Pushing yourself as a short story writer

[Literateparakeet]

Originally Posted by cathyfreeze

Pretty face, swan-like neck. If someone follows the line of that neck, tho, they see 3 shoulders, half an arm with 7 mis-matched fingers.... And i somehow managed to miss giving it a heart. Poor miscarried thing.
cat

LOL, me too! I've tried just sitting down with a character in mind and writing...no plan...what a mess.

I don't actually write my "outlines" down, nothing that fancy, but I do need a working idea in my head what the premise of the story will be.

[Daniel.Trujillo.D]

Right now, I'm just trying to make writing more of a habit. In general, I'm very hesitant about what I write, and I'm usually quite quiet even among friends. I've recently started a blog just to get myself in the discipline of sitting down to write daily. I'm hoping this will at the very least help me not be so hesitant when writing fiction and discarding my ideas before they even reach the page.

Having said that, what I should try to do to push myself is simply force myself to finish my stories. I have at least 15 first paragraphs to 15 different stories. I shouldn't just give up on these just because what should happen next in the story doesn't come easily to me.

[cathyfreeze]

Best advice is write one paragraph or one page a day on one story~don't let yourself float from beginning to beginning. That's too easy, it's too light and fun. And when i do it, nothing is ever accomplished.

Have you ever read the Amber Chronicles? For me, writing is like walking the Pattern. It starts out easy and I feel powerful, but the farther in I get, the more committed, the slower and more excruciating it becomes to put one foot in front of the other. But it's just as rewarding for me to come out into the middle of that labyrinth as it is for Corwin. And fatal, at least for the story, if i stop for too long.

Ah, labored metaphors. Gotta love 'em.

cat

[Kashtanka]

I am definitely not a planner when it comes to writing short stories. The other day I just had a flicker of an idea for a story and began writing immediately. After the first couple of pages, it was no longer my story but the protagonist's story, and some interesting work surfaced.

About writing a story in an hour, I can write the first draft in that time but it still needs revision and attention to details like tension, internal conflict, and high stakes for the protagonist.

I don't think anyone can "push" themselves to be a better writer. The key ingredient to getting things written is discipline. If you aren't disciplined in other areas of your life, it's likely that you're not writing as much as you have the potential for.

[Raphee]

I write short stories to at least keep writing. With my day job, I find writing a novel difficult, although I have finished two.
Plus there are ideas that are totally not in sync with my novel, and I need to write them out as shorts.
When I think of pushing, I guess I'm way behind all of you.