Trying to write - Finding it hard

Welcome to the boards! The most important thing I can think of on the road to becoming a writer is that you enjoy doing it. It doesn't matter if something's difficult, as long as you enjoy the challenge. If you have the passion and the determination, anything's possible.

I suggest you hang out around these boards for a while; there are LOADS of folks here with heads brimming full of great advice. Soak it all up, do as much reading as you can, and most importantly, get some words written. That's the best way to learn, and nobody's going to deny that. There are a bunch of techniques for coming up with stories if you're drying up when it comes to ideas.

Oh, and head over to SYW and share some of your stuff! SYW is by far the most useful place here for me. Offer your own advice to others, too - it's amazing how much helping others helps yourself.

Good luck, and welcome again!

Hi
I'm a bit green as well, so can't offerer much in the way of advice.But ,there are plenty of people here that are surprisingly generous with their time and can give you all the help you need.

Start reading. Read as widely as you can and you will discover what you love to read. Being widely read encourages creativity and helps you avoid cliches by becoming familiar with them. It can also help you narrow down what sort of novel you want to write. You need to be passionate about what you write or there will be nothing to sustain you when the writing gets tough.

Keep writing while you do this. Write a diary. Write shorts. Write reviews of books or movies but most importantly keep writing.

I understand completely how the very act of putting words to paper can help with depression.

idontknow said:

Hi
I just finished reading King's On Writing, and I have thought about trying to pen a novel. I never really read fiction as a youngster, and my adult reading has been limited to John Grisham. I find sci-fi and other topics too far removed to enjoy. My main problem is that I have no imagination. I can't come up with good stories, or any really cool ideas. I notice on these boards that a lot of writers have ideas all the time. This makes me think that maybe I'm not cut out to write fiction, and If I'm not I can accept that. Not everyone is.

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Personally, I didn't find that I started having ideas for novels until after I'd thought about writing one. And if I don't write for a while, the ideas stop, but once I start writing again, the ideas start flowing. The more immersed I am in writing creatively, the more it flows. It may seem, well, odd and counter productive, but it's true. That may or may not be true for you as well, but why not give it a try and find out?

As well, I'm going to suggest NaNoWriMo. We also have a forum here for NaNoWriMo that you can check out. It starts November 1st and it's a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in November. It can be crap, it can be derivative, it can be absolutely whatever you want, but it must be a novel.

What I love about NaNoWriMo is that it encourages people to write something, to find out if that's what they want to do, without stressing about quality. It's a great exercise, whether you actually achieve the 50k words or not (most do not). As long as you walk away learning something about writing, about you as a writer, or you've written more during that month than you would have otherwise, you've won in my opinion.

Really, what have you got to lose? Time will pass regardless, but if you want to find out if you're cut out for writing a novel, the only way you can is to give it a try.

And please also know that the vast majority of us write first (and second and third...) novels that never see the light of day. They're usually not that good. Which is not to discourage you, but rather to let you know that the process you're about to go through is actually pretty normal.

You have to read. A lot. I know that in On Writing, Stephen King gives the same advice. You can't write well unless you read. Personally, I think that, other than practice, reading is the single most important thing you can do to improve your writing. Followed by hanging out here a lot.

Hi, idontknow, and welcome to AW.

I completely agree with a_morris - if you're interested in writing a novel, then the best step is to read widely, if only because be working out what you enjoy reading, you can work out what you're probably going to enjoy writing. If you like John Grisham, then mayby thrillers are your thing - I'd recommend Scott Turow as another good legal thriller writer and I'm sure other people can give you recs for others in that genre.

In the meantime, I usually keep a notebook with me at all times and whenever I see or hear something that I think sounds interesting or potentially useful, I scribble it down. I also free-write anything that strikes me as being an interesting situation or character - not necessarily for a novel, but for short stories as well. It doesn't have to be long - some of my entries are on the lines of "A man walks into a bar covered in blood and carrying a chicken" or "a woman met her spouse on the internet, is getting divorced and wants to sue the site where they met" - and as you can see, some of them are particularly silly, but it all keeps the ideas process going.

I also find that reading newspapers helps - sometimes there'll be a line or a very short article about something that's happened and I'll start playing around with the situation in my head.

