Going everywhere but still not moving.

[dkglenning]

All right, I have a crazy and very angering problem. I have the preverbial active imagination. Very active. There's nothing I can do about it, so I channel it into my writing. Usually that's great. But there is a problem. I have been writing for years and haven't finished one single book. My mind goes everywhere, and before you know it, I've started like, 50 stories. Some don't go anywhere and i throw them out. Others have real potential, but I can't ever focus on them, before another takes my attention. Can anyone help?

[callalily61]

Try outlining. It might be the trigger you need to focus on one story to the end.

[chartreuse]

I have this same problem to a certain extent. Whatever I'm working on is never as exciting as the new ideas I'm constantly getting, and I have tons of partially finished stories sitting around.

I've never found a magic pill for this, but joining a critique group did help, as they tend to object if all I ever bring in is the six first pages of anything. Since I joined, I've completed several short stories and am well into two novels.

[Novelhistorian]

I sympathize. During the first decade or so of my career, I started novel after novel and finished none.

Have you ever asked yourself what it would feel like to finish something? Does it seem scary? If so, the supportive opinion of people around you might help.

[Anthony Ravenscroft]

There's good reason that some of us like to start out with a destination in mind, something to "write toward," rather than just dive in with an interesting premise & "see where it goes."

Rather than thrash around with nothing but snippets, take some of your ideas & outline them briefly, beginning to end. See if there's any substance to any of them before you put in so much time & effort -- unless, of course, you're juyst writing for your own amusement & don't care if you ever get published.

[scottVee]

Years ago I had one of those moments: "I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but the ideas are the easy part." I write mostly short stories and poems. For me, poetry is the place where ideas can be caught in some pure form. Sometimes the short story form looks like a lot of unnecessary, formulaic baggage, and novels are the same thing but on an epic scale.

Maybe you're not a novelist. I know I'm not. I mean, I finished a few, but can't churn them out at a commercial pace. (And the submission process is one of the slowest forms of torture ever devised.)

If you're writing novels solely because you think you must, or because someone said you must, or because "that's where the money is" ... keep an eye open for other forms of reality.

;-)

[Williebee]

Peer Pressure

[Cath]

Have you tried writing really short shorts? Something you can finish in one sitting? (I find I can comfortably do a 2,000 word first draft in one go, but you could go much shorter.)

Of course, you'll probably need to go back and revise later, but just getting used to writing The End on a few things might help.

[dkglenning]

thanks everyone, you've all given me something to go on. Maybe now I can actually finish one. Don't get me wrong, I love to write novels, I know thats what I want to do, and someday I'll get them published. Just can't focus. But no we'll see, won't we?

[Willowmound]

If you really want to, you'll do it.

Focus. Stop messing about. Just do it.

However, 'not being able to' is a dandy excuse for yourself to avoid the actual work. Writing is work. Fail to realise this at your own peril.

[dkglenning]

Trust me. I believe writing is work. I don't think anyone knows THAT better than I do. So thank you for your advise but I already know it. Some of us, just have too much on our minds.

[Willowmound]

If you really want it, you'll do it.

Pick a project, see it through.

What's stopping you but you?

[dkglenning]

As I said, I have a lot on my mind, and unfortunately, no matter how much I want it to be otherwise, writing is not high on the list. I realize I am my own hinderence. The point of my post was to get some feed back so maybe something would trigger or I could get back on track. But I'm working on it.

[aka eraser]

I have a hunch you're young. Youth is a time of high energy and much exploration. When you've done more living, you'll find it easier to ignore new stimuli that take you off task. Focussing on, and finishing what you start will get a little easier.

[Jamesaritchie]

Finishing is a choice. When yo change projects, it's not because you didn't have a destination in mind, it's not because you have too many ideas, and it's not because you have an active imagination. All writers have active imaginations.

Not finishing simply means you made a choice to stop working on one thing in order to work on something else.

Writing is as much about self-discipline as anything else, and self-discipline means you have to make the choice to finish whatever you begin, no matter what else is shouting for your attention. It's the Heinlein rules at work.

HEINLEIN'S RULES FOR WRITING


1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.



And http://www.sfwriter.com/ow05.htm

[Soccer Mom]

Like Cath said, try and focus on a small project. Short fiction is a microcosim of longer fiction. Beginning, middle, end. But in tiny bites. Try writing something very short and finish.

Savor that feeling.

Then do it again. Start small with flash and then try longer pieces. Set a specific goal for yourself. Post that goal either here or up at home where others can see it. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Now meet your goal. It can either be in words a day, pages a day, or simply amount of time spent writing.

Then....and here's the important part.....meet your goal. No excuses. No quitting. Meet that goal on a single project everyday. You'll finally get to the finish line, but it has to be step by step.

Nobody sets out to run a marathon without taking that first step.

[Legionsynch]

It took putting myself on a schedule and a deadline (1,000 words a day) to make it through my first completed novel. Before that, I did the same thing you did, always starting new projects and never finishing. I found that the more that I kept to my schedule, the more interested i was in seeing if I could finish it. I just had to know what happened at the end! :)

There's a lot of great ideas and suggestions in here. Any one of them could help a lot. Good luck!

[dkglenning]

thank you everyone, I will try that. I should've thought of that myself...thank you!

[julie thorpe]

Are you sure you are not subconsciously ensuring that, by not finishing any piece and then putting it to the test, you are thereby avoiding rejection? I only suggest this because it is something I know I am guilty of...