How to keep yourself motivated?

[TheUnsuspicious]

When starting a new story, motivation will obviously be at an all time high, but after a few months, your drive will naturally falls off.
But in a creative work, motivation is a very important aspect to maintain peak condition / performance. It isn't ideal to force yourself to write since the quality of your story will take a hit.
So how do you keep yourself motivated? Do you try to spice things up in the story to help yourself interested? Or do you just accept face and try your best to finish it?

 

[Corty]

By knowing what my end goal is.

And seeing the numbers go up. The last one is my biggest motivator. If the numbers are stagnating, so do I. If they are good, my motivation is there to continue.

 

[Indicterra]

When starting a new story, motivation will obviously be at an all time high, but after a few months, your drive will naturally falls off.
But in a creative work, motivation is a very important aspect to maintain peak condition / performance. It isn't ideal to force yourself to write since the quality of your story will take a hit.
So how do you keep yourself motivated? Do you try to spice things up in the story to help yourself interested? Or do you just accept face and try your best to finish it?

I remind myself that I have bills to pay, and that I am not a big fan of starving, usually works out for me

 

[Agentt]

Take breaks, enjoy the process. Brag about where you are. Share your problems.

 

[Tsuru]

When starting a new story, motivation will obviously be at an all time high, but after a few months, your drive will naturally falls off.
But in a creative work, motivation is a very important aspect to maintain peak condition / performance. It isn't ideal to force yourself to write since the quality of your story will take a hit.
So how do you keep yourself motivated? Do you try to spice things up in the story to help yourself interested? Or do you just accept face and try your best to finish it?

Recognition
and
$


Both are ultrahard/impossible in western side, compared to EASTERN

 

[TheUnsuspicious]

I remind myself that I have bills to pay, and that I am not a big fan of starving, usually works out for me

Recognition
and
$


Both are ultrahard/impossible in western side, compared to EASTERN

How do you guys get money? Patreon?

From my surface level knowledge, writing isn't a very lucrative job, unless you really have a lot of readers, is it even possible to become self-sustain?

 

[Cosmictapestry]

When I'm feeling demotivated, I rewrite the chapter. After giving it another read, I often find myself inspired to keep writing.
So, yes, I do spice things up a bit, but it's more like a teaser of what's to come rather than a complete 180-degree change to the story.

And I'm lucky to have a good friend who invested in what I write, so it helps me feel motivated. That being said, it could be different for others, as I'm only a hobbyist and not trying to earn from this.

 

[TheUnsuspicious]

When I'm feeling demotivated, I rewrite the chapter. After giving it another read, I often find myself inspired to keep writing.
So, yes, I do spice things up a bit, but it's more like a teaser of what's to come rather than a complete 180-degree change to the story.

And I'm lucky to have a good friend who invested in what I write, so it helps me feel motivated. That being said, it could be different for others, as I'm only a hobbyist and not trying to earn from this.

Oh! I saw your prologue novel in the feedback forum. Love it! But why is it different from the actual novel? Have you not finished the editing?

 

[Cosmictapestry]

Oh! I saw your prologue novel in the feedback forum. Love it! But why is it different from the actual novel? Have you not finished the editing?

I edited it after receiving the feedback, actually! To tighten things up a little bit (though, being fussy, I may have likely lengthened it without knowing!).

Thank you for your comment!

 

[Bartun]

I want that story out of my head and obviously will not write itself. So yeah, sometimes I type a few words, sometimes I just stare at the blank screen doing nothing, sometimes I daydream all day while doing other stuff, and sometimes I'm on fire and write a lot. There's no way around it.

 

[SailusGebel]

 

[J_Chemist]

 

[Millenia_Limes]

Sure, the number of reads and money are a big motivator (which in my case is none of those lmao), but the thing that deflates me the most is my story not reaching my targeted audience. Besides that, I keep myself motivated with music, thinking about the world that I created and telling myself that "you already are publishing the story that has been stuck in your mind for months, so don't you dare stop."

 

[Sylver]

seeing the numbers go up

Ditto

If the numbers are stagnating, so do I. If they are good, my motivation is there to continue.

Saaaaaame, and unfortunately my drive and excitement flows with it. I was ecstatic for my story last week because of the events coming up, but with the numbers dropping it's a bit of a bummer for me to write tomorrow's chapter. Just feels like I'm writing a story people don't like, even when I know that's not the case.

The lack of comments expressing investment bites too

 

[supremechadd]

I realized that if the less I write the less motivated I am, and the more I write the more my motivation increases. So I just power through my lack of motivation till I get some sparks of inspiration.

 

[MasterHiatus]

I take breaks and read other novels or fanfics or whatever actually. Physical activities (such as biking) and not so physical activities (such as showering and shitting) help me process my ideas for whatever I am writing so that also fuels my motivation as I now have an idea to follow through. Lastly, reader comments. It doesn't matter if its shitting on me, I missed receiving comments so much.