Been trying to write fiction for 3-4 years now and haven't finished a thing.

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Afrocious

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I'm actually stunned by it. I'll open up a document, begin typing, and then stop. I rarely return to it. It's odd because I like writing a lot. I'm the obnoxious person who goes into detail when writing an explanation, even in facebook chats.

Yet when it comes to fiction, I can't do it. I used to write stuff before 2013-14 but now it's difficult. I have the time though. Back when I used to write for fun, I would write during class or in-between calls when I did phone tech support.

Now I can't. I can barely get a few pages out. Sometimes I can't even get the first paragraph down. Sometimes I'll save work, too. Those folders have a ton of incomplete documents.

Of course, I could return to them, but I have no desire to do so.

Has anyone else felt like this? I know some attribute it to fearing your work's quality. I used to think that was my issue, but I'm questioning it since I'm a software engineer and I have no problem writing some rough code to start off something, and then returning to refactor it into something better.

And on top of that, I hold a lot of jealously toward people who can write whatever. I dislike going into writing prompt threads because I get irritated at my own shortcomings yet people can seem to pour out enough words to complete fiction.

Once in a blue moon, I'll complete a personal essay, but that's not fiction.

Weird, huh?
 
Planning is your friend. You probably have 2 books worth of content you could've pushed out if you organized it and stayed focused. But its not fun you say? Then do something else. If you stop when you're no longer having fun you'll never finish anything. Push through, finish, and appreciate what you have made.
 
Your jealousy betrays your fear (or anxiety, if you prefer that word), and your ability to write rough software code to completion and come back and make it perfect does not suggest this isn't an issue. If anything it supports the notion that fear is part of what is holding you back. You are used to the "rough draft phase" of coding eventually leading to rewards. The promise is there. You know you're good enough to get it where it needs to be, because you've done it before. You haven't managed those things with your writing, so you don't have that same confidence here.

Your performance in coding also suggests having deadlines and other forms of pressure might help you reach your goals. I'm going to assume that if you started little patches of incomplete coding over and over and never came back to them, you would be out of a job, right? Find ways to hold yourself accountable for flaking out of writing projects and see what happens.

Write every day. It's best to have a goal, at least a couple of pages, but if you can drag yourself to the keyboard for one lousy paragraph every single day at the very least, you will eventually finish something. If you can't even do this, you need to ask yourself if writing fiction is really important to you. It isn't always supposed to be fun, or feel good. It is a lot of hard work and dedication.

Tackle smaller projects. Are you trying to write novels without having first experienced real success with a short story (success being measured in this case by your capacity to finish something, not publish)? Stop it. Write short stories for awhile. Develop your craft, your editing skills, start building that reward system in your brain for finished work. Can't finish a short story? Try short shorts. Try microfiction. Write a page, a paragraph, a sentence that you consider a finished draft and learn to shape it into something great.
 
Not weird. Writing is brutal. Outlining and listing is key. First start with a one sentence summary of the story (hard enough I know, but it forces you to make beginning middle and end decisions early on, and have something to test/evaluate). Then expand to a paragraph. Then a page. Then outline the full story as single sentence summary of chapters (or sequences, for film/screenwriting).

Then start filling in the details. This will help you iron out the structure and the character development arc, particularly by pinning down the high points/most significant events, and spacing them out properly over time: identifying the break into the 2nd act, the midpoint, and the low point/break into the third or final act.

Start with short goals. A five page story. Make the middle three pages your second act. The first page the first act. The last page the last act. Make all of the events and character progression fit within those pages. It would help to have your big story complication on page 3.

No matter what your compromises end up being to fit the story inside the framework it will be a functional, complete story.

Get cracking.
 
Take a Fiction Writing course at a community college. For me, it was a good start to developing a writing habit.

In 2016, I probably wrote 30,000 words. Just by chipping away at a single story idea. No planning, no outlining, just writing. In previous years, I wrote nothing despite always wanting to.

