Write, Write, Write!

[Raijen]

So this is the second day of me writing ten pages in one day. When I started writing again, I would usually average about three a day, but somehow the steam has built up and now I'm finding myself writing, writing, and writing some more!

 

In the spirit of this new-found enthusiasm, what do you guys do to keep yourself psyched about writing? I personally am using a reward system (write ten pages and you get a treat!), and so far it seems to be working (still early, I know).

 

So what about you guys?

[K.C.]

A treat? Really?

 

I carry a little notebook with me and write down all my random thoughts and story lines. I also have one beside my bed so I can write down everything that happens in my dreams. As far as getting it on the computer screen? I try to have a well planned out story line with good characters and plot before I type a single key. That helps it flow better when I already know what I want to say.

 

Good job at getting to a great start!

[Frostina]

In the spirit of this new-found enthusiasm, what do you guys do to keep yourself psyched about writing? I

 

I keep poking the hell outta my muse?

 

 

He's gonna kill me!!

[Cia]

I'm extremely deadline oriented I tend to write best with a goal. I like to post once a week so I usually write to accomodate that. I don't push it though. If I don't feel like writing I don't. Usually when I do I will go on a writing jag and just kick out the pages. I feel like if I make it a 'job' then what's the point of having writing as a hobby?

[sucre]

Hmm... all I can really say is that I just force myself to do it. o.o; I find that whenever I stop focusing on making my writing pretty, especially for the first draft, the words tend to flow a lot easier and I come up with more ideas.

[Zolia Lily]

Oh, i'd totally agree with Sucre!

But at the same time, i'm not really good at making myself write at all. I write when i'm inspired, or when i feel the urge. If i don't, sometimes i can get there but othertimes i just stare at my screen and end up reading online instead.

I know i need discipline, but getting it seems to be the problem for me.....

The best piece of advice i've ever received though, was to not let a day go by without having written something. Even if it's only a sentence. I find i lose the flow of it, and find it really hard to get back into once i've stopped.

but that's all i've got.

[Marzipan]

I work around the stories or poems all the time, so when the time is sceduled to write I usually already burts with enthusiasm. Lately I have been tiny bit blocked with my story's epilogue, then again I seem to be creating a poem after poem. And I find that process deeply satisfying though I know nothing of poetry.

 

 

 

 

[comicfan]

I find writing anything helps. Sometimes I find myself with new ideas that don't fit into the present story I am writing so I take notes. Sometimes I write poems. I find as long as my muse is happy and letting the ideas come I write. Sometimes it is just taking the time, letting something nice play as background music, I write until the pen runs dry and then I type it all up. As long as you write and are having fun doing it then I say keep going.

[Frostina]

Have fun! :D ain't that the best way of getting anything done :D YAY! i'm planning on it!

It's really interesting to see how most people think in the same situations

[Nephylim]

Weeelll. I usually have the opposite problem. It's been good having my daughters stay because they remind me to stop writing to eat Not really but its' almost that bad.

 

Sometimes I get periods when I don't feel like writing, usually when I'm not well but I have never had a real problem with it.

 

From my point of view deadlines absolutely don't work. I have to write with passion or not at all, which means that if I HAVE to write I CAN'T write. During those times... for example when I was posting stories as I went alone rather than finishe them first and then post, if I find myself completely blocked I sit down with a blank piece of paper and just write. Names, snippets of descriptions, feelings, events... all in little blobs and boxed so that the page looks completely chaotic... like my mind They don;t have to be about the story you're writing, just anything and the faster the better.

 

When that's done I usually find the words flowing again and some ideas that can be used, rejected or stored for later.

[hh5]

Well I have been writing my story for over a year now ... and of course 8 months of that time was not writing ...

Life gets in the way ... but then life is needed when its not time to write ...

Its harder to say an easy story in the moment is a great story to write or a story that slowly makes itself know to you...

I say its harder to write a story - when there is no one to bounce ideas or to talk to someone about it.

 

The bigger worry is writing stuff ... that for one moment doesn't feel right and then it does ...

Perhaps that's the sign of either a tired mind or a screwed up one ...

or its just a sign that one is being dangerous to write a story...

