I am stuck

[ElijahRyne]

(This is a bit of a rant, so sorry…)
I currently have 6-7 different things I want to write but there are a couple of issues in my way, and I feel stuck in a loop of trying to do something and getting barely anything, if not nothing, done. To the extent that I only got a paragraph done last week, and it felt like a great achievement. Have you been through something similar? What did you do then? What would you do in this situation?


My goal for writing is to write what I want to read, as well as to put my ideas to paper, yet I have ran into a couple of snags which are listed below.

1. I need to plot out the majority of the stories before I can start, and I only, with one exception, have one arc for all of them. Unfortunately for me, these are all, to some extent, mysteries/thrillers so I can’t just write out the arc without the structure of the rest. And even if that wasn’t the case I still want to at least know what will come next so I don’t write myself into a corner, which is something I have done quite a few times when I lax up on the plotting.
2. I am a prince of procrastination, need I say more?
3. I have no more than 2-3 hours a day to write, not counting weekends.
4. I want every chapter I publish to have passible grammar, a lack of melodrama, a good structure + form, and logical consistency. The only way to do that efficiently, imo, is to plot out each scene of each chapter before writing and making sure each of those scenes have a pay off.
5. I have a typing speed of 10-25 words per minute, despite quite a bit more than 10 years of practice. For example the previous sentence took ~40 seconds to write, and this one a similar amount of time.
6. Writers block. For example, I know what I want to do in a given chapter, the rough idea of who is in each scene, what should happen, where it happens, the result, and the overall goal of each scene, but when I try to put it to word, I just can’t. Maybe I might get in a sentence or two before hitting that wall, and taking a couple of weeks to figure out how to continue. And this is only talking about after I have a chapter plotted out…

There where a couple of excuses mixed in with more valid points up there, nevertheless, I enjoy my process quite a bit so I doubt that motivation is an issue, and while my process might be a bit too thorough I don’t think it is the issue. It might be that I am lacking a sense of urgency to get things done, but I also feel a constant need to write something, but when I do number 6 and 4 hit me in the face pretty hard. I then try switching to writing something else, and I might get somewhere, but more often than not it is a repeat of those two after a couple of minutes. In the past 3-4 months I have been trying to write in a series but have only 1,500 words more than when I started, with about half of the first arc plotted out with only the next chapter plotted out in detail. In other series I have gotten maybe a chapter or two more plotted out, with one exception where there is 6,000 words done before I hit a massive wall. Repeat until I get stoped and get stuck in a procrastination loop.

Your thoughts?

 

[Funnyface]

I think you should write out individual scenes as you think of them and edit them later to match the grand plan you come up with. Then you are working and not procrastinating. And sometimes writing something out helps you think it through- you have to justify your ideas to your audience to make them buy into the story, right?

 

[J_Chemist]

Stuck? Call 1-800-STEP-BRO.

 

[TotallyHuman]

Stuck? Call 1-800-STEP-BRO.

tsk, beat me to it

 

[K5Rakitan]

Use lube.
Seriously.
Write drunk. Edit sober.

Don't worry about writing yourself into a corner. You can get out of it in the editing phase.

 

[J_Chemist]

(This is a bit of a rant, so sorry…)
I currently have 6-7 different things I want to write but there are a couple of issues in my way, and I feel stuck in a loop of trying to do something and getting barely anything, if not nothing, done. To the extent that I only got a paragraph done last week, and it felt like a great achievement. Have you been through something similar? What did you do then? What would you do in this situation?


My goal for writing is to write what I want to read, as well as to put my ideas to paper, yet I have ran into a couple of snags which are listed below.

