Anyone else ever get this feeling?

When that happens, I usually just sit at the keyboard and start typing. Whatever comes into my head, even if it seems like drivel that will never turn into a coherent narrative, nevermind a compelling story.

Sometimes it doesn't actually work, it really is incoherent ramblings, but at least I had the satisfaction of writing. And sometimes, really awesome stories are born that way. Good luck. ^_^

Ideas are everywhere. It's what you do with them that matters.

But do I want to write something earth-shattering? Every. Damn. Day.

But writing, though fun, is also work, so you just have to sit down and get on with it. Take the pressure off yourself and just write. I guarantee those 'earth-shattering' turns of phrase will creep up on you when you're in flow - those times when you're barely conscious of self are when you come up with your best stuff.

This might seem a bit harsh, but stop trying so hard.

It sounds like you so desperately want to write something brilliant that any idea you come up with you're instantly going to discard as not good enough, and so the ideas stop coming at all. Brilliance generally comes in the editing process, not the writing process. Give yourself permission to write something that's crap and you might find that what you come up with isn't as bad as you thought.

Not going to help, but when I started out on my first novel all I knew was that I wasnted to write a kidnap story that I wanted to read, but didn't exist.

You're going to hate this bit: the characters just emerged from my imagination fully formed.

The rest comes with years and years of practice. Oh, and the constant rejections either inflate you into a God complex or kick all pretensions out of you!

earthquake.

There you go.
That was earth-shattering. LOL


Not what you were looking for? Well, keep looking, you'll find it.

Seriously though. The other day I read a passage in a novel that profoundly affected me. Made me stop and think and contemplate a lot of major issues in my life. What it taught me, reading that passage, was that as a writer, you may very well write something profound, and moving and earth shattering that someone like myself is very moved by, and it has great impact on my life. However, another person that reads it, may not be moved in the least bit.

So, I think that it's easier to just say, write from the heart, and some reader out there may very well credit you with something that is earth-shattering and profound. It may not even be the actual passage that YOU considered to be profound, but it may be a hidden gem that that particular reader uncovered from your words.

I don't beleive that 'earth-shattering writing' is a cosncious act. I think it comes bubbling up from deep within, and others will notice it for genius and then they'll tell you that you've written something noteworthy.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

When you're desperate to write something poignant and meaningful and earth-shattering -- but completely unpretentious -- and have no ideas.

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If you have no ideas, then why do you want to write?

Most people start writing because they already have an idea and think it would be worthwhile to get it out of their heads. It seems like you're going at it backwards. The way you're doing it, you'll always sound pretentious because you're writing with the pretense of being meaningful. It's the same thing that happens when someone sits down to write a "lesson" story. They get so caught up in hammering that lesson out that the story suffers. Most people don't like being preached at when they read for leisure, and they can spot "injected" meaning a mile off. It'll sound contrived.

Forget meaningful for now (it will either have meaning in the end or it won't - you can't control that because meaning changes with each reader). Just write a narrative. Good, bad, doesn't matter. When you edit it you can work on the big stuff.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

When you're desperate to write something poignant and meaningful and earth-shattering -- but completely unpretentious

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Isn't that an oxymoron?

I have no pretensions that I'll ever write anything poignant, meaningful, or earth-shattering.

I write cotton candy and I'm quite happy with that.

But to answer your question, I don't get ideas. I just start writing. Odd as that sounds, I have to be writing first, then the ideas come, I don't get "Eureka!" moments while I'm out and about. I have to have BIC time and then it comes.

DWSTXS said:

earthquake.



There you go.

That was earth-shattering. LOL





Not what you were looking for? Well, keep looking, you'll find it.



Seriously though. The other day I read a passage in a novel that profoundly affected me. Made me stop and think and contemplate a lot of major issues in my life. What it taught me, reading that passage, was that as a writer, you may very well write something profound, and moving and earth shattering that someone like myself is very moved by, and it has great impact on my life. However, another person that reads it, may not be moved in the least bit.