To be a fiction writer, you have to develop the mental discipline. It doesn't come free.

Develop a schedule and stick to it. Don't concern yourself with quality or coherence at first. Just rough draft after rough draft. I find that great writing can come quite organically if you just get in the writing mode.

Writing time has to be separate from all other things. Don't have anything else to do during that time.

Above all else, you have to be in love with writing. Not story or character or plot but the pen-to-paper nitty-gritty of it all.
 
Do what I'm doing this year, no planning, next to no character names, no descriptions of people, do at least 2 paragraphs a day more so on the days you think you can't write. After some time you'll end up drifting towards something to reach
 
It sounds like OP you aren't entirely invested in the stories you write besides the initial idea.

I would suggest you get invested in your characters rather than the ideas. It's what always helps me. When I was creating a villian for one of my short stories for example, I wrote him as sort of gleefully evil, which is one of my favorite type of villians. I loved writing him and that pushed me to finish the short story.

Write characters that you can get invested in.
 
Right. Writing isn't supposed to be fun for everyone. However, there is a joy in the practice of it. I rarely feel it nowadays. When I write, I feel the text isn't good enough. Then comes concerns about where I'm exactly going with what I'm writing. Is there a scene I have in mind? Is what I'm writing now gonna get the story there appropriately?

echoshifting said:
Your jealousy betrays your fear (or anxiety, if you prefer that word), and your ability to write rough software code to completion and come back and make it perfect does not suggest this isn't an issue. If anything it supports the notion that fear is part of what is holding you back. You are used to the "rough draft phase" of coding eventually leading to rewards. The promise is there. You know you're good enough to get it where it needs to be, because you've done it before. You haven't managed those things with your writing, so you don't have that same confidence here.

Your performance in coding also suggests having deadlines and other forms of pressure might help you reach your goals. I'm going to assume that if you started little patches of incomplete coding over and over and never came back to them, you would be out of a job, right? Find ways to hold yourself accountable for flaking out of writing projects and see what happens.

Write every day. It's best to have a goal, at least a couple of pages, but if you can drag yourself to the keyboard for one lousy paragraph every single day at the very least, you will eventually finish something. If you can't even do this, you need to ask yourself if writing fiction is really important to you. It isn't always supposed to be fun, or feel good. It is a lot of hard work and dedication.

Tackle smaller projects. Are you trying to write novels without having first experienced real success with a short story (success being measured in this case by your capacity to finish something, not publish)? Stop it. Write short stories for awhile. Develop your craft, your editing skills, start building that reward system in your brain for finished work. Can't finish a short story? Try short shorts. Try microfiction. Write a page, a paragraph, a sentence that you consider a finished draft and learn to shape it into something great.
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This sounds wise. I was able to write a 100k word story and enjoyed writing it for the people who read it and I wish to pull that off again. However, like you say, I'm not on any deadline or whatever. With what I code, I'm usually on a deadline for work. For projects outside of work, I just love tinkering with whatever it is I'm doing to see if I can get whatever app I'm working on functional.
 
I'm sort of the same way. I love to write and have so many stories I wish to write but always find myself getting distracted and hard to get back into stories. Most don't even make it past a chapter, if even a few pages.

I did, however, get back into a story I was writing but unlike others... I'm actually rewriting it with many changes. No idea if it's better or not but at least I'm writing within the setting I like...

It's hard.
 
OP, I feel your pain. I wrote much more until about 2014 when I had some significant changes in my life, and getting back on the train has been difficult, to say the least.

I'll echo the recommendations to try and outline or summarize before you start - writing is hard, and while it's great on those rare days you can sit down and just write from the hip, 90% of the time you really need to do at least a little planning. Maybe not the whole story, but at least enough for you to really build off of.