1. I need to plot out the majority of the stories before I can start, and I only, with one exception, have one arc for all of them. Unfortunately for me, these are all, to some extent, mysteries/thrillers so I can’t just write out the arc without the structure of the rest. And even if that wasn’t the case I still want to at least know what will come next so I don’t write myself into a corner, which is something I have done quite a few times when I lax up on the plotting.
2. I am a prince of procrastination, need I say more?
3. I have no more than 2-3 hours a day to write, not counting weekends.
4. I want every chapter I publish to have passible grammar, a lack of melodrama, a good structure + form, and logical consistency. The only way to do that efficiently, imo, is to plot out each scene of each chapter before writing and making sure each of those scenes have a pay off.
5. I have a typing speed of 10-25 words per minute, despite quite a bit more than 10 years of practice. For example the previous sentence took ~40 seconds to write, and this one a similar amount of time.
6. Writers block. For example, I know what I want to do in a given chapter, the rough idea of who is in each scene, what should happen, where it happens, the result, and the overall goal of each scene, but when I try to put it to word, I just can’t. Maybe I might get in a sentence or two before hitting that wall, and taking a couple of weeks to figure out how to continue. And this is only talking about after I have a chapter plotted out…

There where a couple of excuses mixed in with more valid points up there, nevertheless, I enjoy my process quite a bit so I doubt that motivation is an issue, and while my process might be a bit too thorough I don’t think it is the issue. It might be that I am lacking a sense of urgency to get things done, but I also feel a constant need to write something, but when I do number 6 and 4 hit me in the face pretty hard. I then try switching to writing something else, and I might get somewhere, but more often than not it is a repeat of those two after a couple of minutes. In the past 3-4 months I have been trying to write in a series but have only 1,500 words more than when I started, with about half of the first arc plotted out with only the next chapter plotted out in detail. In other series I have gotten maybe a chapter or two more plotted out, with one exception where there is 6,000 words done before I hit a massive wall. Repeat until I get stoped and get stuck in a procrastination loop.

Your thoughts?

In all seriousness, let me give you a little support.

First, we'll tackle your writing timing and ability.

In terms of ability, you don't need to be an all-star English major to write a good story. A teacher from my high school put it this way; "Write in such a form that your message and words can be understood by a 5th grader". You do not need large words, excessively bright or exotic descriptors, nor do you need to be perfect with your grammar. If it is legible, gets your point across, and paints the picture, trust that your Readers will bridge the gap. Most will. The problem is that English is a pain in the ass and while we can speak it, comprehend it, and spell properly; stringing words together is a skill. Like any skill, you need to develop it through practice, refinement, critique, mistakes, and learning from others. When you're reading in your spare time, if you do, regardless of what you're reading, the Writer Brain in you should be taking little notes and keeping an eye out for new ways to introduce words to your own stories.

As for your timing; there is no rush. There is never any rush. So long as you continue to write and continue to progress your story, don't fret over how long or how little of time you have. My biggest recommendation is to set a specific time during your days off, or during your normal days, and commit to writing. Develop the habit and mental space so that when that time hits, you naturally start writing or you start getting ready for it. Developing the "mental space" helps significantly in this aspect. I use it for two things; writing and going to the gym.

• For writing, I open Google Drive, seperate it from the other tabs, open youtube and find a fitting background song. Then, I put that song on loop and mute everything else. I don't pick any music with lyrics unless I know the lyrics by heart and can largely ignore it. The music is to fill the white space and enhance your focus on your story. It's also to sort of drum up those emotions you might need to be feeling to get your scene proper.
• For the gym, I force myself to call home, talk to my family, and I force myself to get my pre-workout drink ready. Once I take that thing, it's over. There's no escaping the gym or I'm literally going to lose my mind. The mix is strong and I have about 5 minutes before my face is on fire. It's a big motivator.

Once you have the habit down of writing at a certain time or certain day of the week, just stay consistent. Maintain the discipline to keep writing and keep grinding out chapters. You'll find it to be easier than you think once you get the hang of it. But, with anything involving a schedule, it's entirely on you. There's no one else to blame but yourself if you lose the habit or fail to make your timelines.


