I'm struggling to write my next chapter. Quick, somebody give me the only motivating advice that actually works.

[doravg]

Yeah, I'm being a slouch right now. ADHD effects kicking in, and I'm just finding myself unable to put down my mobile games and just get behind the computer and write.

So, I thought I'd just share that and ask people to give me the "advice" I need to get myself back on track. Namely, I came here to have people yell the words "just do it" at me.

(I'm an experienced enough writer to know that, ultimately, that's the thing that actually helps more than absolutely anything else, and I've already removed all the other mental blocks. I just thought maybe I'd be a little more motivated if I had half a dozen or so people all saying the thing I already know to be true.)

You should create before you consume. That being said, just do the work! Put your ass where your heart wants to be! What does that mean? You want for people to read your work, and you want to touch their lives? Well, that can't happen if you play games, instead of writing the next chapter! Think about all the people who are waiting on you to publish the next chapter!

But if the guilt trip doesn't work, just do a ten-day challenge. Get somebody to do it with you, and write. The competition will force your ego to become your task master.

Just do it! (Spoken from somebody who is tired, but still managed to get 9k words done today, and is preparing for a day of intense editing.)

 

[Placeholder]

> Use TK. This is the essential lubricant of the rough first draft. It’s a habit I learned from working as a reporter, but didn’t realize the novel-writing magic of it until I read this advice from Cory Doctorow. TK is an editing mark that means “to come” and is equivalent to leaving a blank or brackets in the text (It’s TK, not TC, because editorial marks are often misspelled intentionally so as not to confuse them with final copy: editors write graf and hed for paragraph and headline).

Writing Wednesdays: The Magic of TK

On Shawn’s storygrid.com this week there was such a great piece that I’m ripping it off lock-stock-and-barrel here to share with my peeps. It’s on the subject of writing a first draft. Matt Quirk is a novelist (The 500, The Directive, Cold Barrel Zero) and a friend and client of Shawn’s. Here’s...

stevenpressfield.com

 

[Noel_Elitia]

Read the previous chapter and start writing the next chapter. Always works for me.

 

[StainedGlassThreads]

It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to exist. Vomit up the most wretched dogshit ever to disgrace this sorry earth. Then make it somewhat decent with the magic if editing. But just get SOMETHING out. You can improve dogshit, but you can’t improve that which does not exist.

 

[proxybaba]

take a break, that would be more constructive if you are not bound by deadline

 

[melchi]

Use condom!

Shouldn't "Carefully" be more appropriate?

 

[gaylolis]

talk to chatgpt or someone else about your story. it made me able to finish several chapters until it's completed, even though i feel lazy most of the time.

i usually start by talking about how i wanted to continue my story and its details. while the feedback from chatgpt may be generic and not that helpful, it still helps me gather my thoughts before tackling the real thing.

 

[Dearest_Violet]

talk to chatgpt

Gaslighting the AI is my favorite pastime!

 

[OokamiKasumi]

I'm struggling to write my next chapter. Quick, somebody give me the only motivating advice that actually works.​

 

[Drytron]

Git gud.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Take a short break and go for a walk. Clear your head and then come back to it after an hour with a fresh outlook. It may help.

 

[Hanne]

actually, the best advice is to rethink the chapter.

if you found it hard, it's because you're subconsciously blocked it (don't want to make it). so, search your feeling, Luke.

Try a different take, a different way to tackle the scene you don't want to write. because if even the author doesn't like the scene, then what are the odds your reader gonna like it, or so I've been taught. hope that helps.