Am I the only one?

[YoungMasterDuck]

Evening friends, Duck here.

I've got a small problem and wonder if I'm the only one.

So far, I've written about 100k words in chapters of several novels, but none of them have gone past five chapters.

It's quite strange; I seem to be losing motivation very quickly.

Any tips?​

 

[SailusGebel]

You are not the only one. Change your mentality.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Evening friends, Duck here.

I've got a small problem and wonder if I'm the only one.

So far, I've written about 100k words in chapters of several novels, but none of them have gone past five chapters.

It's quite strange; I seem to be losing motivation very quickly.

Any tips?​

Few questions,

1. Are they all set in similar universes/worlds or are they completely incompatible?
2. How do you feel about editing?
3. How lofty are your goals?
4. Is there a story with characters that you want to write constantly or are you always wanting new characters/plots/settings?

 

[YoungMasterDuck]

Few questions,

1. Are they all set in similar universes/worlds or are they completely incompatible?
2. How do you feel about editing?
3. How lofty are your goals?
4. Is there a story with characters that you want to write constantly or are you always wanting new characters/plots/settings?

It's usually the same. I'm never pleased with what I've done. Occasionally, I get positive feedback, but I seem to be afraid of turning it into a bad story.

 

[TroubleFait]

I wonder if the answer could be "write stories short enough to last five chapters."

 

[YoungMasterDuck]

I wonder if the answer could be "write stories short enough to last five chapters."

not the type of story i like :)

 

[HypnoticNovels]

I'd recommend spending time developing a solid plan before writing. When I wrote my first thingy, I was just making it up as I went and I ended up spending so much time figuring out how everything I wrote would change the sort of rules of my story that I couldn't actually write anything and ended up losing motivation.

Basically, my advice is to just take time to develop a foundation to build your story on and go in with a solid framework and plan before starting to write :p . If your idea is good enough, people are willing to put up with somewhat subpar writing. (Not to say your writing is bad, I have never read your thingies, but u don't need to be as stressed about it if u have an interesting premise lol)

 

[Paul_Tromba]

It's usually the same. I'm never pleased with what I've done. Occasionally, I get positive feedback, but I seem to be afraid of turning it into a bad story.

If they are similar then consider going back and without showing it to anyone, just write it for you. Flesh out some of those stories. But don't waste what you have. Consider taking all those stories that you started and making them factions in the world. Slap all of them together and every so often, have them join together for a few chapters. The other benefit to this is that if you release it and people, or you, don't like a story compared to the others, you can have them wiped out by another faction in some regard. I don't know what genre you write but you can make this work in almost every genre. I would also recommend not basing the value of your story on what others think or how many views/readers it gets but base the value instead on how much you enjoy it.

 

[foxes]

I have a little experience in completing a story. But. If I have enough inspiration, I can write about 10 chapters of 2500 words in a couple of days. Then I have to work with the existing material methodically without much involvement. Brainstorming. To rework the result into something more complete and maybe something completely different. Sometimes, following the scheme, you can get carried away with the development of details.

It's much easier to completely throw out the scheme and write something completely different or a different perspective. This can give you a second wind and get back to the original picture.

 

[YoungMasterDuck]

I'd recommend spending time developing a solid plan before writing. When I wrote my first thingy, I was just making it up as I went and I ended up spending so much time figuring out how everything I wrote would change the sort of rules of my story that I couldn't actually write anything and ended up losing motivation.

Basically, my advice is to just take time to develop a foundation to build your story on and go in with a solid framework and plan before starting to write :p . If your idea is good enough, people are willing to put up with somewhat subpar writing. (Not to say your writing is bad, I have never read your thingies, but u don't need to be as stressed about it if u have an interesting premise lol)

I'd recommend spending time developing a solid plan before writing. When I wrote my first thingy, I was just making it up as I went and I ended up spending so much time figuring out how everything I wrote would change the sort of rules of my story that I couldn't actually write anything and ended up losing motivation.

Basically, my advice is to just take time to develop a foundation to build your story on and go in with a solid framework and plan before starting to write :p . If your idea is good enough, people are willing to put up with somewhat subpar writing. (Not to say your writing is bad, I have never read your thingies, but u don't need to be as stressed about it if u have an interesting premise lol)

Thank you, it's not that I don't have a plan. It's just that I usually don't think it's good enough.