I also strongly recommend learning to set "writing times". Make a separate account on your computer with none of your games/apps/bookmarks easily accessible, switch to it, set a timer for 30 or 45 or 60 minutes, and then work on writing until it goes off. That can be outlining, revising, writing, what have you - just don't let yourself tab away. You might not get anything done, but it's still time spent working on it. Rinse and repeat. You'll get used to it, believe me, and it's much more helpful in the long run than setting goals of "write X words" or something like that.

Best of luck.
 
Afrocious said:
Weird, huh?
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OP, remember this quote
The art of creating is very, very hard and full of doubts and self-loathing
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I've been in a similar boat. I still am, actually, just decided to stop pushing myself before I break.

I don't know if that was supposed to help - just trying to take the edge of. I managed to crap out one short story (for myself, no one will read it) after trying to kill myself to bring the countless ideas I have planned, and stashed somewhere, to life.

What I found that worked is to start small. You gotta crawl before you begin to run. Try to write a story consisting entirely of one paragraph. Nothing you want to build it on, make it random. Do this every week and hopefully you'll get into the groove of things and finally hit that magical spot wherein you write nonstop.

Good luck and I sincerely wish you all the best. Don't beat yourself up.
 
Right. Writing isn't supposed to be fun for everyone. However, there is a joy in the practice of it. I rarely feel it nowadays. When I write, I feel the text isn't good enough. Then comes concerns about where I'm exactly going with what I'm writing. Is there a scene I have in mind? Is what I'm writing now gonna get the story there appropriately?
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Sorry, what?

It is absolutely meant to be fun. The fact it's brutal at the same time doesn't change the fact that it should be exhilarating. It's ripping shit from your soul and turning it into words.

I wrote a 160 page script, by hand, in a week last year. Destroyed me mentally and physically but was on my top five "trips" I took that year.
 
DeathyBoy said:
Sorry, what?

It is absolutely meant to be fun. The fact it's brutal at the same time doesn't change the fact that it should be exhilarating. It's ripping shit from your soul and turning it into words.

I wrote a 160 page script, by hand, in a week last year. Destroyed me mentally and physically but was on my top five "trips" I took that year.
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I think you missed the part about there being joy in the practice of it.
 
I write screenplays and I've tried to get into prose but my biggest roadblock is trying to form the perfect sentences right out of the gate. Even though I know damn well my screenplays improve dramatically with each edit


my advice is to just tune it out and let the words flow. worry about making it good later. once you have the bones down its a lot easier to fix.

Also, planning. I never start a script without a detailed outline
 
Shorter stories are definitely easier. I wrote fanfiction and some porn in the 10-30 thousand range, and the helpful thing was to come up with a formula for chapters and such. The story starts formulaic, but then you begin to play with the formula further on, and the formula also lets you take a step back and think of how the big picture themes sync into the story, but it's still a bit of a crutch.

That model could be scaled to a higher level, though, divide the story into "sagas" and then split those into chapters, focus on one saga at a time, and keep checking yourself to make sure that everything's still plugging in to the higher theme.
 
I used to plan a lot. I wrote this large fanfic back in college that took up most of my time. I would sit with friends and plan out where to go. I'd have outlines of chapters written with brief one-line synopses next to their names. I'd have character summaries. Then when I actually wrote the story, sometimes it got boring. That's when I knew I'm not interested in what I'm writing, so I'd either force myself through it or redo it if I felt it was too bad. But then I'd get to the good parts. It was euphoric. My hands wouldn't stop typing and all the characters, their dialogue, their actions, the setting? All poured out from my head onto the screen.

I miss that so much. Despite being thankful that I'm doing alright in life, I've never been as excited about anything compared to being in that moment where I was writing up a storm.

To this day, I get reviews. Once in a blue moon, I'll look back at the reviews. Sometimes I wonder why these people sat and bothered with it. Other times, I'm so happy people gave me the time of day and enjoyed my work.
 
