How do pro writers do it?

Yes, there's quite a lot of process between idea and prose.

I like to decide: okay, I start here. Then I start writing, only focusing on that one thing – the opening. Usually, the opening automatically turns into the conflict, which turns into some sort of outcome, and then I'm done that scene. But if I get stuck, I go back to thinking. What helps most is if you write down your thoughts. Do a mindmap, or a bullet list of what happens when. I like to get very specific in my notes (especially if I'm writing them after I wake up in the night, or I'm out grocery shopping, so I can't get to actually writing, then I write as specific as I can get.) Sometimes scenes come together like a jigsaw puzzle based on my notes. I'll have little snippets of dialogue, a bit of palpable description, and so on, then I stick them together in an order that makes sense.

That said, I think you might have to work on getting lost in the writing, not just in your ideas. There's no cure, other than BIC - butt in chair.

Training is the only thing I can suggest. Athletes and musicians have to practice, but I got miffed when it was suggested that I needed to practice as a writer.

How about recording yourself speaking the ideas out loud? Then you can go back and listen once you sit down to write.

Jabberwokky said:

I seem to always have this same type of writer's block.

I adore thinking of my story--I love coming up with bizarre characters, crazy plot lines and the like. Then, my head swimming with fresh ideas, I sit down at my computer keyboard and can't for the life of me remember how everything fits together.

It's like the moment I want to write down my ideas, my brain shuts off. Sometimes I've even worked out entire scenes down to the smallest detail, but once I start writing it down, everything becomes a mishmash of random snipits.

It is infuriating. I don't know how some people can reach their quotas of thousands of words a day.

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Yes, it's very infuriating. I think it's one of those things like tendinitis or alcoholism, you have to accept that it is always there and learn how to compensate.

so, how do professioinal writers do it? Two simple answers as I see it 1) they perceive themselves as lacking choice. They want to live in a house, have a kitchen and buy new clothes. Finishing and publishing what they write is they way they do that. 2) They understand that you write chapters, scenes or paragraphs, rather than writing a novel, and they have some idea of how much work it takes to write the 8K words of a chapter or a short storie, and so they know that they must sit down for a certain amount of time and write a certain amount of words in each session in order to get to the finished product.


[advice alert]*
Why do you think your brain freezes up? Also, what is *your* minimum? Never mind the professionals - what is the minimum that you can absolutely do? How about 50 words a day? How about 1 sentence? Do you hear a voice saying '50 words? You'll never get anything accomplished with 50 words!!" etc. Tell that voice to be quiet please for a few minutes while I write 50 words. then stop and do it again the next day, on your lunch break for example. Get one of those pencils that writes in a rainbow. Just do one sentence, 3 or 4 days a week, and start there. Write whatever crappy lame amateurish prose it takes to get your ideas out of your head, and on to the paper.

*I know you weren't asking how to, but its a forum, and I think about this topic a lot

I once read that lying in bed with a red-head, blonde, and brunette at the same time helps to unlock writers block.

I am just not sure how that works...

What works for me is to write even though I feel paralyzed or idea-less. I've found that when I try to figure out what I want to write before I write it, I freeze. But if I just get it out, it starts to flow. It's not necessarily the best writing, but it's stuff I can work with!

A similar idea is Natalie Goldberg's "morning pages." She suggests writing for 30 minutes (or so) before you start your "real" writing. It's sort of a warm up, to get you ready to write your more structured ideas down.

Sometimes the only way to beat writer’s block is to write. Even if it’s terrible. Just start typing (you can always edit and delete later). Focus completely on getting words, scenes, names, anything OUT on paper. Do your best to force yourself NOT to starting revising and editing. You’d be surprised how you can eventually start getting in a flow. Even if half of what you typed is crappy, it will be worth it to beat your writer’s block.

How do pro writers do it?

By treating it as a job.

Because it IS their job.

Treat writing as your job, even when it isn't.

James D. Macdonald said:

How to pro writers do it?

By treating it as a job.

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Which always is easier when you get paid for doing it.

Being hungry, and worried about being cold, is a grand incentive for me.

James D. Macdonald said:

How to pro writers do it?

By treating it as a job.

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I'm not a pro by any means, but this is exactly how I've managed to make a lot of progress over the last few months. I really think that this is how you go from dreaming about being a writer to actually becoming one.

Also, you rock. Your writing advice in your "Uncle Jim" threads is great and I've found it invaluable. Thank you.

Medievalist said:

Being hungry, and worried about being cold, is a grand incentive for me.

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Me, too, especially the cold part, today. And since I can't get paid for writing stuff, I have to spend a lot of my time working on things other than writing.

Treat it as a job, expect to work your ass off at it with long hours. So many people just don't understand that and think because I work at home, I don't work. Ha. I work longer hours than most of them including weekends, holidays, late nights, etc.

blacbird said:

Me, too, especially the cold part, today. And since I can't get paid for writing stuff, I have to spend a lot of my time working on things other than writing.

