3It has come to my attention that when writing a long, serious work or novel, many writers have the trouble of coming up with the motivation or will to write. I used to have the same problem when I first began to write novels and I simply gave up on those stories years ago. I'm not talking about writer's block here. What I am talking about is a completely different situation.
Do you find yourself with the ability to write a particular scene, and you know exactly how you want the scene to play out, but you just don't feel like sitting down and actually typing it? Do you feel as though you have come to a wall? This feeling I'd like to think of as lack of motivation.
There are writers out there, me included, who think about their story every waking moment. Either before they go to sleep, when they are in the car, when they're in class, anywhere! And they just space out and daydream about their story. They really do feel passionate about the idea and they want to finish the novel, and while they are able to think about the idea all day, the writing just doesn't come out.
It's like they are unable to translate their ideas to paper.
Ever had this feeling? I know I've had!
When I was writing Star Crossed the words just came to me so freely at first. I was able to write every single day and not have any problems at all. The first few chapters were just so easy, everything went by smoothly, and then I got to around 35,000 words give or take, and I experienced my first wall. This was an infamous point in the story that I dubbed the Banquet scene and it took me about three months just to get this scene down on paper, and at the time I thought to myself, 'What happened?'
I thought I was having a writing block, but it wasn't that I couldn't write. I wrote other short stories and poems, why couldn't I write Star Crossed anymore? I was just as passionate about it as I was in the beginning, if not even more so. And so weeks go by and I just kept putting the story off, and I kept procrastinating.
Eventually though, I sat down and began to notice a few key differences that I was experiencing...
- I started to show people some early drafts.
This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you handle it. I'm not saying that you shouldn't show your work to anybody unless you finish your first draft, but what I am saying is that this could be the root of the problem. Especially if you are having trouble finishing your story.
Way back when I was inexperienced in the writing process, I had the biggest head probably the size of Nevada or something. I liked my story so much I was expecting other people to like it too, and when they criticized my story, I was a little disappointed in myself. This greatly deterred my writing because no longer was I writing just for my own satisfaction. I was stuck because every time I went to sit back down, in the back of my mind I had those reviewers pointing out everything that I had been doing wrong.
So first tip here: Write first and foremost for yourself and for your story. Don't think about impressing other people, don't think about showing off your story if you haven't finished it yet. There will be time for that until after you've finished writing, and use this as motivation to finish sooner.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Sometimes feedback is critical and much needed in order for you to continue. So ask yourself one of these things.
- Are you looking for reviews so people can pat you on the back and tell you how wonderful your story and/or idea is? Then finish your story first, then you can talk.
- Are you unsure about a specific scene/don't know what you're doing wrong/ need help or you're wondering if you did a particular thing right? Then ask someone to read over your work, giving them the specifics on what you need help on. In other words, get a beta or a trusted friend.
But better yet, don't worry about the writing specifics. The rough draft is there just for you to write. So forget about sucking and just write! If you absolutely, positively cannot write the next scene without asking for help, then for heavens sake get out and seek help, but don't say I didn't warn you.
If you seeking people's reactions, or if you are unsure about your story, you only need to trust in yourself. If you like the story so much, trust yourself as a reader and keep going with it.
- My expectations got higher
The more I wrote, the more I became aware of what good writing was, the higher my expectations for my own writing became. I was afraid that by writing the next scene, I would fall flat from the standards of quality writing, so I subconsciously just kept putting it off. I kept thinking, 'Oh yeah, I'll write that super awesome scene tomorrow' and my idea just got too ambitious for what I was actually capable of accomplishing.
Second tip here: There is a difference between a rough draft, a 2nd draft, and a finished, revised draft. A rough draft is supposed to be all about the idea. It's supposed to be all about the story. Let me give you an idea on how my first draft was: a few of my sentences were literally 30+ words long and when I say few, I of course mean the majority of my sentences were like that; I had card-board cut-outs as side characters; pretty much 80 percent of my story was dialogue; I probably lacked suspense in every scene, and who knows exactly how clear I managed to write those action sequences.
You can see, SC has A LOT of work to go through. Don't I know it. But I've got a written skeleton of my complex plot with point of view switches all in the right places, and I've got my characters (who I love to death) interacting with one another, and I've got scenes that I may or may not use, and I've got my story, and my world, and basically that's all a rough draft is supposed to be.
The way I imagine it: Writing the rough draft should be like; READY, SET, GO! And then you should just type away at your keyboard until your idea is fully down on paper. Worry about perfection when you get to that stage, but for now, just write!
-I got ahead of myself...
Be honest. Admit it to yourself if you are afraid to admit it out loud. How many of you writers out there fantasize about your book getting published and everyone running out to buy it and you becoming the next "Stephen King" or "JK Rowling" of the literary world?
See, I got more excited in the overall picture, in my vision, in my nonexistent "success", instead of focusing on the overall chapter.
Third tip for you guys. Get yourself together! If you want to finish writing your story, concentrate only on that individual scene or chapter and write it out. You have to discipline yourself! Anybody can come up with an idea and dream about it, but the question is, what are you going to do about that dream?
You have to be determined in writing not finishing. There is a major difference!
- So what do I do now...?
Kill your muse. Kill that voice in the back of your head that is interfering with the writing process. You should enjoy writing the story, and if you don't enjoy writing, you are either stressing yourself out, or you don't have the right story for you, after all. Tell yourself, "I'm going to write my story now," and then just do it. Shake all your thoughts, all your daydreams, all your self-criticisms aside.
What I do when I find myself lacking motivation, is that I pull out that old big-fat document and scroll all the way back up to the first page. Then I read. I don't criticize myself or anything. I just read like I would any other book. I enjoy myself, I enjoy my story, and I begin to realize the potential that is there. I begin to get enthusiastic for writing it again.
- And?
o.O Well what are you still doing here, for? The next step is to WRITE! Go out and WRITE and don't stop until you've got that first draft finished!
A/N: In celebration of having finally finished SC, I had to go out and write a motivational article for those people who still have yet to finish their stories. Let me know how well I did.
Special props and thanks go to those people who were in the Writer's Anonymous forum, you've got me off my butt and typing up an article.
I might actually make this a series of articles for writing help, and add a new "chapter" to this. If anybody has any specific problems with writing/editing that they would like addressed, you can PM me or comment. Seriously anything. If you need help developing characters, or tips for plotting stories, or anything at all just let me know. I like to write about writing :3