Biggest problem with writing (or starting)

[Notadate]

You get an idea and want to write it. Then you fall into a rabbit hole of thought, or you start writing. And you find out that it isn’t fun.

Simply finding something that you want to write about and continue is hard to a degree, but to continue is harder.

I am currently suffering this.

 

[Lysander_Works]

As a writer, you always want to have an idea that is totally inspiring and most fun to work on, be it something very personal or something for mere entertainment. I say it should be as fun to write it as it is to read it in the end. Sometimes we have millions of interesting ideas for a book, not not all of those ideas hold equal weight on how they affect our urge to write. It's almost something you just know, when the most inspiring idea sends sparks through your mind ~ you just know it's a hit. Sometimes it's not exactly a plot, but a specific new style or experiment nobody has ever come up with yet. Maybe you've seen thousands of the same tropes but thought of a way to make something better and unique. Maybe it's when the stars align and every fragment of every memory for every video game, show, movie, and dream comes together to build a world you've always wanted to exist.

Either way, that kind of inspiration is critical. I've written one book and false-started another book before that I abandoned forever, not because the plots were too terrible, but because, I just didn't care enough to devote all my energy into those specific projects. You just have to find that powerful inspiration, and the rest should come naturally...
Unless you are struggling with writers block. I don't ever have that problem so I can't say I know what it's like. Wrong one to ask on that.

Fun Fact: Did you know that my Leray Series, before it began, was nothing more than a clustered mess of short story parodies and satire? I was just messing around, shootin the dirt, making fun of how so many stories have "magic" but never bother to explain it well enough to overcome the paradox of "having it here because, plot." It actually annoyed me that very few if any ever explained where magic came from, and then minutes later, I quickly adapted my own system in mind, and thought to make a magic series written more like a video game than a book (and no, not a Lit RPG or Iseike). It was fun for me because it meant I had to come up with all of the unique spells on my own, every factor, every variable, every name, every place and city, all stuff I would invent rather than assume, and have catacombs of mysteries and elements to that Leray world. As a avid gamer back in the day, it wasn't hard to take some inspiration from lots of media I had consumed, and I was careful not to Copy/Paste ideas or elements from that content; I wanted to make it my own, and so 19 books later, I did.

I'm rambling, but maybe this helps explain what that slump is and at least one possible vector out of it.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Fun?
Who said writing was supposed to be fun?

If you are not SUFFERING, then it isn't art. Until pain oozes out of every pore in your body, you are not writing. Fun is a motivation, true, but it is fleeting. Fun will abandon you when you need it most. No. Only the anguish of failure can properly motivate you. You should not write to move towards enjoyment, but away from self-inflicted torment. You must be driven by demons that whip you to drive you forward and to ever greater heights. Demons will never abandon you, unlike flighty "fun".

Writing is about listening to the will of the universe and then putting it down on paper.
A writer's ears are in his back and he hears best when he is BEATEN.

 

[Corty]

What? Something does not just happen but requires work and effort put into it? And not just once?

 

[Notadate]

What? Something does not just happen but requires work and effort put into it? And not just once?

Well, yeah, that’s writing

*looks down*

Some stuff requires effort, cort. Seem so~

As a writer, you always want to have an idea that is totally inspiring and most fun to work on, be it something very personal or something for mere entertainment. I say it should be as fun to write it as it is to read it in the end. Sometimes we have millions of interesting ideas for a book, not not all of those ideas hold equal weight on how they affect our urge to write. It's almost something you just know, when the most inspiring idea sends sparks through your mind ~ you just know it's a hit. Sometimes it's not exactly a plot, but a specific new style or experiment nobody has ever come up with yet. Maybe you've seen thousands of the same tropes but thought of a way to make something better and unique. Maybe it's when the stars align and every fragment of every memory for every video game, show, movie, and dream comes together to build a world you've always wanted to exist.

Either way, that kind of inspiration is critical. I've written one book and false-started another book before that I abandoned forever, not because the plots were too terrible, but because, I just didn't care enough to devote all my energy into those specific projects. You just have to find that powerful inspiration, and the rest should come naturally...
Unless you are struggling with writers block. I don't ever have that problem so I can't say I know what it's like. Wrong one to ask on that.