Once you've got a starting place, it's really a question of working it around in your head to see where the idea takes you.

MM

Why not have a go at a short story? Less actual writing than a novel, and it may help you to tell a tale and generally get you into the swing of things. My ideas stem from things that have happened in my life which I add to - to make them more interesting - and I base characters on a mixture of people I have known over the last 50 years, for example the physical characteristics of one, the habits of another, the behavour of a third...
Good luck. What has already been said is worth heeding.

If you want to write, than write. The first thing(s) you write may not be very good. But when you first started to walk, you were not very good at that (basing my assumption off human development). You would be quite misguided to think that you will start writing good stuff off the bat. But don't let that discourage you. Write anyway. Write stupid, cheesy, and bad stuff. Write stuff that you think is crap. And examine WHY you think it's crap.

Read books. You'll find lots of "crap" has been published. Crap really is subjective.

Write more. Ask yourself "what if." This is a great story starter. The story may quickly die a slow an agonizing deaht shortly after it's humble beginnings, but it too is a learning experience.

Read. Write. Read. Write. And don't worry about it so much. Baby steps.

And as LM Ashton said-- some people overflow with ideas. Mine come like a tap. Most of them aren't fit for stories, only as musings to entertain me while I make my daily commute to work. Others write one or two books, or struggle to get ideas. Harper Lee wrote one book-- most will argue it's a good one. Stephen King wrote many books and many short stories-- many will argue that not all are good ones. Some outline, some don't. There are more types of writers than colors of the rainbow.

But the two things they (we) all have in common are these: Writing and Reading.

Enjoy!

idontknow, you might want to read Dan Simmons's series "Writing Well" beginning here:

http://www.dansimmons.com/writing_welll/archive/2006_01.htm

Yes, reading is so very imporant--no matter what you want to write. If it's poetry--read the classics and contemporary poets. If it's novels, read lots of novels. If you like John Grisham, you might enjoy James Patterson, Robin Cook and/or Michael Crichton. I would suggest developing a list of "Five Favorites" --either books or authors. With that cross-spectrum, you'll find out a lot about what you're passionate about.

For instance, Grisham's books are all about the new guy overcoming great obstacles and threats to destroy 'evil' and/or rescue someone weaker than himself.

That dynamic might be very appealing to you and I would follow that. Maybe work on a short story using "write what you know." You mentioned you struggle with depression (very common among artistic types) so I'm imagining you have a deep understanding of how strong someone has to be to overcome their obstacles, as well as intimate knowledge of the mental health professions.

So, if you wanted to tackle a short story--using your history and what appeals to you about John Grisham--you might write something about a therapist risking her job and her peace of mind to help a troubled child--despite the cynicism and disapproval of her superiors. Maybe there's an outraged parent making the job more difficult?

I hope that illustration of how you can combine what appeals to you in the works of others with your own personal experiences will inspire you to give writing a whirl. Remember too, that first draft can be as crappy as you want it to be Learning how to polish it only comes when you feel passionate about seeing it shine.

Hope that helps!

I also suggest reading the news, either the paper or the internet. Clip/print out stories that interest you. They can either lead to a novel or simply a scene.

What's your favorite novel, film or TV series?

I started off writing stuff that was similar to the stuff I liked reading and watching. Familiar yet different. My plots and characters.

-Derek

dirtsider said:

I also suggest reading the news, either the paper or the internet. Clip/print out stories that interest you. They can either lead to a novel or simply a scene.

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Or play the 'what if' game with headlines or news stories ( science articles are always good too. Or people - what if that guy over there looking shifty is a spy, or looking for his lost daughter or...).

So the headline is ( grabs newspaper) Brand shouted 'Que?' in bed.

OK maybe not that one.

Holey copper pipes Engineers are homing in on germs and other surprises behind the development of tiny holes in home water pipes.

germs that eat through metal. What If the metal they had eaten through was...on the space shuttle? Held together the Golden Gate bridge? Held up Gordon Brown's trousers? What If someone was using said germs as an undetectable way to destroy the bridge, or Gordon's trousers, in an evil plot to...

Do this enough, let yourself be as silly as you like, and something will strike you. And once you start getting ideas, you'll start looking at the world in a different way. Suddenly everything is an idea waiting to happen, and you'll have more than you know what to do with.