So, I think that it's easier to just say, write from the heart, and some reader out there may very well credit you with something that is earth-shattering and profound. It may not even be the actual passage that YOU considered to be profound, but it may be a hidden gem that that particular reader uncovered from your words.



I don't beleive that 'earth-shattering writing' is a cosncious act. I think it comes bubbling up from deep within, and others will notice it for genius and then they'll tell you that you've written something noteworthy.

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^^^ Oh, that's good!

I stopped writing for too many years because I couldn't write anything earth-shattering (on the first draft, no less.) Just write what you think is interesting, for now You'll be surprised how much better it is than trying to write deep. And deep may be the way it twists; no problem there. But don't try to force it to appear.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

I'm itching to write, I'm clinging to my last scrap of free time, and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to write something that will turn into a book, but I have no ideas!

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This is one thing that helps me. When you think of poignant, meaningful and earth-shattering, do any images come to mind? You might have a vague sense of a setting, or a mood, or a voice, or an event. Begin by writing down anything you can, no matter how vague.

Then, brainstorm each of the words or phrases you have. Write down any associated words. You could use mind mapping software for this, if it suits you (FreeMind is free). Don't censor yourself. Try to pinpoint what it is about what you've written that is appealing to you.

By doing this, at some point there you will probably come up with something that suddenly appeals strongly to you. Brainstorm around it, and try to expand on it.

What the brainstorming does is help you get to the heart of what holds a spark for you, and then expand on it. It gets you a starting point. You might end up with a scene idea, or a place, or a character or event, or a general idea for a premise. Once you have that, you can expand on it.

Take some time to find the perfect idea first, then start writing. Trying too had may be the problem, let it come to you.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

When you're desperate to write something poignant and meaningful and earth-shattering -- but completely unpretentious -- and have no ideas. I know that most authors have ideas that just "hit" them, but right now I'm stuck. I'm itching to write, I'm clinging to my last scrap of free time, and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to write something that will turn into a book, but I have no ideas! Can anyone help me?

- Sorry about the hysterical tone. Today has not been a good day.

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As the others have said, you need to get rid of this notion that you must write "poignant and meaningful and earthshattering". It's a rubbish attitude, because what having it will mean is that you freeze up.

No-one, bar no-one, writes like that on first draft. Not Hemingway, not Steinbeck, not anyone. Get it out of your head. Now.

You're constructing an opera. You need to give yourself the time to tune the orchestra from pitifully totally unsynchronized to perfect synchronisation. You need to allow the tenor to be a diva, and you need to keep the rest of the singers from starving to death.

Perfection comes in the performance, not in composition.

1) Stop putting so much pressure on yourself
2) Stop caring what the rest of us will think. Write what feels poignant and beautiful and earth-shattering to you, even if it doesn't make any damn sense, and don't worry about whether you've just penned the next piece of classic literature.

Just sit down and write.

If you don't develop the discipline, the skills won't be there for when the really great idea finally does hit you.

Writing to Inspire

The goal of most all fiction writers is to express some, if not many, of their views in insightful and inspiring ways. What separates each author is how the messages are conveyed, and consequently, this makes the difference between a published author and one who has yet to be. The result of such prose will manifest from writing, reading, experiences, patience, and more writing. Continue this cycle and you'll rev up ideas you didn't know you'd think of.

every writer THINKS that they've written something poignant and earth-shatteriing. This is called ego.

It is the readers of your work who will deem it earth-shattering, or trash. You just need to write a great story and let it be judged on it's own merits.

I'm with the Ferret. I just want to write something entertaining. I read for fun, so I write the sort of stories that I find fun to read.

But I also have no delusions of grandeur. I am who I am, and it doesn't include anything earth shattering. Vulgar jokes and dry humor, but nothing particularly meaningful or profound.

What everyone said . . .

It's like walking into a party and seeing a pretty girl.

If you try to come up with a 'perfect' line that shows you are erudite, poetic, politically active, sensitive, well-read, emotionally mature, financially prudent, thoughtful and sincere
you will end up saying nothing at all.

