Is it just a phase?

Let me see if I understand.

You start writing a project, you have this great idea, a scene or something, and you begin to write, you finish that scene, and then you put it aside, never to touch it again?

I did that all the time whenever I started a novel or any longer project. It was because I had no clear idea of what to do AFTER the part that I wrote. I had a clear understanding of just that scene and nothing else.

You may be one of those writers who is ready for "The Outline."

What you need to do is get organized. Plan past that one scene. Ask yourself, what happened in this scene? Who are the characters? Who is the MAIN character? Then ask yourself, where can that person go from here? What is their motivation? What is the conflict?

Start writing an outline, the premise for the novel, where he is going, what he is going to do. Some others can probably give better guidance than I can on how to successfully create an outline, but I think that is your problem.

You have no idea where to go next.

If your not an outline kind of person ( I'm not, I like to fly by the seat of my pants) at least try and visualise something to aim for. Not nescessarily the ending ( though it's good to have an idea of it) A scene that may be a chapter or two down the way, or even just two pages away, whatever, as long as you can really 'see' it in your head, and it's something you want to write-- and then write towards that.

If you're only 13, it's just a phase! You have time to develop voice, discipline, and everything else it takes to make it as a writer. At your age, I was lucky if I completed a sentence, let alone a story. AT present, I am the proud author of a 214 page novel.

So keep at it. Don't despair. If you believe in your work, others will.
Write it, and they will come.

Hi Moon Wolf - Age has a lot to do with it. Writing 100 pages at age 13 sounds like an impossible task. Have you thought about trying a short story instead of a novel? There's a lot of interest these days in very short stories (look at the flash fiction forum). You can start with short stories or even flash fiction and grow in length as you grow in age. But at this point in your life, I wouldn't worry about not finishing big projects - being able to do that comes with maturity. Give yourself a few years. Puma

I agree with Puma, write short stories to begin with. Get used to writing complete stories with proper beginnings, middles, and ends. Once you're comfortable writing short stories, you'll find it easier to write longer pieces without losing focus.

I experienced a similar problem. I would start writing a story, then stop four or five pages in because I felt like it was getting away from me. I've learned that having an outline of the story really helps, as SF suggested. At least know what you're writing about, what the purpose of the story is.

It sure sounds like a phase. Back when I was around that age, I was always starting stories too. I think it actually gives you a lot of practice that will come in handy later. Don't worry about it for now, as long as you are writing. As you get older, you'll get more focused as you develop long-term goals for your career, and you'll find that staying on task is a natural outgrowth. High school and college term papers will help to develop that habit too.

Write Point A. Write Point B. Write Point C. Write Point D.

Keep writing each subsequent point.

Don't stop to worry about the connecting lines. Just write all your points. When you've finished the major points, go back and reread those points.

You might be surprised that the connecting lines will present themselves to you.

But you must keep writing. Don't stall thinking about the lines.

The fact that you say the stuff you write goes dry very quickly might be that none of it might really good stuff that gets into your brain and makes you feel that this story should be told.
Do you feel the need to actually have the whole story put out on paper? /or computer?
Because that's important if you want to write a story.
It would be helpful to know what sort of stuff you read, and then we could more or less know how that influences your way of coming up with stories.

Do you just have random ideas and scenes? Like imagine you came up with that famous scene in the Matrix, where Neo dodges the bullets in slow motion.
Do you type/write down something like "Character dodges bullets", or do you start writing stuff like, Neo sat on his computer and a message appeared on his screen saying "Follow the white rabbit".
Or do you get ideas like this, which I doubt you do, lol, they might sound boring to you "young man learns that the valuable things in life aren't materials things, blah blah blah."

What is the sort of stuff you put down on paper?
Also, don't throw away ideas that you end up thinking they're crap. Who knows?! You might end up including them in a story you come up with later!
Something that helped me come up with my stories, and this is about the first one I started writing when I was 13, was to just put together all the stuff that I always liked about anything. And to take away the stuff that annoyed me and the stuff that I thought always happened in stories and change that.

Don't think that the first time I ever wrote my story, it was good writing. It was awful garbage, but I kept working on it. I'm STILL working on it. And there's noting worng with taking time to work on a story.
People get so used to reading a story in just a few days, and they think that the writer took the same amount of time to flowingly put the words into the computer and send it to the publisher. It takes years often.

The fact that you get upset, annoyed that your stories don't grab even your own attention is because you might be writing stuff that you don't put value on, that you really don't care about.
To think that something is cool is not enough if you want to have a Story worthy of novel length. It's a big part of it, but without other factors, it's just this mesh of "cool ideas".
One thing that might help is for you to think of a way how two 'cool ideas' could fit together in a story that YOU would find interesting. With all the stuff you would want to see in a story.
It would help a lot if you know what the whole story is about.
could you tell to a person what a story of yours was about, in one sentence? Would that story make them raise their eyebrows and say 'Really? wow, I would want to read that!'
I always come up with my stories as a big eccentric statement like ' one man causes 20 kingdoms to fight agasint each other in the biggest battle ever, and now he has to stop them.'
and I leave it there, until I get a weird eccentric thought of mine which I think "Oh! This would fit this story with the guy and the 20 kingdoms".
My stories grow like that. I do come up with cool scenes, but they have a story to fall on, and you start placing them in chronological order and it becomes easier, and you really do start to get the feel that your story is growing to something beyond 'an idea' and can actually be a story that you want to tell.