Well, OP, seems like you might be a pressure cooker writer like myself, and the New Year's Resolution Challenge was meant for you. It's running right now. If you motor, you can hit the smaller novella total. Check it out (and anyone else who fancies a run at publishing 3 small commercial works by April).

Challenge aside, popping into the Writing Thread in general might also do you some good. Lots of advice and inspiration in there.
 
H.Protagonist said:
Well, OP, seems like you might be a pressure cooker writer like myself, and the [URL=" Year's Resolution Challenge[/URL] was meant for you. It's running right now. If you motor, you can hit the smaller novella total. Check it out (and anyone else who fancies a run at publishing 3 small commercial works by April).

Challenge aside, popping into the [URL=" Thread[/URL] in general might also do you some good. Lots of advice and inspiration in there.
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Huh. Neat. Real neat actually.
 
Afrocious said:
Has anyone else felt like this? I know some attribute it to fearing your work's quality.
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Yes, it's extremely common, and fear of failure/not being good enough is the most likely cause. I think that's what's going on here as well, based on this:
Afrocious said:
When I write, I feel the text isn't good enough. Then comes concerns about where I'm exactly going with what I'm writing.
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This is a standard manifestation of that fear of failure.

The problem is that it's hard to give an answer as to what to do about it. Because the solution itself is incredibly straightforward: write anyway. Let the fear exist, but don't let it rule you. As you continue to write, your skill will grow and you'll improve. The fear probably won't go away, but your writing, at least, will get better.

For all that straightforwardness, actually implementing the solution is hard. "Write anyway" is easy to say and difficult to do.

Here are a few suggestions of things that might help you with this, on the basis that they helped me with the same thing:
-participate in the writing challenges (this one just closed, but there'll be a new one on Tuesday. Don't worry about whether your writing is up to par, just complete some short stories and remind yourself how to finish things.
-participate in the next NaNoWriMo. This is exactly what NaNo is meant to address. It's ok if you come out the other end with something that isn't good (I've produced plenty of crap over the years, and am only just starting to finish with something salvageable). The aim of NaNo is to smash through those barriers you're putting in front of yourself to keep yourself from writing.
-read Steven Pressfield's War of Art, which has already been recommended in this thread. It covers precisely this problem and may help you understand it.
-read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. It covers this problem among other things and may have some more practical help for you.
-don't beat yourself up too much when you find the going difficult. A lot of well-meaning advice is hard to follow ("write every day!"). Do the best you can, but leave yourself room for error.
 
Gnome Scat said:
Start small and work up. Short stories are great for practicing.
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I think this is probably some very good advice. Don't get hung up on trying to crank out something that is perfect and substantial on the first try. All writing, even short stories, can be a marathon, not a sprint.

So just pace yourself. Start small. Even if you're not comfortable with short stories and their length, then just try individual scenes, bits of dialog, bits of description, bits of plot, whatever. Then string the "in-between" parts together from what you've written and you've got a story.

The important thing is to write what you WANT, not what you feel you SHOULD be writing. Sure, there's more respect in certain circles for a literary novel or short story, but if you like genre stuff like mysteries, science fiction, or thrillers, just write it. Writing itself is hard, and I don't find the actual process of writing to be enjoyable, but if I like my subject matter, my characters, the dilemmas they have to overcome, then the tedium of writing is secondary to finding out what happens next as I write the story.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. I'll check out the book posted in here. Also, thanks for the links to the other GAF writing threads.

Maybe I'll try a writing challenge for once.
 
8493068174_6daa10939c_c.jpg


Someone on gaf shared that image with me and it's been really helpful to me.

It's might also help if you set a goal to reach and then set yourself a reward for reaching them;

For example I have set myself a goal to finish chapter 3 by the end of today and if I reach it I get to reward myself by spending Sunday playing Mario Kart 8, if not then I will have to spend Sunday finishing it up just so I can stay on track and get chapter 4 started and finished by the end of next week.
 
