When I do find the time, I usually manage to write about 5-7 pages before I'm forced to move onto a new activity.

The problem is once I stop writing, I can never bring myself to go back to the story and finish it.

My computer is full of stories with no endings, mainly because once I put them down, I can't bring myself to finish any of them.

I've been writing short stories for almost 6 years now, and in that time I've only managed to finish 2 of them.

Does anyone else have this problem, and if so, do you have any sugestions as to how to deal with this?
 

Sometimes an author gets hung up on a detail. Maybe it's something that needs to be researched; maybe it's laziness that prevents that research from being done. Do the research when necessary. Nasty work, I admit, but required.

Other times it's trying to force your story to be something it isn't. Simplify. Think in terms of setting goals for your characters. What do they really want? Maybe you have an overarching idea, but you don't have characters that are appropriate for the setting / idea you've thought up. In this case, make new characters.

Really, the reasons for not finishing are incredibly numerous.

Again, try writing your ending first. Or write your beginning, then write the ending, and later write everything in between.

But I suspect that it's not a simple time management issue; it almost never is. For me, not finishing things is either lack of motivation, or feeling overwhelmed, or not being sure what to do. When you've identified the root problem, the solution usually suggests itself.

So I made it a priority to practice. Everything--even homework--came second to practicing.

I don't think you should put writing second to schoolwork, but you might want to think about putting writing second to everything else . . . at least while you're working on a story.

Finding time to write won't get easier as you get older. I'm 31, with a job, and a wife, and three kids. And the only time I can write is between 5 and 7 in the morning. I'll tell you, I hate it when the alarm goes off at 4:45!

Discipline is the key to become a writer. Hell, discipline is the key to becoming anything in life.

I hope I don't give you the impression that it's easy or fun to discipline yourself. It's not, and I sympathize with you. But you're going to have to decide how important writing is to you, and make changes to your life accordingly.
 

The one I got the answer to needed a new perspective, in this case, what would Karl Jung expect to happen? Since it was a fairy tale, this worked.
 

It's a bit better now. I typically don't start anything unless I know how and intend to finish it.
 

If you aren't able to finish your stories now while you're in high school, then you're going to have an even harder time once you graduate and get into the real world. Trust me.

I can't remember which reference book had this little bit of advice, but it went something along the lines of "There's no better time to write than now. If not now, when? If you can't do it now, how will you get around to it later?"

That's actually a horrible quote, but it's pretty much what I took from it. I think it was in Stephen King's book On Writing, but I don't have it with me at the moment.
 

Personally, I have only made writing a priority in the past few months. I told myself it was in high school, but I had the same problems as you.

Lately, I have actually done what I always used to just talk about doing. Sometimes it is as simple as switching mental gears.

I agree that it could also be a lack of planning. Do these unfinished stories have endings in your head? Or were you hoping the ending would just appear magically as you wrote? Well, the latter isn't impossible and has actually happened a couple of times for me, but the majority of my stories were written when I had at least a nebulous idea of where I was going.

Also, read some books on writing. OSC's books are great. Also helpful is Beginnings, Middles and Ends by Nancy Kress. There are a lot of good ones out there.

If you feel truly that you want to be a writer, treat it like a job. Train yourself. Write something every day. Read something every day. Read about writing every day. Critique other people's writing every day. You get the picture.
 

I also ask myself, "What does my protagonist want?" Then I try to keep her from getting it. In some ways, I think that writing stories isn't so much about playing God, I think it's about playing Devil.
 

I think alot of my problem is that I have the full story in my head, but I don't have the patience to spend the time trying to express the full story on paper.
It's not that I don't know what to say, but that I can't write everything down fast enough to say it how I want.
 

What I mean is... when I used to write I thought things I thought would be cool to write- but I'd lose interest because in reality I had no connection with my story.

Years and I mean years later when I really discovered who I was and what I cared about the stories fell into place and about 80 percent of my stories are finished now within two months of starting them. The point was I had to find topics that I really wanted to talk about and think about for long periods of time. When I found a story that stuck with me it would be written.

