for choca Posts: 4373
I havent had a chance to stop and read over a few posts in here (so this may have been covered) but recently I have found that, though it's not really productive, sometimes I have to be content with not writing. Forcing myself to sit and write has made me more frustrated than the not writing at all bit has. So I've decided to not force it and see how I go.
Another thing I find is having a 'soundtrack' playing at certain times helps me write also. For ages I was playing "Burn it to the ground" by Nickelback because it was the theme song for one of my characters and her opening scene. Quite often I just listen to music and imagine scenes in my head that fit the music, and if it works with one of my stories... well you get my drift But that doesn't work for some people, particularly if you like silence when you write.
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: is too busy writing to notice*