Second, Procrastination. I'm a king of it as well. I'm lazy. I hate doing things. I would rather sit in my chair all day, do nothing, watch Youtube, and eventually just die. But, we can't do that or we're just scum of the earth. Honestly, there's no surefire fix to this. It's a harsh way of saying it but stop whining and start working. If you want something, you need to put in the effort to get it. No one will write the book for you. No one is going to form the outline. Of course, unless you pay them. It is entirely on you to develop the story that you want. If you don't, the world won't miss you. No one is going to say anything to you. No one is going to message you or crack the whip. They'll maybe post a comment or two asking, but then they're going to move on to the next story. So you can either roll over and keep doing nothing like a waste of oxygen, or you can get after it and actually create something with the gift you have.


Lastly, we'll tackle your plot and writing apprehension. It sounds to me like you're looking for perfection. I was as well when I first started my novel but perfection isn't fun. It's exhausting, draining, boring, and god damn useless. Seeking perfection in all that you do means you'll never produce anything worthwhile. You'll never even produce something in the first place because you're so hemmed up on getting it just right. Where if you just wrote something and put anything out, you'd be further along than whatever golden egg you were chasing. It's fine to get your plot points in a row and keeping the ducks lined up will ensure your story moves along smoothly without much of a hitch. It'll flow smooth, flow nice, and come out to be better than a jangled mess without that TLC. But don't get paralyzed by the desire to get everything right the first time.

My first book to my series that I just finished has 530k words and 77 Chapters. My outline is two pages long. When I started, the outline was barely six dots in an unordered and random list of ideas. As I went along, the ideas came out, the outline expanded, and I finally had an idea of what the hell I was doing. I knew the end state I wanted, I knew where I was starting, but the details in between were nothing but fuzz and static. Sometimes, that's how it is. You just gotta send it and make it up along the way. If you're writing yourself into a corner, then you're failing to give yourself the creative freedom that some stories require. Being flexible with your plot, being able to make those quick on the spot corrections, and then being able to continue the story unabated as if there was never a hiccup in the first place takes a bit of finesse. Don't be afraid of doing stuff like that.

In the end, have fun. Don't tunnel yourself into writing a story that isn't fun. Follow your plot ideas and your outline, but write something you enjoy. Regardless of tropes, genres, or regular rules of writing. Do what you like and above all else; don't stop.

Best of luck.

 

[ElijahRyne]

In all seriousness, let me give you a little support.

First, we'll tackle your writing timing and ability.

In terms of ability, you don't need to be an all-star English major to write a good story. A teacher from my high school put it this way; "Write in such a form that your message and words can be understood by a 5th grader". You do not need large words, excessively bright or exotic descriptors, nor do you need to be perfect with your grammar. If it is legible, gets your point across, and paints the picture, trust that your Readers will bridge the gap. Most will. The problem is that English is a pain in the ass and while we can speak it, comprehend it, and spell properly; stringing words together is a skill. Like any skill, you need to develop it through practice, refinement, critique, mistakes, and learning from others. When you're reading in your spare time, if you do, regardless of what you're reading, the Writer Brain in you should be taking little notes and keeping an eye out for new ways to introduce words to your own stories.

As for your timing; there is no rush. There is never any rush. So long as you continue to write and continue to progress your story, don't fret over how long or how little of time you have. My biggest recommendation is to set a specific time during your days off, or during your normal days, and commit to writing. Develop the habit and mental space so that when that time hits, you naturally start writing or you start getting ready for it. Developing the "mental space" helps significantly in this aspect. I use it for two things; writing and going to the gym.

• For writing, I open Google Drive, seperate it from the other tabs, open youtube and find a fitting background song. Then, I put that song on loop and mute everything else. I don't pick any music with lyrics unless I know the lyrics by heart and can largely ignore it. The music is to fill the white space and enhance your focus on your story. It's also to sort of drum up those emotions you might need to be feeling to get your scene proper.
• For the gym, I force myself to call home, talk to my family, and I force myself to get my pre-workout drink ready. Once I take that thing, it's over. There's no escaping the gym or I'm literally going to lose my mind. The mix is strong and I have about 5 minutes before my face is on fire. It's a big motivator.