Another problem I have is that I can't tell the difference between reality and fiction when it comes to skills, for example.

I always ask myself, "Could that even be possible?" "Does it even work like that?" "Is it realistic?"

 

[Daitengu]

Here's a factoid nugget that's relevant.

Frank Herbert, writer of the Dune series died long before he finished writing with just 6 books. But he story boarded his whole series and had a massive pile of background notes, so his son based the 20 Dune books he co-wrote on that story board and pile of notes.

Some people can write by the seat of their pants, some need to plan out the whole thing to have the confidence to write a novel.

One author on RR ended up creating a whole D&D/Pathfinder style rule set for how skills and magic work, then based seven novels on it. You may have to do similar.

 

[BlackKnightX]

As someone who is an absolute perfectionist and get bored easily myself, I suggest you learn the craft and have a plan before you start.

Learning the craft is simple: take what works and deem other things bullshit, no matter if someone says otherwise. The stuff that works is the stuff that you yourself like, things that make your heart race, things that make you hard. Find out what kind of story you love and try to write that exact story. Gather any tools that will help you achieve just that and leave others.

Then, before you write, make a plan. It doesn't have to be detailed, just enough for you to know what the hell you're doing.

Remember, if something feels boring, then it's shit. Change it into something you like. Do no compromise with this.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Procreate, and then you'll never have to write again.

 

[crbrearley]

I don't have any tips I can only say that if you keep writing, you'll get better and probably cross the boundary sooner or later.

You might try what (I think at least) Stephen King does: Just write the story and see where it all goes. Lots of folks plot things out, but some writers simply need the discover of what happens next based on what their fingers type. It can lead to crappy endings but if that's the way you write, it's the way you write.

Procreate, and then you'll never have to write again.

They'll grow up at some point and you'll say, "oh, hell, I better start writing again."

 

[Anon2024]

You have a problem.
You need help.
My services may help.
It is cheap at only 100,000 dollars for a consultation.

 

[J_Chemist]

@Detective_Quack A new challenger appears.

Evening friends, Duck here.

I've got a small problem and wonder if I'm the only one.

So far, I've written about 100k words in chapters of several novels, but none of them have gone past five chapters.

It's quite strange; I seem to be losing motivation very quickly.

Any tips?​

I recommend taking some time to find what story you truly wish to write and spend time focusing on that specifically. It sounds like you've got writing ADHD where you start writing one thing but then want to write something else, so you lose motivation for the first.

Instead, teach yourself how to incorporate that new thing into the old thing. Expand your story and keep yourself on track. At that point, it's a discipline issue. And no amount of real tips here is going to help with it. It's, sadly, a skill/personal issue you'll need to overcome on your own.

 

[DevonHexx]

I would recommend having a fairly solid outline before you begin. Know all your story beats, identify the beginning, middle, and end. If you ever took a writing class in high school they would have shown the plot diagram. You have Beginning (exposition) -> rising action -> climax -> falling action -> ending (resolution). Make sure you know what goes on in each of those sections.

Once you have those, you can start writing and filling in the gaps along the way.

The other two problems it sounds like you have are a bit of imposter syndrome (Can I really write this? I'm not a writer.) and a discipline problem. The idea that it's all inspiration and the words will just come to you is false. You have to sit down and write and write often. If you stare at your monitor waiting for inspiration like a lightning bolt to the brain, you will never finish anything. Force yourself to write even if you don't feel like the words are coming. You can even use the old trick my middle-school English teacher gave us when we complained that we didn't know what to write. We had to write 'I can't think of anything to write.' over and over again until we struck upon an idea.

As to whether you can do it or not, of course you can. But not if you give up.

 

[doravg]

Have you tried making a rough roadmap you can follow?

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Procreate, and then you'll never have to write again.

You can't keep getting away with this!

 

[CSDestroyer]

Whenever I write, I usually don't write chronologically. Rather, I write the parts I want to write first, which primarily is the climax and the ending of the story, and then I work backwards/forwards from there. I'm currently working on a new one that has much of the ending done - but the beginning is hardly even started.

It's best to get ideas out on paper while you still can. That way, you can start bridging the sections between the parts of the story you really want to write.