Get used to writing garbage. We all write garbage!!! My advice is for you to actually write garbage, but never throw it out. Or throw it out if your totally sure it is actually horrible garbage.


Tell us why you're really writing. What makes you write? why do you put cool scenes on paper?
Expand on that and we might be able to help you more.

Is it just a phase? I think every writer go through a phase of thinking "Oh this is going nowhere, it's just too big." and you look at the number of pages....and it never looks like "a book", you know? lol
If you wish send me a PM.

I was the same at 13, you'll get over it. Try writing much shorter projects that you can finish in one sitting. That's the only way I used to be able to get anything finished.

Try writing very short pieces. They don't have to really be about anything. A sudden storm in the middle of a nice day; someone going home from a good party; someone in my office other than me putting the kettle on.

The satisfaction you'll get from having finished work (even short pieces) will be huge. Then work your way to short stories. Don't worry about the piece you mentioned. It'll keep.

I feel your pain, truly. I used to do that all the time. One thing that helped was a phase of writing nothing but short stories... I figured, since I don't finish anything longer, I should keep my work short. I wrote some original shorts, some fanfic shorts, and I feel it really helped me to get the feel for the progression of the story so I knew how to start and end them. Then I made a New Year's Resolution - write a manuscript suitable for publication by the end of 2008. And here I am, 40,000 words later and still going. An outline might help, practicing writing short stories that have a clear beginning and end might help, and kicking your own butt with a resolution might also help... I wish you the best of luck.

It's your age. I was like that at 13.

It made me stop writing. Don't do that! The other advice here is good, work on short stuff, jump around in your stories and don't worry about the connecting points until you are finished. Outline (Doesn't have to be a formal I A 1 a outline, it can just be sentences: Chapter 1: The dragon attacks the village and kills the hero's husband and children. Chapter 2: Hero must hide with survivors. Chapter 3: Hero fights with survivors and gets kicked out of hiding place). That IS an outline. And if you don't know how to write chapter 2, skip it and write 3. Then come back to it later.

And have fun! Play with the ideas on paper. See what problems you can give your characters and how they can get out of them.

I don't think it's just being 13, I'm old enough to be your mum, Moon Wolf, and I'm still battling the 'great start but can't finish stuff' issue.

What Shadow Ferret said here, "I did that all the time whenever I started a novel or any longer project. It was because I had no clear idea of what to do AFTER the part that I wrote. I had a clear understanding of just that scene and nothing else.

You may be one of those writers who is ready for "The Outline."

What you need to do is get organized. Plan past that one scene. Ask yourself, what happened in this scene? Who are the characters? Who is the MAIN character? Then ask yourself, where can that person go from here? What is their motivation? What is the conflict?

Start writing an outline, the premise for the novel, where he is going, what he is going to do. Some others can probably give better guidance than I can on how to successfully create an outline, but I think that is your problem.

You have no idea where to go next." is good stuff.

Writing some sort of rough sketch outline has been helping me the most (like Spike said just above). I need to figure out what happens next or I stall out and wander off. Having the next point to shoot for makes the writing a lot easier and I can keep going and stay interested. I wish I had figured out a lot sooner that being a pantser did NOT work very well for me.

seun said:

Try writing very short pieces. They don't have to really be about anything. A sudden storm in the middle of a nice day; someone going home from a good party; someone in my office other than me putting the kettle on.

The satisfaction you'll get from having finished work (even short pieces) will be huge. Then work your way to short stories. Don't worry about the piece you mentioned. It'll keep.

Click to expand...

Definitely try short stories. When I was fifteen-sixteen and ready to really hone my voice and focus, I didn't do it by struggling to finish a novel, I did it by writing lots and lots of flash fiction. After a few months, I completed the first draft of a novella, which I'm rewriting now along with another novel.

But when I was thirteen? I was almost ready to finish something big...almost. I got 75 pages into a spiral bound notebook before I decided my story was stupid and cliched, and mostly forgot about writing for a few more months. By realizing your trouble focusing on long projects you're already further along than most people at 13.

I'm like Danger Jane. I wrote short fiction, flash fiction and any and every scene that popped into my head. Some of them tied together and some of them didn't. I still have whole collections of scenes I wrote for one longer story that I never connected, but have used some of those pieces in other longer works since.
I found that when I put pressure on myself to write the novel, I wasn't able to. I had to relax with other writing. Ultimately, the stories that wanted to be novels were the ones that turned into novels.
When I sit down to write I rarely know what length the story will be. It might just be one scene that I will find a home for in a longer work later.

Lately, I find I write a few sentences. They don't belong to anything yet. I have a character in mind. I consider these my false starts until the right story emerges.

Take the pressure off. Outline if you need to. Write the scenes you do know and worry about their order and their connection later.

