I get a story idea. I world-build, sketch, outline, write character bios. The excitement level is high. Then I start writing. After a while I get bored. Disillusioned. Dissatisfied. What I had in my head doesn't seem to be translating the way I want it on paper. So, I start a new story. Excitement levels are high again...but then I fall victim to the vicious cycle, rinse, and repeat.
So, I guess my question is, does anyone have advice on how to stay committed to one's story?
Now, I'm working on shorter fiction and will probably try to stick with it and get some publications under my belt (something I hadn't sought in the past). How many stories have you completed and in what lengths? Could you write a novelette or novella to ease your way up to the grander scale?
Bottom line is you need to finish what you start and if you are getting bored, there is a good chance the reader will as well.
If it's not a character issue, maybe your plot is too simple. Ask yourself if there are more layers you can add. Who trusts whom and what complications does mistrust create? How are the characters individual goals interacting and conflicting with each other? Is there a way to make it weave the plotlines together more?
The following is something I learned in OSC's Boot Camp.
Very often, the first idea that comes to you is sitting at the front of your cliche shelf. To help avoid this and to make your story more interesting, start asking yourself: What else? What else could happen in this situation? What else could go wrong? What else could this person do?
I also like the companion question, What if? What if this character turned evil? What if the bad guy turned out to be good? What if the bridge the hero is standing on suddenly blew up? Not all of the ideas stick, but it gets your brain working and ensures that you're pushing the story beyond its most basic premise. And in all of this, if you know your characters well enough, you will know how they would respond to the new situation.
Just my thoughts. Hope they help.
Still, the things get done...somehow.
(Oh. I'm talking "rough draft" here. Once a thing is finished, I can spend any amount of time rewriting it, though often I'd rather be writing something new...if I could think of something new to write.)
*****
As for advice, well...probably the best way to avoid losing interest is to reach a point in your writing where you're rarin' to go and the words are just flowing out onto the computer screen---then stop for the day. If you want to write and break off, then it's that much easier to pick it up when you start again.
I get the same thing when I write shorts. The first draft is cr*p--revising it doesn't make it better when it is only half-finished. Stories only come alive when they are complete entities. it is only when you can see the whole thing that you can make valuable edits and begin polishing the story to a fine shine.
Otherwise it is like building a wall and wondering why it isn't pleasant to live in. Yes you have a lot more work to do, but saying that building the other walls and roof (windows, etc.) is a waste of time because the wall doesn't work well yet is a poor decision.
I have got in the same habit of never finishing stuff--you have to break out or you will remain trapped.
Keep on writing it. Stop at the end. Revise. Edit. Polish. Submit.
Let me know how you fix it - Good luck!
quote:
I think I have to do some soul searching
Do let us know if your MC finds a soul
[vision of what amounts to a dog pound for confining souls found running at large, until they can be reclaimed by their owners]
Instead of doing all the prepatory work of world building, character bios and such, Just try writing the story that is in your head. It may be worse than crap, but it will get your concept out while you are excited.
It will show you what your character has to do and what he needs to know. Let the ideas flow, if there is something he did not know when you started but he did need to know it back then, or something he did or could do when he started that he should not do, leave yourself a note and then just go with that change where you are as you write.
When you reach THE END, then you do all the prepatory work you usually do, before you start your rewrite. It may be best to rewrite it completely, using the first story as a guide. I learned recently that it is not as hard as it sounds, and it actually helps greatly.
In most notes I generally suggest writing it as a short story that tells what the storyt is about, but in this case, if it is a novel, write it straight out as a novel or as long as the idea has to be. Follow the excitement.
It might help if One might even skip sections of the story, jump around to the most exciting scenes first, then flll in.
One may have to stop and world-build part way through the story to solve some problems, but there is no problem with that. You have started the story already and know more about the characters and world.
My experience is that rough drafts are rarely worth the paper they are written on and tend to have to be done differently due to what you learned along the way. You might as well get the rough draft out of the way as quick as possible. Doing it while you are excited helps.
As I said before, this is suggested only because you have a problem.
So I'm as grateful as the OP for suggestions on how to combat this issue.
I'll add that something that has been helpful to me in the past is go through and outline the bare minimum of scenes you need to finish this story in very broad terms. Sometimes the process of doing this kicks me back into the more exciting, creative mindset and gets me itching to write again. I've even abandoned an outline halfway to write a scene that caught my interest.
But I have gotten better with practice.) I do this so that I don’t lose a great idea just because I don’t have the time to write it just then. I try to only focus on writing one thing at a time. I always fail. I’m usually working on at least two, but it’s still a worthy goal. Anyway, I feel that story ideas are like gems; when you find one you like, keep it. As to excitement, I do get really excited about the idea when it is fresh and usually that is still there in my notes when I pick it up again. I find that I don’t usually do my better writing when I am all amped up though, even though the brainstorming is great. Personally my mood when I write is very close to what it is when I read: calm, focused, and eager to find out what happens next.
Just my thoughts on the subject, hope it helps.
Woody Allen said once, that when he gets a concept, it is absolutely brilliant. He writes it out, and it loses something. He then makes the screen play and it loses more. he finally films it and it lost so much that it really needs to be re-done, but then he spent too much money to do it over.
My issue has always been that I get discouraged by the fear of rejection. I have a novel that I started some time ago. I have finished the first draft, finished a sequel, and got part way through a third before I realized I needed to finalize the first. The problem is I love my world and story so much that the idea of finalizing the first novel and attempting to publish it scares me. What if no one else loves it as much as me?
I find myself thinking. If I read one more "How to" book on writing. Or write a few more short stories, then maybe I will learn more skills to make this novel publisher worthy. Meanwhile the virtual dust is piled up on the word file.
That is one of the main reasons I joined this workshop. It has really kick started my drive to write because of all the help everyone provides here. From reviewing hooks to discussing the different aspects of story telling.
My point, in a long winded way, is that discouragement comes in many forms. It is normal, though not always easy to overcome.
I've noticed in my own writing getting stuck on a specific sentence, both good sentences and really, really bad sentences, and then fail at editing and finishing the story. Oh I can fix most of the bad sentence just fine. I'm okay at grammar, but in order to get a story finished, sometimes I would have to lose one of my holy and beloved sentences.
I am working remembering that words are just a combination of letters, and the story is what's important.
~Sheena
quote:
Do we *ever* get to a place where that doesn’t happen, or at least where it isn’t quite so painful?
I don't think so. I think as writers our craft is ever changing. Each new work we write changes how we write the next work. Each new author we read changes how we write. And each fellow Author we help critique their works, will change how we write.
So I think we always just grow as writers. Perhaps we may look back on past works and accept those were the works we were capable of writing at that time. Rather then worry about how good or bad it was.
One author said that when she read her first published book, she cringed at all the mistakes that she found within the work.