Mr-Joker said:
8493068174_6daa10939c_c.jpg


Someone on gaf shared that image with me and it's been really helpful to me.

It's might also help if you set a goal to reach and then set yourself a reward for reaching them;

For example I have set myself a goal to finish chapter 3 by the end of today and if I reach it I get to reward myself by spending Sunday playing Mario Kart 8, if not then I will have to spend Sunday finishing it up just so I can stay on track and get chapter 4 started and finished by the end of next week.
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"Write through fear and doubt" is the most important one of these. It's the only thing that let me finish any projects.

You can always go back and re-read it, edit it, cut things here, add things there. The most important step is getting your ideas on paper. The editing process might require more effort and even take longer, sometimes, but it feels less grueling than the initial creative process because you've pushed past the barrier of entry already. Just get those blueprints out!

Outlines help. They don't even need to be detailed. Just map out the major story beats from beginning to end so you never end up in a maze-like swamp with no way out. Also, remember that you can deviate from them if you get a better idea while writing, or if your story flows in a direction you didn't expect.
 
SolVanderlyn said:
"You can always go back and re-read it, edit it, cut things here, add things there. The most important step is getting your ideas on paper. The editing process might require more effort and even take longer, sometimes, but it feels less grueling than the initial creative process because you've pushed past the barrier of entry already. Just get those blueprints out!
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This is also very good advice. The great thing about first drafts is that they're just that, first drafts. You get a chance at second and third drafts, but the important thing is, you have to have something to fix FIRST, before you can start worrying about how to fix things.

Also keep in mind that once you've finished something, even if it's missing scenes, or doesn't feel quite right yet, always remember, this is the WORST that your story will ever be. It gets better from here.
 
SolVanderlyn said:
"Write through fear and doubt" is the most important one of these. It's the only thing that let me finish any projects.

You can always go back and re-read it, edit it, cut things here, add things there. The most important step is getting your ideas on paper. The editing process might require more effort and even take longer, sometimes, but it feels less grueling than the initial creative process because you've pushed past the barrier of entry already. Just get those blueprints out!

Outlines help. They don't even need to be detailed. Just map out the major story beats from beginning to end so you never end up in a maze-like swamp with no way out. Also, remember that you can deviate from them if you get a better idea while writing, or if your story flows in a direction you didn't expect.
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Agreed, that was a problem during my first project causing me to shelve it, as I hated the first chapter, while I worked on a new project with the mind set of "don't worry about it being crap, just get the ideas down and we will fix it in the editing process and then edit that edit till it's perfect."

So as a result the new project is just going much smoother with less pressure.
 
Hey Afrocious, I'd like to thank you for making this topic. So many of your words and experiences are the exact same as mine, but I was never able to gather the courage to make this topic. There are some great replies and reading material here. Thanks a lot and good luck in your endeavours!
 
Also, I don't think it's been specifically mentioned in this thread yet.. but embrace the fact (the FACT) that your first draft is going to be unreadable nonsense.

It's not meant to be perfect. It's meant to be a way to put all of your ideas down on the page so that you can see where the problems lay* and then create a plan to fix it. It will likely take several rounds of massive edits to slash out the filler, replace the lightweight scenes/settings, course correct the narrative so that it doesn't stray from your conceit, and fix the many, many craft issues.

I've been trying to fly under that banner recently just to keep myself from being my own worst enemy/biggest obstacle.

*lay or lie?
 
Afrocious said:
Huh. Neat. Real neat actually.
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Should give it a go if you want to test out that deadline style. Or the challenges Cyan mentioned are great too. Lots of options. Hope you'll join us in the writing thread either way.


Iceman said:
Also, I don't think it's been specifically mentioned in this thread yet.. but embrace the fact (the FACT) that your first draft is going to be unreadable nonsense.