Good luck

Look for the absurd, interesting, out of the ordinary, fascinating, contemplative, touching, or whatever else that moves you in this life and write about it. Make yourself do this everyday. If you can do that then you're a writer. If you can't, then that's okay. If everyone was a writer then there'd be no one left to do the other stuff that needs to be done on this planet.

Grrarrgh said:

You have to read. A lot. I know that in On Writing, Stephen King gives the same advice. You can't write well unless you read. Personally, I think that, other than practice, reading is the single most important thing you can do to improve your writing. Followed by hanging out here a lot.

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It's too easy to read and participate in the Office Party and P&CE threads ... but I think the really good stuff is in the Share Your Work threads. If I spent as much time reading through those as I have the other forums, I think I would have learned a lot of stuff a lot faster.

Deccydiva said:

Why not have a go at a short story? Less actual writing than a novel, and it may help you to tell a tale and generally get you into the swing of things.

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It's also less like "baptism by fire" or "baptism by Tsunami" than is NaNoWriMo.

We do a "Flash Fiction" challenge every Suday evening, the details are here (read the password before clicking on the "Flash Fiction Challenge" link):
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=33.

I thought that I was not technically "educated" enough to write for a long time. I finally tried to write fiction when I was in my late 30's and found I was actually very good. The basic need in writing is the knowledge of telling a good story-- not whether you know what a participle is. Grammar classes and so on are available, usually for a moderate cost at community colleges. Learning "fact" like the exceptions and rules of grammar, how to logically chain and form structure, what facts to include, how to convince people of the "truth" of what you say, how to get an emotional response, are all subjects anyone can learn, but the ability to find and tell a good story is a real talent. If you have that, then a few hours a day with books for a year or so should catch you up on the rest. I also second the idea that you write in NaNoWriMo-- beginning Saturday. One of the first and best experiences I ever had was early in my writing carreer when I just spent 20 days solid writing my heart out. The result was a silly story about a vampire-- real hack work--but learning to get up and face the blank sheet of paper every day gave me real life experience that is very important to writers.

If you don't love reading, I think you'll have a very hard row to hoe trying to become a writer -- the two are intimately intertwined.

So, give reading a try. Hit the library and pick up novels and collections of short stories that you think you might like and others you've never considered before. If you find reading them a job, try nonfiction. Try poetry. Find some form of writing you're passionate about.

If you aren't passionate about ANY form of literature, I'd say you should look for your bliss in some other art or science. As for private writing, like your personal poems or journals, you can go ahead and do that as much as you like, for as long as it gives you satisfaction, and whether it's good, bad or indifferent is irrelevant.

It can't be emphasized enough: if you want to write novels, you need to read novels. Read deeply in the genres you want to write, but read widely in other genres, as well.

Momento Mori said:

In the meantime, I usually keep a notebook with me at all times and whenever I see or hear something that I think sounds interesting or potentially useful, I scribble it down. I also free-write anything that strikes me as being an interesting situation or character - not necessarily for a novel, but for short stories as well. It doesn't have to be long - some of my entries are on the lines of "A man walks into a bar covered in blood and carrying a chicken" or "a woman met her spouse on the internet, is getting divorced and wants to sue the site where they met" - and as you can see, some of them are particularly silly, but it all keeps the ideas process going.

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A brainstorming exercise:

Collect idea fragments as MM describes above. Read newspapers; the small items on the inside pages are where the good stuff lives. Read obscure special-interest magazines (at least thumb through them at the newsstand). Subscribe to a science feed on your home page. Subscribe to a random blog post feed. Watch reality TV: not the silly contrived games, but the cable shows about real people doing real jobs. Observe people--watch and eavesdrop--in the park, on the bus, in the coffee shop.

Don't try to evaluate how worthwhile the idea fragments are. Right now you're just collecting seeds. You aren't in a position yet to judge which ones will grow. If something catches your attention, write it down. Try to make sure some are about a character, some are about a situation or problem, and a few are about a setting. Some can be other things, such as a provocative overheard comment or the odd combination of items being purchased by the guy ahead of you at the supermarket.