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So do most of us. Your point being?

Jabberwokky said:

I seem to always have this same type of writer's block.

I adore thinking of my story--I love coming up with bizarre characters, crazy plot lines and the like. Then, my head swimming with fresh ideas, I sit down at my computer keyboard and can't for the life of me remember how everything fits together.

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Don't worry about fitting it all together right away. Write it down as best you can. Later, when you remember that great line of dialogue you wanted to slip into that scene, or the detail about the burnt cookies, or the dog slobber on the satin tablecloth, you go back and tuck those things in.

I keep a running list of notes at the bottom of my MS document. It keeps me from getting distracted. I may be writing the scene where Character A is finding the damning photo in Character B's album. I'll add to the end of the document "Have character B put that photo in her album during earlier New Year's Party scene." Or I may have a big idea, e.g., Character B will get mugged. I add that to my notes so I remember to include it in a later scene.

I quickly return to writing down the scene in my head, and only go back and salt in the things that make it work when I'm finished. I then delete the related note.

My point is, it really does not need to all hang perfectly together the first time you write it down. Don't hamstring yourself with perfection. It's a puzzle: you can't always see where some pieces fit until others are in place.

blacbird said:

Which always is easier when you get paid for doing it.

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Um...no. You treat it like a job from the first. That's how you get paid for it.

And I suppose you'll come back with some Droopy remark, which I shall ignore.

How do pro writers do it? They just do. The only way out is through. Everyone else has moments in their job which don't go so well; writers aren't protected from that. They get on with it anyway.

To me, the benefit of being a pro is that you get external deadlines. It's hard to motivate myself day in and day out without those deadlines. Yes, I work a regular job, but without the pressure of deadlines, I'm the world's BEST procrastinator. Give me a deadline, and I THRIVE. I work quickly and efficiently, and the work I produce is stellar. I see no appreciable increase in quality when I do the steady pace thing, but I do see a sharp increase in boredom and dissatisfaction.

For working on my novel, it's easiest for me when I have an external deadline -- a contest entry deadline, a pitch at a conference, etc. Without them, I'd spin my wheels forever. (Deadlines I personally set don't mean diddly-squat.)

.

rainsmom said:

...without the pressure of deadlines, I'm the world's BEST procrastinator. Give me a deadline, and I THRIVE. I work quickly and efficiently, and the work I produce is stellar. I see no appreciable increase in quality when I do the steady pace thing, but I do see a sharp increase in boredom and dissatisfaction...Deadlines I personally set don't mean diddly-squat...

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Are you me?

scarletpeaches said:

Um...no. You treat it like a job from the first. That's how you get paid for it.

And I suppose you'll come back with some Droopy remark, which I shall ignore.

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Nah. I still make time to write stuff. My main problem now is submitter's block.

Jabberwokky said:

I seem to always have this same type of writer's block.

I adore thinking of my story--I love coming up with bizarre characters, crazy plot lines and the like. Then, my head swimming with fresh ideas, I sit down at my computer keyboard and can't for the life of me remember how everything fits together.

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Things are supposed to fit together? Hmm, maybe that's why I don't have a viable manuscript...

Jabberwokky said:

It's like the moment I want to write down my ideas, my brain shuts off. Sometimes I've even worked out entire scenes down to the smallest detail, but once I start writing it down, everything becomes a mishmash of random snipits.

It is infuriating. I don't know how some people can reach their quotas of thousands of words a day.

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I wrote "thousands of words a day" a couple days last November. I didn't keep careful record, but I went from about 42k to 50k in about two days.

But then it WAS (and still is) a totally unedited NaNoWriMo "novel."

blacbird said:

Me, too, especially the cold part, today. And since I can't get haven't yet been paid for writing stuff, I have to spend a lot of my time working on things other than writing.

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I've not been paid for writing anything either, and I understand I haven't been "at this" as long as you, but I'm a strong believer in not turning a simple fact into a foregone conclusion.

benbradley said:

I've not been paid for writing anything either, and I understand I haven't been "at this" as long as you, but I'm a strong believer in not turning a simple fact into a foregone conclusion.

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You haven't seen the goods. Unfortunately, many others have.

Don't expect you can hold all your ideas in your head.

1. Write your ideas down.

2. Outline.

I have a five-inch-tall stack of index cards on which I outlined my first published novel. There was no chance I was going to be able to remember it all. I probably couldn't pass a test on that book today.

I've also discovered that when you have it all outlined, you'll find links you didn't know were there. And you will be able to concentrate more on your writing when you're not worried about what's falling out of your head.

Neil Simon was once being interviewed by Johnny Carson.
Johnny asked him how he found inspiration to write.
Simon replied that he almost never felt inspired.

Johnny Carson was confused, and he asked, "Well, then,
how do you know when to write something?"

Neil Simon said, "That's simple. At 8:30 every morning I know
it's time to start writing, and I write for several hours.
If I like what I wrote that day I keep it; if I think
'it's junk I throw it out."