Yesterday was a lazy day, most of which was spent doing not much more than lying around watching TV. In other words, no new words to add to the total.
Today I'm feeling like it's going to be a tough day's writing. Of course, it might not be, but at the moment, the thought of opening OpenOffice or Scrivener is filling me with dread, and the idea that I might actually come up with new words to follow the ones I've already put down for those stories feels somewhat absurd and ridiculous. But then, circumstances seem likely to take me away from home and put me into my alternate writing location for the remainder of the day, so perhaps things will feel better when I get there.
I suppose if all else fails, I could go back and work on one of those other story ideas I listed the other day, see where I get if I start off on one of those, but that would likely be bad in the long run, as I need to crack on and work on the work-in-progress. Just because I've come to a tough bit in the story doesn't mean it has to be abandoned. I've solved every problem I've had with it so far, so this one can be resolved too!
Showing posts with label writer's block. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writer's block. Show all posts
Monday, 18 February 2013
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Shiny things
One of writing problems is losing focus on the story I'm currently writing. No matter how attached I get to a story, there's always a time when I feel so totally immersed in it and so aware of every possible twist and turn coming up in the story that it starts to become boring to me. The story itself isn't boring, but the process of telling it is, and at that point I can be easily distracted from my goal.
Once you set off down the path of actually telling a story you end up having to commit to a certain version of it, closing down all the other versions of it in your head and forcing one definitive account of it into being. At the same time, though, lots of other potential stories start cropping up in your head to tease and tantalise you with all their potential for story telling. They're lovely bright and shiny things that lure attention away from the apparently slightly dull and tarnished in front of me, telling me that they're a lot livelier and more interesting than the dull and familiar one I'm so used to.
That's why I need to commit to things like NaNoWriMo and 100,00 words in 100 days as they help to set up blocks to keep me away from the shiny things, and working on just one story. Otherwise, it's too easy for me to say 'I'll just spend a couple of days working on this idea, then get back to this' - it's not long before that couple of days becomes a week, and then I repeat the process and go on to something else, and before long I'm 6 or 7 stories away from the original and they're all unfinished.
As an aside, that's how I know I was suffering from a block last year, not just dissatisfaction with the current story - there wasn't anything else rising up to take my attention away from it.
So, this is my declaration that I shall keep on with this story until I reach the end, and I won't work on anything else unless I've already done my 1000 word target for the day on this one. Fingers crossed that I keep to that promise...
Total word count at the end of yesterday: 16,100
Once you set off down the path of actually telling a story you end up having to commit to a certain version of it, closing down all the other versions of it in your head and forcing one definitive account of it into being. At the same time, though, lots of other potential stories start cropping up in your head to tease and tantalise you with all their potential for story telling. They're lovely bright and shiny things that lure attention away from the apparently slightly dull and tarnished in front of me, telling me that they're a lot livelier and more interesting than the dull and familiar one I'm so used to.
That's why I need to commit to things like NaNoWriMo and 100,00 words in 100 days as they help to set up blocks to keep me away from the shiny things, and working on just one story. Otherwise, it's too easy for me to say 'I'll just spend a couple of days working on this idea, then get back to this' - it's not long before that couple of days becomes a week, and then I repeat the process and go on to something else, and before long I'm 6 or 7 stories away from the original and they're all unfinished.
As an aside, that's how I know I was suffering from a block last year, not just dissatisfaction with the current story - there wasn't anything else rising up to take my attention away from it.
So, this is my declaration that I shall keep on with this story until I reach the end, and I won't work on anything else unless I've already done my 1000 word target for the day on this one. Fingers crossed that I keep to that promise...
Total word count at the end of yesterday: 16,100
Sunday, 13 January 2013
Taking the story with me
I think a good sign of being committed to writing a story is that when you're compelled to take a day off from writing it, you can't wait to get back and carry it on. I had to travel yesterday, and ended up spending a while (and longer than I planned, thanks to our falling-apart railways) on a train, where I was itching to be able to get to write and having lots of insight into the characters and where the story's going to go. It's that feeling that the story is with me, that there is some reality to it and wherever I am, I can look through that hole in the page and see what's going on.
It's a good feeling to have, especially as I got into the position last year where I thought I'd never have it again, so let's hope it continues. And while it's here, I shall make the most of it - to work!
(And no, my train journey was nothing like the one in Almost Chance!)
It's a good feeling to have, especially as I got into the position last year where I thought I'd never have it again, so let's hope it continues. And while it's here, I shall make the most of it - to work!
(And no, my train journey was nothing like the one in Almost Chance!)