Or you'll sound like a putz.

What you want to do is walk over and just be yourself and talk in your normal voice. If you happen to be any of that list of things, it's going to come out in the conversation.

job said:

...If you happen to be any of that list of things, it's going to come out in the conversation.

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Oh.

I just 'got' that.

And not in relation to my writing.

I still can't write because I'm still searching for the perfect plot. By "perfect" I don't mean earth shattering to people, just earth shattering to me! I can't drive if the road isn't clear beforehand, if you know what I mean.

So, I'm brainstorming until I hit a very good tune, write it, then fine tune it. Actually, you need good composition and good performance to get something good.

What I said only applies to me (as far as I'm concerned), so you need to find what best suits you in your brainstorming and writing endeavors.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

When you're desperate to write something poignant and meaningful and earth-shattering -- but completely unpretentious -- and have no ideas. I know that most authors have ideas that just "hit" them, but right now I'm stuck. I'm itching to write, I'm clinging to my last scrap of free time, and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to write something that will turn into a book, but I have no ideas! Can anyone help me?

- Sorry about the hysterical tone. Today has not been a good day.

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What few lessons I've learned in three years of reading and posting to AW, and writing little bits of fiction in between, and writing 'a lot' last November ... well, there's this:

If you can't write something poignant, meaningful and/or earth-shattering (we can't all be Marvin The Martian), just write SOMETHING.

There's an Inner Editor Disable button in the book "No Plot, No Problem!" written by the founder of NaNoWriMo. I pushed it a couple years ago, but it still didn't work. I think this time what I did was when the Internal Editor said "This sucks. This sucks out loud, you know that?" I'd say "Yeah, I know. I really know. I'm gonna keep on writing anyway, so bleep you."

There's the Sunday Night Flash Fiction Challenge we (some of us on AW) do every week at 9PM Eastern time (or within 24 hours if you can't do it then). We get a prompt of one or a few words, and we get 90 minutes to write a story based on the prompt. You're free to use the prompt for longer stories too. Here's the stories from last week (password=flashed):
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=137
You can see the prompt in the thread title. Previous weeks' stories are here (same password):
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=138
The prompts may help you get ideas. You can even read some of the stories to see what others made out of the prompts.

The_Ink_Goddess said:

I'm itching to write

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How about writing about a character you can't help sympathising with, on its worst possible day?

See if you can make it interesting, sympathetic and terrible. If you can do that, then you can edit it later to be interesting, sympathetic and good.

What's wrong with pretentious?

I think sometimes I confuse "earth-shattering" with "flowery prose" and you may be doing the same sort of thing. A lot of the classics that are deemed poignant or whatever, well, they were written in a different age and as such the word choices and sentence structure seems flowery to us now, sometimes. Perhaps not in the adjective sense, but in the flow sense.

But my point is, most of the time when I hit a new scene, I want it to be brilliant on the first draft. The only times I've ever thought it was brilliant after the fact was when I had gone a little flowery with it.

Someone above said that different people will find different things earth-shattering. I think this is very true. Just write what you want to write, and edit it a couple of times. Not only can you not get anywhere unless you start, but for me the most earth-shattering books I've ever read got that way not because of their starts, or even their concepts, but because it was consistent and at the end of reading it I would go, "Wow, that was awesome."

For instance, I think Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene was earth-shattering and poignant and everything, and that wasn't even fictional prose. It was a dry science book. Like I said, for me it's all about the overall effect of the book. If you try to achieve the overall effect of the book before you've actually written it, you'll just give yourself a headache and not even start, if you're anything like me.

The first book I ever planned, I had so much outline, and it was a concept that I loved, and I loved the characters, and I loved the plot lines - only when I sat down to start writing it, I found that I couldn't get any words out because I had built the idea up in my head so much.

So that was just my long-winded way of saying, just write something and it'll either work out or it won't, but at least you'll have tried.

Oh god I'd love to write something epic and earth shattering... maybe someday...