For me I have literally thousands of ideas a day for stories. But the majority of these ideas are just that fleeting ideas. Only one or two are worth my time.

And when you find a story that is worth your time it will consume your mind and your time until it's on paper.

So don't worry you will find something one day that will compell you to finish. Until then work on your grammar, style, etc and just enjoy yourself.

JB Skaggs

One last thing- you might try telling your stories to your friends. I found when I told my stories it generated a desire to write the stories.

[This message has been edited by JBSkaggs (edited May 23, 2005).]
 

You don't have a problem.

If you're still in high school, I'll assume you're right on 18 (since this board is for people 18 and over).

I started writing regularly when I was 11. Between then and the end of high school (Coming up on my ten-year reunion now) I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.

But I never finished a thing.

So what? You're not desperately trying to launch a writing career this year, are you? If you plan to go to college and get a job, even something that you will get until you can make it as a writer, then you'll be busy with that for a while.

Most humans live until their seventies nowadays. You've got so much time to grow up and learn patience (no offense, but I suspenct that's a lot of it) that it's not even funny.

So enjoy being young. Enjoy your friends. Make the most of school. Write for the fun of it.

I bet you're a dreamer. You like coming up with ideas? That was always my favorite part. Then I'd write a bit but get bored with the actual implementation. I had to learn to find joy in that, mostly by getting good.

If you're serious about it. If you love it enough. You'll find a time in your life to sit down and finish something because your life won't be complete without it. For now, what's your rush?
 

As much as you don't like to hear this--I didn't when I was in high school--the fact is this: you're young and most likely lack the mental and emotional maturity to tell real stories. You're probably somewhere between Stage 1 and Stage 2. So I agree with Christine: study, enjoy life, read as much as you can.

If you're serious about becoming a writer, there is one thing you could do: you could start keeping a writing journal, writing down whatever comes to you, not worrying about finishing anything, but just jotting down bits of dialogue, events, descriptions, your feelings and dreams. And by the time you get out of college you'll have an incredible body of material from which to create real and mature stories.

[This message has been edited by Jerome (edited May 23, 2005).]
 

When I'm working on something and don't want to stop but have to, I take a minute and jot (well, type) a few notes for what's coming up. It might even be a loose outline for the rest of the story.

This helps IMMENSELY in picking back up where I left off.

 

Maybe go for a word count, (250 words or something) and you will probably find that you will get more done in the long run.

[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited May 23, 2005).]
 

Read her posts, Stephen. Trust me, Christine is very sensible. Listen to her.
 

Writing a story is born out of a different need. There are characters happening inside of me and I can't not write them. I think about them during the day, I can't wait until I get some free time to write for them. I'm driven. This essence of a person takes on its own life and calls to me to bring him or her into form.

Both styles of writing are equally valid. But I can assure you, I would never have gotten to the point of writing from a character-driven standpoint if I hadn't done a lot of the other.

The writing you are doing now is important, Stephen. You are teaching yourself the skills you will need when that special character comes along and sweeps you up into the maelstrom of his or her life and you have to write like a madman just to find out what's going to happen next.
 

It's all personal isn't it. I recall when I was 18 and I did exactly the same thing. I would read, watch or see something that would inspire me and off I would go to write 5000 words and then abandon it.

I still have all my earlier work and reading it now is great fun as I have forgotten everything and it's like reading someone else's stuff.

For me finishing now is all down to planning. Read a book on writing by Lisa Tuttle and you'll see that her approach is to begin writing and see where you end up. For me that's not only suicide but absolute madness. Jack M Bickham in his excellent book The 38 Most Common Writing Mistakes (and how to avoid them) follows the planning method (as does OSC as I understand it). It's a question of what works for you. You have to find it and run with it.

I suspect Christine has hit the nail on the head in her posts.

I say - don't stress it. Enjoy life to the full, that way you'll have so much more to write about when you do find the time and the inclination to complete something. Until then carry on getting your ideas down in as much detail as you can. Who knows you may use them later in life.

Good luck.