It's not meant to be perfect. It's meant to be a way to put all of your ideas down on the page so that you can see where the problems lay* and then create a plan to fix it. It will likely take several rounds of massive edits to slash out the filler, replace the lightweight scenes/settings, course correct the narrative so that it doesn't stray from your conceit, and fix the many, many craft issues.

I've been trying to fly under that banner recently just to keep myself from being my own worst enemy/biggest obstacle.

*lay or lie?
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Yup yup. You have to let go of worry and insecurity and just get stuff down. Overthinking things and trying to make it perfect (impossible anyway) will keep you from finishing anything most times. Sounds like you're on the right track, Ice. You should hop into the Writing thread or challenges too, then!

(*lie)
 
Darksol said:
Maybe you aren't meant to be a writer? Not everyone is.
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Sure, one possible response when faced with a learning curve is to throw up your hands and go "well I guess I'm just not intended by fate and destiny to be good at thing!" I don't think it's a very useful response.
 
You might find Sherman Alexis's strategy of outlining, in sentence form, the 20 or so beats of your story (fewer if you're doing short fiction, which is a very different beast from novels). Each sentence should be informed by the previous and move toward the next. Then turn each sentence into a scene.

Blam.

Or write like me and have no plan ever. Just be self-reflexive and skip over anything you already find boring as a writer.

Revise revise revise.
 
Darksol said:
Maybe you aren't meant to be a writer? Not everyone is.
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I'll be the light Sol and say that if you put your heart into it, you can surpass any barrier. If you want to write, you can. Practice will make you better. Edit, revise, don't be afraid to to write bad drafts as long as you write them, and have faith in yourself.

n0razi said:
Some people are novelists, others are bloggers
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whynotboth.jpg

They are two completely different things. Being better at or having an easier time blogging, writing essays, or even making long posts on message boards doesn't mean you're worse at writing, it means you're more used to other forms of writing than creative writing.
 
Like anything, when it comes down to it, you just got to do it.

A great basketball player has to play the game and take those shots.

A great golfer has to swing.

Not every shot or swing is going to be great, but you gotta take millions of them to find out where you are at and what you need to do to get better.

So you gotta write and fucking write and then fucking write some more and more.


It's not like Michael Jordan picked up a basket ball, drained it the first time, and then waited until he was in the NBA to play again.




Hell look at an incredibly prolific writer like Brandon Sanderson, dude writes all the fucking time, always has. When his first book made it big, apparently he had a lot of other stories written ready to go, but was like "naaaaaaah, that was practice, Imma write new shit"



If you want to be a writer, the main hurdle is writing.
 
Cyan said:
Sure, one possible response when faced with a learning curve is to throw up your hands and go "well I guess I'm just not intended by fate and destiny to be good at thing!" I don't think it's a very useful response.
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Not that I disagree necessarily, however if you think you're supposed to be a writer and yet cannot actually motivate yourself to write, I think it is actually useful to ask yourself that question. It might be the thing that motivates you.
 
I read this thread without the need to contribute, but now it's late and I feel the need to contribute.

You've got to find the thing that makes you write. Everyone has that thing that makes them feel the need to write. For me, it's music. It's the thing that makes me want to write, sort of like a compulsive tick.

Plus you need to find that other thing: that thing that compels you to write in the first place. Muse, idea, the drive that you need. You need something that compels you. You have to feel passion, even if it's for a couple hundred words. It all depends on your style, your needs, and what feels right.

The crummy but necessary advice I have is, and fits into the third paragraph I mentioned: do what feels right. What are you passionate about? Maybe you're not writing the thing that your mind wants. Maybe you're writing the wrong thing. Maybe you need to focus on what your head or your heart wants. It may not feel right for the time being, but maybe you should write what feels right. Even if it's the essays you mentioned in your original post, go for it. Let what you want out. Fiction, non-fiction, let your creativity out, and find what feels like you.

I don't know if this helps any, but I felt like telling what's right. This is the long and meandering way to say, write what feels right at the moment, not what you think is what's expected.
 
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