Fun Fact: Did you know that my Leray Series, before it began, was nothing more than a clustered mess of short story parodies and satire? I was just messing around, shootin the dirt, making fun of how so many stories have "magic" but never bother to explain it well enough to overcome the paradox of "having it here because, plot." It actually annoyed me that very few if any ever explained where magic came from, and then minutes later, I quickly adapted my own system in mind, and thought to make a magic series written more like a video game than a book (and no, not a Lit RPG or Iseike). It was fun for me because it meant I had to come up with all of the unique spells on my own, every factor, every variable, every name, every place and city, all stuff I would invent rather than assume, and have catacombs of mysteries and elements to that Leray world. As a avid gamer back in the day, it wasn't hard to take some inspiration from lots of media I had consumed, and I was careful not to Copy/Paste ideas or elements from that content; I wanted to make it my own, and so 19 books later, I did.

I'm rambling, but maybe this helps explain what that slump is and at least one possible vector out of it.

I did not know that

 

[Dhael_Ligerkeys]

I think we all eventually come to realise that writing is a job. We think we chose it, but later find out it chose us. It entices us with fun scenes in our head and we just spend ages revisiting. And we spend some time day-dreaming, jumping from cool scene to cool scene, maybe figuring out how some fun super power works or getting epiphanies about the rules of our worlds. These ideas just won't leave our heads, so we finally go, "Fine! I'll write."
Then we sit down and, "Fuck! Where do I start." That when we realise we need to fill up the in-betweens and do the not-so-fun writing. Figure out how to describe what we saw in our head without repetition and redundancy. Varying our words and our sentence lengths. Crack a joke or efficient portray an emotional scene. Give every character personality.
My character just 'woke up' in a representation of his bedroom in his dream world, WHAT THE HELL IS IN IT???? What does he like? Why does he like Scorpions? Ah, right, he's a scorpio and had an edgy teen phase and was into anything remotely related to scorpions. On his 25th birthday, his friends decided to do a call back to those days and each gave him a present related to scorpions, so now he has porters of the band, displates of the Mortal Kombat character, a miniature tank, etc... But one friend - the one who thinks himself the funny one - decided to go with the MC Chinese signs and gives him some rat stuff. - Just make shit up on the fly and someone will find meaning in it. Heck, I read about scorpios and rat (the signs) and they seem to fit the MC. Who'd've thunk?
The point being, it's a struggle and you just go with the flow and flesh it out as you go along. If you have difficulty with a particular scene, just keep bare bones and move on, then later, when you revisit it, flesh it out a bit more.

 

[Lloyd]

I suffer from this as well.

 

[J_Chemist]

Writing can definitely be a grind but if you enjoy it and have the passion for it, you make do.

 

[Lysander_Works]

Fun?
Who said writing was supposed to be fun?

If you are not SUFFERING, then it isn't art. Until pain oozes out of every pore in your body, you are not writing. Fun is a motivation, true, but it is fleeting. Fun will abandon you when you need it most. No. Only the anguish of failure can properly motivate you. You should not write to move towards enjoyment, but away from self-inflicted torment. You must be driven by demons that whip you to drive you forward and to ever greater heights. Demons will never abandon you, unlike flighty "fun".

Writing is about listening to the will of the universe and then putting it down on paper.
A writer's ears are in his back and he hears best when he is BEATEN.

Ok, there is going to be some level of suffering and tons of hard work. Never meant to sound like those weren't a thing. But if you really believe writing without any enjoyment for motivation, give it a try and see. I doubt it will turn out well.

Writing can definitely be a grind but if you enjoy it and have the passion for it, you make do.

Exactly.
You how many times I could have just said 'I guess I'll write whats popular and torture myself?' Nah, I come up with my own ideas, some with inspiration and some from experience, and go from there.

Do people really try to write full length novels when they don't enjoy that journey in some way? I don't see the sense in that. Can't just be me.

 

[Notadate]

Ok, there is going to be some level of suffering and tons of hard work. Never meant to sound like those weren't a thing. But if you really believe writing without any enjoyment for motivation, give it a try and see. I doubt it will turn out well.

Exactly.
You how many times I could have just said 'I guess I'll write whats popular and torture myself?' Nah, I come up with my own ideas, some with inspiration and some from experience, and go from there.

Do people really try to write full length novels when they don't enjoy that journey in some way? I don't see the sense in that. Can't just be me.

People do.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

But if you really believe writing without any enjoyment for motivation, give it a try and see. I doubt it will turn out well.

When I was ghost writing bodice rippers? Yes, I did it without fun. When you get paid by the word and you are only as good as your last job, you grind.

Grind is not fun.