Record each idea fragment on a separate piece of paper and save them in a folder (or a box; this collection will get huge). Once you have at least a dozen--the more the better, but you have to start somewhere--shuffle them and select two at random.

Lay those two side by side on your desk and contemplate how they could be used together in the same story. Give yourself a set amount of time, say five minutes. If you see a story idea, write a quick summary. If nothing comes to mind, that's OK, too. Either way, put them back, reshuffle, and pull out two more. Remember to choose randomly; that's the point of this exercise.

Continue for an hour or so. At the end of the session, read back through the story summaries you wrote and see if one makes your fingers tingle. If that happens, start writing. The ones that don't excite you go in with the fragments; maybe they'll benefit from being matched up with a third bit someday.

Repeat daily until you find a story to write.

Even when you do have a work in progress, continue watching for idea fragments to add to your collection. Don't discard anything unless you write and finish a story using it. (OK, if you've randomly drawn a particular fragment a couple of hundred times, it's been a complete dud in every combination, and you're sick of seeing it, then you can consider discarding it.) As you get more experienced, you can be more selective about what goes in the file, so it doesn't grow unmanageably, but in the beginning, cast your net widely.

First of all, welcome!

I'm glad you found this wonderful site. You can already see the kind of support and help you can expect from most people by the number of responses you've received.

I concur with everyone: read, read, read. Observe, make notes, start sentences, then write. So, I won't repeat all that. There are fantastic kernels of advice in all these posts.

I did want to remark on your characterization of yourself as "uneducated" and lacking in a grasp of the mechanics of grammar, etc. I found your post to be well organized, clear and correctly spelled. You appear to have many of the requisite skills, without the formal education, to take to your writing pursuit. So don't let that stop you. If you have the desire, then hone your grammar and punctuation, take a class, share your work, practice, keep writing.

As for imagination, as you read and take notes on your observations, or just start a sentence, it's amazing how you'll find your brain starts pulling out ideas and memories and snippets that become words, then scenes and then stories. It really does happen. You just have to start.

Best of luck!

I am not full of many spontaneous ideas either. You mentioned educating yourself. That's where all my story ideas come from, or parts of them anyway. So, I echo the "read widely" advice, and add to that, include research in your reading. Especially if you prefer realism, it will help.

I'm actually a Fantasy writer, and research has helped me immensely. My ideas typically amount to a scene, maybe two. It's the research that turns one scene into a novel about something else entirely.

William Zinsser, author of the fantastic book On Writing Well, wrote:

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this as a consolation in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do.

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idontknow said:

I have a feeling that I should be a writer. I can't quite put my finger on why, or what type of writing I should be doing, but there is definitely something there.
...
My main problem is that I have no imagination. I can't come up with good stories, or any really cool ideas.

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It occurs to me ...
What you might do is start a 'writing journal'.

-- You can simply write about your life. Write what you do. What you think. It can be a sort of diary.

-- You can fill a notebooks with characters. Describe real people or people you invent. Who are they? What is important to them? Where do they come from?

-- Or you can make notes on non-fiction subjects. Is there an article you'd like to write on bird-houses or weaving with cat fur or quasars? Outline it here. Do the research. Keep notes.

A writing journal is a way to find out whether you like the process of writing, with a minimum of pressure and expectation. No boundaries. You can try it all.

In my humble opinion, no one should write fiction. It's an enormous amount of work, the odds of getting published are long, hardly anyone reads anymore - YouTube, DVDs, video games etc. - and even if you do get published you probably won't make any money.

The only people who should write fiction are those who can't stop. Whether they are blessed or cursed depends upon your point of view and probably upon the individual as well. (Grisham did okay; Hemingway shot himself.)

idontknow said:

My main problem is that I have no imagination. I can't come up with good stories, or any really cool ideas. I notice on these boards that a lot of writers have ideas all the time.

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I find ideas come out of writing, not the other way round. Once you start you'll be surprised what surfaces.

Have you tried simple exercises? Look up three words at random in a dictionary, then write 2,000 words starting with the first, ending with the third and with the second somewhere in the middle. You can make it 500 words if you like, or 200 with a one-hour time limit. It doesn't matter - the only rule is that you must accept the first three words the dictionary gives you. I've had several decent stories start this way.