Once you have the habit down of writing at a certain time or certain day of the week, just stay consistent. Maintain the discipline to keep writing and keep grinding out chapters. You'll find it to be easier than you think once you get the hang of it. But, with anything involving a schedule, it's entirely on you. There's no one else to blame but yourself if you lose the habit or fail to make your timelines.


Second, Procrastination. I'm a king of it as well. I'm lazy. I hate doing things. I would rather sit in my chair all day, do nothing, watch Youtube, and eventually just die. But, we can't do that or we're just scum of the earth. Honestly, there's no surefire fix to this. It's a harsh way of saying it but stop whining and start working. If you want something, you need to put in the effort to get it. No one will write the book for you. No one is going to form the outline. Of course, unless you pay them. It is entirely on you to develop the story that you want. If you don't, the world won't miss you. No one is going to say anything to you. No one is going to message you or crack the whip. They'll maybe post a comment or two asking, but then they're going to move on to the next story. So you can either roll over and keep doing nothing like a waste of oxygen, or you can get after it and actually create something with the gift you have.


Lastly, we'll tackle your plot and writing apprehension. It sounds to me like you're looking for perfection. I was as well when I first started my novel but perfection isn't fun. It's exhausting, draining, boring, and god damn useless. Seeking perfection in all that you do means you'll never produce anything worthwhile. You'll never even produce something in the first place because you're so hemmed up on getting it just right. Where if you just wrote something and put anything out, you'd be further along than whatever golden egg you were chasing. It's fine to get your plot points in a row and keeping the ducks lined up will ensure your story moves along smoothly without much of a hitch. It'll flow smooth, flow nice, and come out to be better than a jangled mess without that TLC. But don't get paralyzed by the desire to get everything right the first time.

My first book to my series that I just finished has 530k words and 77 Chapters. My outline is two pages long. When I started, the outline was barely six dots in an unordered and random list of ideas. As I went along, the ideas came out, the outline expanded, and I finally had an idea of what the hell I was doing. I knew the end state I wanted, I knew where I was starting, but the details in between were nothing but fuzz and static. Sometimes, that's how it is. You just gotta send it and make it up along the way. If you're writing yourself into a corner, then you're failing to give yourself the creative freedom that some stories require. Being flexible with your plot, being able to make those quick on the spot corrections, and then being able to continue the story unabated as if there was never a hiccup in the first place takes a bit of finesse. Don't be afraid of doing stuff like that.

In the end, have fun. Don't tunnel yourself into writing a story that isn't fun. Follow your plot ideas and your outline, but write something you enjoy. Regardless of tropes, genres, or regular rules of writing. Do what you like and above all else; don't stop.

Best of luck.

Thank you for the advice, but I don’t know if it fits too well. (Minus the procrastination part, which I will deal with at some point soon, probably ;)

Writing is fun when I can write, but down right aggravating when I am ready to write but can’t get anything done. It is not due to apprehension against writing, I don’t have that, but because I am stumped.
I typically spend at least 5-10 minutes a day for writing, the issue is I get nothing or very little done.

I find my writers block gets worse the less I plot things out. It is typically less of me not wanting to continue writing, and more because I don’t know what to do next, so the more I plan it out the easier it is. When I don’t plan things out to that extent I find myself rewriting the entire thing whenever I add a couple of pages so that it fits better with the new stuff, which is fine if you only have a page or two, but once you have 20+ you can probably understand the issue.

I also am not searching for perfection, I am trying to keep it at a minimum quality that I would enjoy, and if a couple of details slip by me who cares. I often find my self editing and re-editing older stuff instead of writing newer stuff, but this is because I don’t know how to continue so I might as well hone what I already have.

