Can't Get Any Writing Actually Done

I don't think it takes much aspiring to be an amateur writer. =-)

Here's two suggestions that might help.

1. Just write. Something like a free word association. I like to pretend I'm in the head of one of my MC's and write whatever pops into my (his) head. Some strange stuff might come up, but just write it all down. You might come up with a few good ideas.

2. This is similar, but instead of writing thoughts, come up with as many plot ideas as possible. What if the MC is driving and rear-ends someone? A beautiful woman, a mobster, and alien. Or how about a cross-dressing, mobster alien?

Come up with as many ideas as you can. Yes, most of them will suck. But it only takes one or two to start developing your story.

I used to have this problem. I would come up with an idea that really excited me, maybe outline it, and then give up or go blank.

I started handwriting my stuff. I got a notebook, I write in bad handwriting, and I don't pay much attention to what it is I am writing. In fact, I'm usually writing during commercial breaks. Then, I'll type it in to my computer, marvel at the fact that I no longer have a blank screen, and go from there. I just found that sitting down at the computer, staring at the blank screen was too much pressure. I dunno, it worked for me.

Practice a lot is the only solid advice I can give you. The more time you spend doing something, the better you'll get at it.

Also might give plotting a try. A lot of writers hate it and think it stifles creativity, but I find it a useful road map for what I need to write. Figure out what you're trying to say and what entertaining events happen in a chapter before writing.

For me writing without plotting is like cooking without a recipe--just throwing random crap into a pan and hope for the best, but a lot of writers will disagree with this.

What everyone else has said: just write.

Nobody is a literary genius right from the first page. Writing something publishable takes practice. You need to develop those muscles that allow you to create and to finish.

So get to work.

aadams73 said:

What everyone else has said: just write.

Nobody is a literary genius right from the first page. Writing something publishable takes practice. You need to develop those muscles that allow you to create and to finish.

So get to work.

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What I do is just sit down and write. I just pick up where I left off. Before I used to wait for a new storyline to pop into my head, but I decided that in order to finish my unfinished work I have to do some major BIC FOK. Otherwise I will never finish.

Many beginners just like the idea of being a writer more than the idea of writing. (To be honest, I do sometimes wonder if I still belong in the former group. )

But the choice is simple really -one either writes or one doesn't.

Start hitting those keys and see what happens. Let your imagination do the work. If you're stuck, ask yourself 'What if...?' or just type 'There came a loud knock on the door and in strode a two-headed mouse swinging a baseball bat.'

Typing anything -absolutely anything - will get you farther than doing nothing. Good luck.

And see if you can lay your hands on a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and Whyte.

If you're a writer, you write. End of story.

There are a lot of things that go into a story, so don't beat yourself up if you don't magically know them all right away.

Try looking at your story and characters and asking a few questions:

1. What do these characters want? Both from a long term and short perspective?
2. What are they willing to risk or sacrifice to get those things?
3. What is standing in their way of getting those things?

Next, use the above answers and ask a few more questions:

4. What things might your characters do to get the things they want?
5. What things might whoever wants to stop them might do? Or events might happen if the thing stopping them isn't a person?
6. How can you make things get progressively worse?

Take those ideas, line them up in some kind of order from the "Gee, I want to get X" all the way to "Look! I got X!" Then connect the dots, writing from point to point.

Have some great comments from a number of writers on tape, which i'll eventually make available but one thing they ALL said.
it's work, treat it as such (ie, set time, set place, set days)

Omnipotent Jerk said:

I'm an amateur writer. Or at least I aspire to be one. I've tried writing, but I can't seem to get anything done. I come up with ideas that I like, but once I actually write them I either can't think of anything to do with them and find that I've underdeveloped them. I haven't been able to actually make a full writing I could use some help with actually planning and writing a full thing. Can anyone give me some advice?

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Instead of coming up with an idea first try creating a character then think of a situation you can put them in that will contain lots of conflict.

I used to spend way too much time developing ideas then trying to write them in story form and finding that they just didn't work. I switched from building on an idea to building on a single character and spending as little time as possible thinking about it. Everything gets added in as needed and fleshed out later. It makes for a messy first draft and heavy rewriting later but it gets the story down, and that's the most important thing for me to do. I figure as I gain experience I'll be able to do more fleshing out as I go on the first draft so I won't end up doing so much rewriting later.

The only truly unusable story is the one that isn't written. Even if the story itself turns out to be crap and gets trunked, as long as you've learned something it isn't a waste.

Omnipotent Jerk said:

I'm an amateur writer. Or at least I aspire to be one. I've tried writing, but I can't seem to get anything done. I come up with ideas that I like, but once I actually write them I either can't think of anything to do with them and find that I've underdeveloped them. I haven't been able to actually make a full writing I could use some help with actually planning and writing a full thing. Can anyone give me some advice?

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You've 'tried' writing? Try some more. It takes time and practise to discipline yourself enough to write every day.

And once you DO write everyday, you will grow in strength, you'll learn what works and what doesn't, and how to link up your ideas with your writing style.

I'd start with simple writing exercises. That's what worked for me.

Like, describe your room to someone. Describe your room to someone as if a terrible event was to take place there soon. Describe your room to someone bla bla and so on.

Or pretend you're an animal. Describe how you're moving about and eating. What are you thinking about. And so on and so forth.

You can also experiment with styles. Try writing as is you're the most boring and arrogant person alive. Or pretend you're clueless. Or pretend you're god annoyed with your foolish creations.

You could do this for a long time. The variations are endless. Sooner or later you'll find a voice and a style you like. There's only a very little part of writing which is about the story itself. It's mostly about thought control. Getting your reader into an exciting mental spot. Until you do, your stuff will be boring. Practice practice practice.

I'm in the same boat. It comes from too much self-editing and holding yourself up to extremely high expectations. All writers suffer from self-editing to some degree but it's really difficult for those of us just starting out.

Maybe my solution will help you. I try to have as much thought out as possible beforehand. I like to know my protagonist, antagonist, window characters for each, the setting, and a basic plot. The easiest way to generate these is to start with your general idea (or pick a random word in the dictionary if you don't have any ideas) and make word association lists.

For example, let's say I wanted to write about greed. I'd write the word greed and list as many words as came to mind associated with greed. Let's say Money, banker, corporation, food, hugging, vault, and on and on. It doesn't have to be related - just whatever comes to mind. Then I'll pick one of the words for setting. Let's say corporation. Then I'll list out all the people you might find in a corporation: CEO, secretary, technician, whatever. From here, i'll get a protagonist and an antagonist and work from there to get a basic idea of a story plot. Hopefully, the plot will be related back to greed, my original subject.

I really like this way to generate because it's fast and easy. If I get stuck, I can make more lists or ask questions about why i'm stuck on a separate document and try and answer them with whatever comes to mind.

I hope this helps anyone in the same bind.

If you start writing with just an idea, you'll eventually hit a brick wall somewhere along the way. In order to write a story that makes sense you need a beginning, a middle and an end. When people have an idea, they either think of an interesting character, a nice location or a juicy plot point. But you can't start writing with that. You need to develop it and find out all the missing bits. What happened after, what happened before? Some people write entire outlines, but I find that at least having a rough roadmap of where I would like to go works for me. Make sure you have rough ideas for everything you need before you start writing. You''ll find it becomes a lot easier.