But, going hungry? That gets you past the lack of fun. When you get past a fun mind set to a grindset, you get productive.

If you want to do thus for fun, do it for fun.

If you want to make an epic story of the ages, you will never achieve it with just fun. Getting good requires TIME.

I mean it. You need to write non-stop. It took a YEAR to get out of my bad habits from ghost writing. Ghost writing is for the customer, not the reader. Your customer is the author who claims your writing as his own.

You won't get good at this just having fun. You need something else to drive you if you want to reach the next level. I promise you, it won't be fun. It'll be pride. It'll be greed. It'll be hunger. It will be desire. Something to push through the pain and keep going even when you have a migraine. When you just want to sleep, you still write 2,000 words each and every day.

Casual writing? Just have fun, man. You want to go the next level to something beyond?
You can do it. Anyone can. But it takes TIME.

And it ain't fun.

 

[FatElf]

What? You guys are having problems with writing? What nonsense is this.
The empty page in front of me since two days ago is proof that writing is super easy. Just sit down and the words will flow.


Still looking at the blank page and not a clue of what to write tho. :(

 

[nemonusquam_]

I find the first chapters to be the easiest, as you're not shackled by the logic of your story yet--you're still establishing it.

As the story grows there are more tangents to consider (chapter plots, character plots, arc plots, volume plots, overarching plots) which make it increasingly overwhelming, as you're juggling more and more elements as you progress.

Serials are very long story-telling formats, so the chances of there being a lot of elements are exponentially increased.

Writing is certainly a mentally exhausting activity. The end product, however, is definitely worth the while.

 

[Sylver]

What? Something does not just happen but requires work and effort put into it? And not just once?

Its funny but the argument applies to everything like even the fun jobs kids would wish for would turn into work and effort over time. That's just life.

 

[Notadate]

When I was ghost writing bodice rippers? Yes, I did it without fun. When you get paid by the word and you are only as good as your last job, you grind.

Grind is not fun.

But, going hungry? That gets you past the lack of fun. When you get past a fun mind set to a grindset, you get productive.

If you want to do thus for fun, do it for fun.

If you want to make an epic story of the ages, you will never achieve it with just fun. Getting good requires TIME.

I mean it. You need to write non-stop. It took a YEAR to get out of my bad habits from ghost writing. Ghost writing is for the customer, not the reader. Your customer is the author who claims your writing as his own.

You won't get good at this just having fun. You need something else to drive you if you want to reach the next level. I promise you, it won't be fun. It'll be pride. It'll be greed. It'll be hunger. It will be desire. Something to push through the pain and keep going even when you have a migraine. When you just want to sleep, you still write 2,000 words each and every day.

Casual writing? Just have fun, man. You want to go the next level to something beyond?
You can do it. Anyone can. But it takes TIME.

And it ain't fun.

Pretty sure a few well known books were for fun. But viewpoints are different. I believe fun has to be a constant. Without it, there is ruin. Slow but there.

Chasing fame or money will never make you famous. Someone who puts effort in can be seen. One who puts in the greed for those can be seen. Even small-ly. But shrug, life is a gamble.

Depends on the person, writing that much is fun to some. (Minor tangent didnt the writer for goosebumps? Didn’t he write a book in like a week because ‘I was bored’)
-
But ambitions and the impetus for writing various for plenty of people. For me, it’s fun and my boredom of most novels. I want to write out a story I enjoy. And that worked for me. I improved and took advice. For you, not to be mean, sound like a dummy downer who thinks his realism is the truth.

But fuck we all are hypocrites in are own ways

 

[Pixytokisaki14]

You get an idea and want to write it. Then you fall into a rabbit hole of thought, or you start writing. And you find out that it isn’t fun.

Simply finding something that you want to write about and continue is hard to a degree, but to continue is harder.

I am currently suffering this.

We all had went through this. You have a great idea and start writing then you realize all the Worldbuilding, characters, plot and other things you have to keep in mind which makes you very hesitant or sometimes lazy on writing.

If you have any problems you can ask them here! The scribble forums will always help any author suffering through creative block, and writer burnout. Just say something and we'll help!

 

[Hanne]

You get an idea and want to write it. Then you fall into a rabbit hole of thought, or you start writing. And you find out that it isn’t fun.

Simply finding something that you want to write about and continue is hard to a degree, but to continue is harder.

I am currently suffering this.

remind yourself why you are writing. to me writing is an escape from the mundane of my work life.

and once Patreon started to flow, the time, effort, and frustration are justifiable.