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Buffer zones
The weekend's threatening to be busy for me, so I'm not sure if I'll get any writing done. Luckily, I've had another good day and produced over 1800 words, leaving the total at 13,805. This means that even if I don't write anything on Saturday or Sunday I'll still be over the 1000 words a day average by the time I come back to writing on Monday.
It's only a little thing, but it feels good to have that bit of a buffer zone, and know that I won't be having to catch up when I start again. That was one of the things that exacerbated my writer's block during NaNoWriMo - knowing that even if I did the 1667 words for that day, I was still behind and had to do more to get back on target.
One thing that may help me - and deal with the issue in the last post - is taking the tea break earlier. If I stop at around 600-700 words (two-thirds to three-quarters of the way to the target), then I know I have to do more, and that pushes me on well past it, as I don't relax. Good to know I can find ways around my procrastination when I need to!
Things are still happening nicely, and the structure's sorting itself out in my head as two connected stories in alternating chapters. It also helps me write - while I'm writing one, my subconscious is working out what comes next in the other, and having decided to make the viewpoint character in each a different person, it's a lot easier to contrast them.
See you Sunday!
It's only a little thing, but it feels good to have that bit of a buffer zone, and know that I won't be having to catch up when I start again. That was one of the things that exacerbated my writer's block during NaNoWriMo - knowing that even if I did the 1667 words for that day, I was still behind and had to do more to get back on target.
One thing that may help me - and deal with the issue in the last post - is taking the tea break earlier. If I stop at around 600-700 words (two-thirds to three-quarters of the way to the target), then I know I have to do more, and that pushes me on well past it, as I don't relax. Good to know I can find ways around my procrastination when I need to!
Things are still happening nicely, and the structure's sorting itself out in my head as two connected stories in alternating chapters. It also helps me write - while I'm writing one, my subconscious is working out what comes next in the other, and having decided to make the viewpoint character in each a different person, it's a lot easier to contrast them.
See you Sunday!
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Writer's block
There was a time earlier this year when stories and associated creativity were pouring out of me. Everywhere I looked seemed to be giving me ideas for new stories, and I was jotting them down and getting all the pieces of them together in my head.
That's part of the way I write. The kernel of a story comes along, and slowly lots of other parts then agglomerate around it. I can hear the characters talking, see little flashes of their world and how it all fits together, work out the direction of the story, even the ending. It's what Stephen King called 'the hole in the page' in Misery - that glimpse through into another world that you've created and brought to life.
But for some reason, during this year that's stopped happening as much as it did. Characters I thought I knew well are just falling flat on the page, and their worlds just aren't taking shape the way they used to. That's why there haven't been many entries here and my Twitter feed's just been full of plugs for stuff I've already written - there's nothing new appearing right now.
I've been trying to write, but nothing's coming. I've done NaNoWriMo several times and completed it every time until this year, when my inspiration just deserted me and a story that I thought was going to fly merely sputtered and refused to take off. Characters that had been living and thriving in my head not long before turned to ciphers on the page, stuck in a torpor and letting plot happen to them, not doing anything for themselves.
The ideas are still there, and the characters still floating around so hopefully I'll get out of this hole sometime soon and get creating again. I just need to keep writing through this, and at some point, I'll be struggling away and everything will click again, all will spark into life and the hole in the page (or the screen) will open up.
Until then, I hope you're free of blocks and your characters come alive - and the block I've got now doesn't affect the things I've written before!
That's part of the way I write. The kernel of a story comes along, and slowly lots of other parts then agglomerate around it. I can hear the characters talking, see little flashes of their world and how it all fits together, work out the direction of the story, even the ending. It's what Stephen King called 'the hole in the page' in Misery - that glimpse through into another world that you've created and brought to life.
But for some reason, during this year that's stopped happening as much as it did. Characters I thought I knew well are just falling flat on the page, and their worlds just aren't taking shape the way they used to. That's why there haven't been many entries here and my Twitter feed's just been full of plugs for stuff I've already written - there's nothing new appearing right now.
I've been trying to write, but nothing's coming. I've done NaNoWriMo several times and completed it every time until this year, when my inspiration just deserted me and a story that I thought was going to fly merely sputtered and refused to take off. Characters that had been living and thriving in my head not long before turned to ciphers on the page, stuck in a torpor and letting plot happen to them, not doing anything for themselves.
The ideas are still there, and the characters still floating around so hopefully I'll get out of this hole sometime soon and get creating again. I just need to keep writing through this, and at some point, I'll be struggling away and everything will click again, all will spark into life and the hole in the page (or the screen) will open up.
Until then, I hope you're free of blocks and your characters come alive - and the block I've got now doesn't affect the things I've written before!
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