Why Cant I ...?

[Julian Alexander]

Why can i not write out a full story.

 

If you were to look at my documents you would find many prolouges to stories that i want to write about but each time i start to write them out i get bored with them and leave them on a hiatus.

 

I have so many concepts for stories but i can not seem to express them. And when i do write them out i cant seem to piece together certain points or sences to the next one.

 

If you were (if you have access) to look in Private Writing Workshop you would find a story that i want to write about but i cant seem to start it a certain way.

 

This writing stuff is harder than i thought

 

Thanx for Listening

Julian Alexander

[DomLuka]

Sounds like the evil writer's block bug! :wacko: I always work on other stuff when that happens to me, or if I can't piece together a story the way I want it I'll move onto the next chapter and then go back. It seems like the hardest part of writing a story is that first chapter, so many a times I write the second chapter first. At least, that's what works for me. Good luck to you!

Smiles, Dom

[Bill W]

JA, coming up with story starters are generally easier than fleshing out a whole story. Once I come up with a basic idea, I try to flesh it out in outline form, to see if there is enough for a short story or a full story. Then, even though I've outlined it a certain way, I often find my characters are telling me I have to do something else, because they would not have acted/reacted in the manor I had first chosen for them.

 

Writing is far more difficult than most people think, especially if you are concerned with doing something worth reading. I know I write a chapter and proofread it at least three times before sending it off to my editor for a final check and I like to write the entire story before I start posting it, because I'll go back and read it from start to finish first, to make sure of the flow and that there are no inconsistencies, which I've sometimes caught - such as time line problems, doing things out of sequence or even assigning something to a character and discover later that it would have been better to use one of the other characters for that role.

 

The best advice I can give is to keep trying and talk to another author when you run into a wall. With my first editor, we used to have some group discussions with various authors he worked with and they would often give me ideas or suggestions as how I might handle a problem I was having. Yes, indeed, two heads are better than one... and it doesn't have to be a large head and a little head. :-P

[ACFan]

I agre - just give it time and it will all work out. To give you an idea, my story "Memories" has been going since October of 2002; Ive managed a whole 38 chapters in that time! If you try to rush yourself, you will end up with a sub-par product, let it come to you and it'll be awesome. There have been plenty of times I've went back and re-read what I've done already before I write the next chapter - it helps with keeping everyone in character and sometimes gives me extra ideas.

[Julian Alexander]

Thanx you guys.

 

This is all good advice, I'll see what i can do with my stories.

 

Thanx Again

Julian Alexander

[dkstories]

Writing is never easy, despite what people might think. Working things through on a story can be extremely difficult. Look at me, I still haven't finished a few of my stories...

 

Oh, and I find I'm influenced a lot by what I watch, read, or listen to while writing. For instance, I've noticed the last chapter of Do Over Redux that I'm working on has been influenced by my watching Frequency and What Dreams May Come on Sci-fi channel.

 

 

[Y0_Jessii]

Why can i not write out a full story.

 

If you were to look at my documents you would find many prolouges to stories that i want to write about but each time i start to write them out i get bored with them and leave them on a hiatus.

 

I have so many concepts for stories but i can not seem to express them. And when i do write them out i cant seem to piece together certain points or sences to the next one.

 

If you were (if you have access) to look in Private Writing Workshop you would find a story that i want to write about but i cant seem to start it a certain way.

 

This writing stuff is harder than i thought

 

Thanx for Listening

Julian Alexander

 

Yeah I also have this same exact problem,

 

I've got HUNDREDS [not really] and theyre all unfinished, theyre great ideas but then i either get bored with them or i think of a new idea and put that on hold, then the chain continues.

 

It feels like i have a short attention span when it comes to writing stories, I think I completed ONE short story, and that was because it was an assignment

 

I hate not being able to finish story and it's like I can't help it. I watch T.V. hear a song and a new Idea springs up and i start writing that story and then iforget about the last one. IT SUCKS!

 

any help?

[Krista]

Hey,

 

 

Sometimes, the story idea you had isn't supported by what is going to continue it. Maybe you don't have the research or your ideas completely in order. Then you get discouraged and you never go back to it. I think working on two or three of your favorites, outlining them. Even forcing a first or second chapter out of your system could give you the confidence to go back and work on those chapters.

 

Also, focusing on characters or the "world" your characters are in takes away from the struggles of the idea you may have. That could also help you with your plot problems. Characters also drive a story for me, if I don't like the characters or they're not enough to keep me going then I don't until they do. Just taking yourself away from the story idea could also help.

 

 

Krista

[rknapp]

I know the feeling... I'd made the promise to churn out a first chapter to the prologue of a story that I wrote for three of the past four anthologies at some point this summer... I've started to do just that, but I have the problem of not knowing exactly how to start the thing. There are three ways that I can think of to start it, including a sub story... but I'm not sure if I want to reveal that one too soon. I know exactly how the chapter is going to end, but I've got three rough beginnings and I don't know what to do with them haha.

 

Aww hell, now that I've sat here for a few minutes typing this out I have a fourth idea on starting this, but it requires one of the others first to get the main character to that depressive point... but it connects one HUGE idea of the beginning of the story to one that drives the rest of it... *rubs his chin in thought*

 

I'm going to reiterate what Krista said in another way:

Sometimes, the story idea you had isn't supported by what is going to continue it. Maybe you don't have the research or your ideas completely in order. Then you get discouraged and you never go back to it. I think working on two or three of your favorites, outlining them. Even forcing a first or second chapter out of your system could give you the confidence to go back and work on those chapters.

This can be equated with modifying something, maintaining something, or just doing something that needs to be done (cut the grass, clean the patio, change your oil, install a home theatre, etc.). Basically, if you don't have all of the tools, materials, and parts to complete the job, then you simply don't finish it and put it off. I have wires hanging in my car from various modifications because I don't have the necessary materials to properly button everything up, and so I have been putting even that off all summer. *sigh* I'm such a lazy ass lmao.

[BeaStKid]

Sometimes it is the lack of time, other times it is the lack of ideas...or it is the lack of will...

 

Whatever it may be, Writer's block is something which all writers have to deal with. I'm currently suffering from it with such severity, that I deleted the shortcut to my story's folder from my desktop...lol

 

My remedy to overcome the block is to wait it out and in the meanwhile keep thinking as to how you'd like the plot to move and jotting it down side by side...later you can compile it.

 

It helps me a lot, hope it does the same for you...

 

The BeaStKid

[colinian]

I love starts! I have a collection of them, and I carry a mini digital voice recorder with me when I go on hikes so if I think of a story idea I can record it, then enter it into a doc file when I get home. Every so often I go back and review them, and sometimes I get enthused enough to add something to one of them. I've turned two of those ideas into stories that I've posted.

 

I'm writing an unplanned story now that started with one sentence that came into my head while we were walking one day two weeks ago, I saved it on my PC, got back into it, and now it's over 10,000 words. I thought I'd ended it and was about to send it to my editor, but I was walking in town on Saturday and got an idea to extend the story and I've started writing on it again.

 

Colin