 

If your experience for writing a story is pretty good then past the basics then I say you got half the battle done in half the time

 

Keep on going and take a break when its not time to write

[astroguy]

I'm having some issues with this lately. I have a beginning and I know how I want to end (final chapter or two). I'm having some issues getting from A to C, though (well, more like from G to X). This is a "short" story that I've been working on for 8 months, though there was a huge hiatus to finish my dissertation (and I just kinda forced that sucker out). But this short story comes on the heels of being half-way through Book 1 of a 2 or 3 book series that I started writing in 2007. That's been on a major pause for awhile because the bulk of it needs to be rewritten by changing a major secondary character (about whom this side-story is being written).

 

At some point, I think I'll just skip over steps H, I, J, ... U, V, W, and write steps X, Y, and Z. I've asked my boyfriend for advice, but he's busy starting a new job so hasn't been able to get to it. Actually, this is why I just joined this site -- I'm hoping to now have my 5 forum posts (not just filler, but content posts!) up so that I can submit the first few chapters of this short story and get feedback and possibly ideas.

[Marzipan]

A small break from the writing did good for me. Does it count a block when I wrote poems? Well, now I'm bursting with ideas and words

 

Happy writings to all!

[Zolia Lily]

I'm having some issues with this lately. I have a beginning and I know how I want to end (final chapter or two). I'm having some issues getting from A to C, though (well, more like from G to X). This is a "short" story that I've been working on for 8 months, though there was a huge hiatus to finish my dissertation (and I just kinda forced that sucker out). But this short story comes on the heels of being half-way through Book 1 of a 2 or 3 book series that I started writing in 2007. That's been on a major pause for awhile because the bulk of it needs to be rewritten by changing a major secondary character (about whom this side-story is being written).

 

At some point, I think I'll just skip over steps H, I, J, ... U, V, W, and write steps X, Y, and Z. I've asked my boyfriend for advice, but he's busy starting a new job so hasn't been able to get to it. Actually, this is why I just joined this site -- I'm hoping to now have my 5 forum posts (not just filler, but content posts!) up so that I can submit the first few chapters of this short story and get feedback and possibly ideas.

 

 

OOOh you sound SO like me!

This is how i write too- and man... it's tough!

Recently i've been trying to write dotpoints for antying i miss (H, I, J, K, for instance, while i then continue writing L, M, N) and then trying to go back and write the bits in between when things are flowing.

This sometimes helps and sometimes doesn't.

 

Also, sometimes i find a deadline reaaaally reaaaaally helps. I really seriously lack self-discipline- so if it's a deadline imposed by someone else (an editor, or for a competition) i can sometimes get it out! However... this can backfire.

 

I think part of it must just be discipline and practice and getting into good habits. I'm getting better at it, but it's still hard.

Sorry.

Wish there was an instant cure!!!

[Cyhort]

Usually music gets me started. Almost every idea I've ever had came to me from listening to a song or from the title of a song. For some reason though I can't listen to music when I write, it distracts me too much, I need white background noise like an air conditioner or TV static. Reading other people's stories that kinda have the same tone as the one I'm writing gets me in the mood to go back to a specific story and sometimes just getting a really good idea can have me planted in front of the computer for 5 hours. Oh and feedback, there is nothing more motivating that hearing that someone else likes something you wrote and is waiting for more.

[astroguy]

OOOh you sound SO like me!

This is how i write too- and man... it's tough!

Recently i've been trying to write dotpoints for antying i miss (H, I, J, K, for instance, while i then continue writing L, M, N) and then trying to go back and write the bits in between when things are flowing.

This sometimes helps and sometimes doesn't.

 

Also, sometimes i find a deadline reaaaally reaaaaally helps. I really seriously lack self-discipline- so if it's a deadline imposed by someone else (an editor, or for a competition) i can sometimes get it out! However... this can backfire.

 

I think part of it must just be discipline and practice and getting into good habits. I'm getting better at it, but it's still hard.

Sorry.

Wish there was an instant cure!!!

 

Yeah, sometimes it helps, sometimes not. At the moment, I'm trying to outline a few chapters ahead so I can connect to how I want to end and hopefully link it all together. We'll see.

 

Deadlines in this case won't work for me. I'm a research scientist by day and so this is way down on the priority list.

[astroguy]

[Duplicate post. Darn mouse double-clicking.]

[Phantom]

Beat your muse into submission, unless yours did what mine did, and run off with one of your characters and lead a life of prostitution and the like.

 

Heh. All kidding aside, sometimes it is best to take a step back from your story or even to reread it. I know when I get stuck on things I always go back and reread it and wham-o, I get some ideas as to what needs to happen or usually a plot line I missed that I put in as a just in case measure.