While procrastination is a factor in the time in between writing periods, the main issue is getting nothing or barely anything done when I sit down to do it. I write out my scene outlines then I get a paragraph, delete that paragraph and try something new, or, as most likely the case, I can’t think of how to start or continue the scene so I stall until I do. By that point it will take from 5 seconds to a handful of weeks before I figure it out, I finish the scene, and then get stalled with the next. Even when I have the outline for the scene this happens, but the time is typically cut in half. I can write ‘the dog walks.’ or ‘The sky was blue’, but that really doesn’t get me any further than I was before.

I think I have tried the strategy of writing whatever comes to mind a handful of times before and all it leads to, at least for me, is an overly poetic waxing on the grogginess felt when waking up and what I want for breakfast. Before I modify it to fit the story. Which is how the last 2 chapters of Under the Tower, the last chapter of The Mist of Love, and the latest chapter of Gulnain started, as well as a handful of other things I have yet to release.

The best way I have found to stop said block is stepping away from writing and doing something else, but this leads into procrastination, creating a bit of a loop.

 

[melchi]

Eh, I don't know what to say about writing mystery. I really have no taste for mystery. So can't help there.

As for writing, the biggest problem remains taking the first step. Open your word editor, write something down, get frustrated, lay down for 30 minutes, make coffee, think about what you wrote, come back some time later. Even if it takes all day in an on-and-off-process having that file at your computer open and looking at you demanding your attention is a bit of progress. As long as the progress is not zero then the story will keep getting longer.

 

[melonpanwarrior]

You can use chatGPT to help you out whenever you get stucked. It helped me a lot.

 

[Rhaps]

My advice is edge yourself, just put off writing long enough to the point that you craves it, have the story in your mind everytime you do something. By the point you get to writing, you would write and write like a madman (At least that's how I do it)

Don't strive for perfection, you don't need to plan for every details and just have fun. Go with the flow and change as you see fit, I'm just winging it for most of the time lol.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

(This is a bit of a rant, so sorry…)
I currently have 6-7 different things I want to write but there are a couple of issues in my way, and I feel stuck in a loop of trying to do something and getting barely anything, if not nothing, done. To the extent that I only got a paragraph done last week, and it felt like a great achievement. Have you been through something similar? What did you do then? What would you do in this situation?

Reading this post, I can't help but be reminded of my 2019 author self, which is different from my current one. Here's what I did to this situation:

My goal for writing is to write what I want to read, as well as to put my ideas to paper, yet I have ran into a couple of snags which are listed below.

1. I need to plot out the majority of the stories before I can start, and I only, with one exception, have one arc for all of them. Unfortunately for me, these are all, to some extent, mysteries/thrillers so I can’t just write out the arc without the structure of the rest. And even if that wasn’t the case I still want to at least know what will come next so I don’t write myself into a corner, which is something I have done quite a few times when I lax up on the plotting.
2. I am a prince of procrastination, need I say more?

For one, this has to change if you aim to write with some semblance of consistency. What I did is from just being a hobby, I re-focused my goals and my skills to writing, hence I was able to write my volumes.

3. I have no more than 2-3 hours a day to write, not counting weekends.

Work-related? School-related? There has to be something in-between those times which you can dedicate to your craft. Like what I said from my previous point, change the way you look at your hobby/writing. Give it time, instead of leaving it time.

As I am a teacher, whenever I have a timeslot with no class, I'd just write my chapter drafts while waiting for the next on my schedule. It's the reason I always have a notebook and pen with me, or in some cases, pencil and vellum board (for drawings).

4. I want every chapter I publish to have passible grammar, a lack of melodrama, a good structure + form, and logical consistency. The only way to do that efficiently, imo, is to plot out each scene of each chapter before writing and making sure each of those scenes have a pay off.

Yes, planning and plotting helps, but with removing distractions and changing attitude towards writing, you make those plans into reality.

Also I write everything first, then edit the manuscript after that. Editing midway can be distracting, see?

5. I have a typing speed of 10-25 words per minute, despite quite a bit more than 10 years of practice. For example the previous sentence took ~40 seconds to write, and this one a similar amount of time.