Moon Wolf, your posts are very well-written. Just from these, I'd say you're beyond your age peers in ability. So, as the talent is in place, what you need to do is develop the discipline.

From your notes or fresh out of your head, pick one idea that you think would make a good short story, say something between 3000-5000 words. (Hey, if it goes longer or shorter, that's cool, as long as it ends up a completed piece.) Every day, work on this one story, even if it's only a couple sentences at a time. Do not stop working until you've finished the story. Do not work on anything else. Without discipline, the greatest genius in the world is worthless. It makes me cry to this day to think of Samuel Taylor Coleridge...

What may be holding you up is perfectionism. There is no room for this beast in a first draft -- it will stop you cold every last time. Your first draft can be chaotic and crummy, a total mess. Doesn't matter. Just get the story down. You'll fix it and polish it to a high sheen later.

If you absolutely cannot figure out a transition, skip forward to the next bit you know. Put a note in the gap that you'll take care of it later.

Another way to get by gaps is to free-write your way across them. Free-writing means writing down everything that pops into your head, as fast as possible. For example: Okay, I need a transition here, but I can't think of one, somebody help me think of one, please god just one little transition, okay, how about Joe walks from the park to the bank and kicks a dog along the way and the dog turns out to be a shapeshifter except my stupid story is totally not fantasy so how about he meets Joyce, who gives him a mysterious message about Hank, eureka! let's run with that...

Have you posted in SYW yet? Doing this could give you further incentive to finish a story.

Come on, I know you can do it!

I think it's your age, Moon Wolf. When I was 13, I was pretty much never satisfied with any story I came up with, or, like you pointed out, it would just dry up.

My first 'big novel' project lasted maybe five hand-written pages, including illustrations. My second was maybe a little longer.

The first manuscript I ever completed, didn't come to my mind until I was 15 or 16. The whole thing was, I believe, between 45 and 50 pages in length. The story itself was novel material, but my immature mind could not make it novel length.

Whatever happens, though, keep writing. Don't give up just because of your age. If you love to write, then keep doing it. That practice is what will strengthen your stamina and will make your writing itself become what you want it to be.

Also, I will point out that my first novel attempts were humor. My first finished manuscript was SF (A time-travel piece). What I'm saying here is, you might eventually find that the genre you're using doesn't fit the bill of what you really love to write the most. In such a case, don't ever be afraid to change to fit what you love.

So basically, my viewpoint is that your age has a lot to do with the problems you're talking about, and that the best remedy is to continue practicing until you've built up your stamina to a level where you can stick to a project and even complete one.

I hope this helps. Best wishes to you.

That happened to me all the time when I was 13. And for a few years to follow. Try writing some short stories--a couple of pages. If you're meant to write a novel, the idea will eventually come to you, and more ideas will fall on top of those ideas in a way that's unavoidable until you feel compelled to write it to its end. I've been writing since I was 7 or 8 and I don't think I finished a story longer than ten pages until I was almost 20.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Write Point A. Write Point B. Write Point C. Write Point D.

Keep writing each subsequent point.

Don't stop to worry about the connecting lines. Just write all your points. When you've finished the major points, go back and reread those points.

You might be surprised that the connecting lines will present themselves to you.

But you must keep writing. Don't stall thinking about the lines.

Click to expand...

IMO this is very good advice, and pretty much what I was going to say. If you get stuck between point A and point B, write point B. You can always figure it out later. And I agree that after you've done that, it will be easier to see how to connect them. You may learn something about the characters or the story that you didn't know before.

I've been writing since I could pick up a pen.

When I was around your age (wow, that makes me sound like an old coot lol) I managed to finish a novel. It was an old spiral bound notebook and I wrote an 80 page book with 20 chapters. I managed to do that because I took the book with me everywhere I went and I wrote when I had the time.

I never got it published or anything, but I still have it as a reminder that it's possible to finish what you start if you get passionate enough about what you are writing and MAKE the time to write.

I haven't finished anything since (and currently my uncompleted works list total to about 6 different books I have about 30 pages each in Word documents on my laptop). so it may not be a phase. It'll only be a phase if you WANT it to be a phase and you'll only finish something if you get passionate enough about it to put the pen to paper and write.

I appreciate this thread, because it's made me realize that I need to find that same passion I had when I was 12, and get serious about my writing as a career.

I agree with the others. It is largely a product of your age and stage of writing development. Right now, you're just starting out and you lack some of the tools you need to continue on. Writing a full novel is not something most people can just sit down and do and have it publishable the first time out. It takes maturity, life experiences, and a full knowledge of craft. Right now, you're working on ideas and openings. That's well and good. Openings are vital tools. Don't worry, with time and practice, you will progress.

Dear Moon Wolf -
Forget about writing!

Go watch MTV. It's a lot more fun.


LOL - Just kidding!

Seriously though, I agree with everyone else, in that you might want to try writing shorter pieces until you get to the point of being able to sustain longer pieces.

Also, you are to be commended for trying to writem, and also for recognizing the problem you are having and trying to work it out. That's very mature.

Keep writing, I'm sure you'll do well.