 

Another good idea might be to get with your beta reader or your editor and rehash some ideas that you have, or listen to what they say because they might have a general idea as to what to do or say.

 

If all else fails, buy a taser, taze your muse and all should work

 

 

Eric

[sef]

Goals and deadlines stress me out. I have to set time aside for myself to focus on writing, then gently coax myself into doing it. If I push to hard I'll inevitably get upset at my writing, or progress, and avoid writing for days. The biggest help to me is reading a lot. The more I read the more I feel inspired to write. Also the more I write the more I feel inspired to write.

[Former Member]

I write when I feel like writing, when I have inspiration, and when I have the time to write. If all these conditions are fulfilled, I can easily write down a couple of thousand words a day

Also, I like to plan what I'm going to write, especially when it's a story with multiple chapters. I write down what I want to be in that chapter, and I usually don't stop writing until everything I wanted to have in that chapter is in that chapter. I don't really like deadlines when it comes to writing, because it eats up my motivation, and I can't write when I'm not motivated

[kaybrandt]

isn't it just wonderful to be able to write ten pages in a row?

I just love when that happens although it often means I don't get into bed before 3-4 in the morning. And that is not the smartest when my two little girls get up at six... but then I can sleep a bit again once they're in kindergarten.

 

The way I get myself to put words down on paper, which is the question you ask, is that when I've completed what I had in mind to write, I go away from the computer, take a walk, lie down for a rest, maybe listen to some music, close my eyes and imagine what would happen next in the story, if it had been in real life? and then when the ideas are there for the next few pages, I sit down and write - if I can get to do it, which is not always easy having two little kids. So most of the time I write during nights, where is when I'm most in the mood for it.

 

When I write, I never have a finished plan. I have an idea for a start, then I just let the story takes me where it wants to go.

 

 

- Karina

[Goedric]

I dont think specified goals or treats would help me write. Unless of course i was just writing some copy for a magazine ad or an instruction manual for lawn mower. I need to be inspired. Like it was said earlier it needs to be a passion. I do have a couple tricks.

 

One is to think about something in my life that was emotionally powerful for me in the same line of the emotions i need for whatever i am writing about. Two is to dim the lights and light some candles. I dont know why that works but i think the muses like them. Third is music. Music is the quickest way to stir my soul (a glass of wine, doesnt hurt). If i find a song that helps my imagination catch fire I have been known to put it on infinate repeat for hours on end, - which my even my dogs find irritating.

 

Last evening i was reworking a chapter on a book im working on and the scene was all about the great void trembling beneath a whirlwind of ten thousand voices as the trinity of creation wove a new harmony into the fabric of reality... bla bla bla you get the picture. anyway i must have played "Can you feel it" by the jacksons a hundred times. It was just what i needed to stay in that emotional space long enough to get those emotions on the page. To be honest it also required a bottle of wine

Edited May 19, 2011 by Goedric

[colinian]

Getting going is sometimes a problem. What I do is set aside a couple of hours, usually on the weekend, and force myself to sit down in front of the keyboard and begin writing. That works for me.

 

A bigger problem is finding the time to write. School takes a big hunk of my time during the week, and my partner takes a hunk of my time every day, and there are other things to do like pay bills and read and watch TV (Glee) and do minor repairs around the house and... whatever. There always seems to be something that interferes with that couple of hours I set aside for writing. Closing the door to our computer room doesn't work because I share it with three other guys. Going outside with my laptop doesn't work because I can't type as fast on my laptop keyboard and I'm susceptible to interruptions. So I usually move my writing to the late night hours, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

 

Another problem is writer's block. Flash fiction is one way I use to break out of writer’s block. I sit down and write a story that has exactly 200 words or 500 words or something that makes me work at writing and revising to get the story down to the defined word count. What to write about? Anything. Going shopping for a new TV or sound system. Seeing a good looking kid somewhere and you wonder if he has problems with bullies at school. What to do when I split a candy bar with someone and before taking a bite I see a worm in my piece, and the other person is already eating their piece; do I tell them or not, and what are the ramifications of each of those two options. This gets me writing and I can usually get back to whatever story where I was stuck.

 

When nothing seems to work for any of the above, I take a day trip hike. The next day my problem is almost always gone.

 

Colin

[Bumblebee]

I'm just an in-touch with my soul poet... but I find that just writing about the mood I'm in, and then it just starts from there

[Raijen]

Wow, it seems like everyone has a unique way to approach writing. I guess that's to be expected with an artform though, eh?