I don't think typing speed is the issue. Distractions are. See, I can type up to 120 wpm (since my college training is to be a secretary), but when distracted, those wpms are thrown into the wind and I type like a potato.

6. Writers block. For example, I know what I want to do in a given chapter, the rough idea of who is in each scene, what should happen, where it happens, the result, and the overall goal of each scene, but when I try to put it to word, I just can’t. Maybe I might get in a sentence or two before hitting that wall, and taking a couple of weeks to figure out how to continue. And this is only talking about after I have a chapter plotted out…

For writer's block, I deal with it with these:

1) If I can't write something I like, I'd stop writing but keep my notes. This is because, while I'm in the middle of a mental block, everything reads ugly to me. Once I get over it, I read my notes again, and most of the time, I end up liking what I wrote.

2) I stop writing for several weeks or days, and do whatever I want, like play games, read books and manga, do other stuff.

3) If I find myself enjoying too much and I start to worry about not writing anything, I start pushing myself to write. I stop playing games, watching shows, reading--basically, everything that distracts me from what I need to do. Sooner or later, I'll 'explode' into my writing mode and finish an entire manuscript within weeks.

There where a couple of excuses mixed in with more valid points up there, nevertheless, I enjoy my process quite a bit so I doubt that motivation is an issue, and while my process might be a bit too thorough I don’t think it is the issue.

Yep, you have no problem with your motivation. I guess what you need to work on is how you treat your writing.

I know many are not believing when I tell them I'm a lazy author, but yes, I'm a lazy author. If I can't finish a manuscript within the deadline I set myself, it'd take decades to finish it (like my novel, DECK). So armed with this knowledge, I sought to circumvent my weakness by focusing on my stories (which involves changing of attitude/how I treat my work, and self-discipline.)

Like someone from this forum said before, "Writing is like a muse, and we need to work hard to earn her favor".

It might be that I am lacking a sense of urgency to get things done, but I also feel a constant need to write something, but when I do number 6 and 4 hit me in the face pretty hard. I then try switching to writing something else, and I might get somewhere, but more often than not it is a repeat of those two after a couple of minutes. In the past 3-4 months I have been trying to write in a series but have only 1,500 words more than when I started, with about half of the first arc plotted out with only the next chapter plotted out in detail. In other series I have gotten maybe a chapter or two more plotted out, with one exception where there is 6,000 words done before I hit a massive wall. Repeat until I get stoped and get stuck in a procrastination loop.

Your thoughts?

Well, those are my thoughts on your problem, which is very similar to mine years ago. Again, let me repeat what I did:

1) Changed my attitude towards my writing.
2) Disciplined myself to keep away from distractions while in the middle of writing (which is also connected to my first point).
3) Get to know yourself as an author. What are your weaknesses? What motivates you to write? What keeps you from writing? Don't be afraid to try eveything to make your hand and mind cells work.

(In case someone asks, my current main story, The Human Saint is Bored has 15 published volumes online, and a 16th one in the works. Word count is at 83k words the longest book--Vol. 4, and 34k words for the shortest--Vol. 14. Average word count per volume is 60k words, and per main chapter is at 4k or more. For side chapters, it is 1k words average.

Aside from that, I got two other novels, which is the Ballad of the School Hallways and DECK. Both have a single volume up, though I plan to rewrite DECK.

Also, I have a manga, Paulina Rex, though this one's about to be redrawn to update on my art style.)

 

[LunaSoltaer]

Im on mobile so been skimming but i read somewhere that someone tooj their novel, and decided to only write the awesome parts, with none of the "necessary" boring parts, and what happened was a kickass novel I think it was on lesswrong but id have a hard time finding it now.

But yeah, if your scene has a hard time reaching your subjective standard of quality, maybe think about wjether that scene resonates with you, or maybe you're so annoyed with it that you wont see it as good and need a beta reader to help give fresh perspective.

(betas... something I should really consider but im so scared about asking anyone because im just afraid of rejection... Ive gotten overvit but it can still flinch me)