A Writer who can't Write

[AverageGuy]

I see people complaining about this a lot.  They never get farther than thirty pages into their story...if they even start it.  So, one of the most common recommendations to get through it: use an outline.  Hopefully you've figured out more than your backstory and your beginning, and you've probably got those down well enough that you don't need to work on them anymore.  Make your outline, one sentence per scene from beginning to end.  Then expand each sentence into a hundred words or so that highlight important events in the scene - who says what, who does what, etc.  Then write from the expanded outline.  Set a daily word goal, even if it's just five hundred words, and stick to it (daily word goals are easier when you have an outline to tell you exactly what you're supposed to be writing).  And no matter how much you think it sucks, don't stop.  You can rewrite later.  Yes, events may change a bit, characters may do something unexpected, and that can actually lead to some great storytelling.  But stick to the outline as much as possible and you'll get to the end.

Also if you're really blocked, skip ahead to a scene you really want to write.  You'll have to fit in the middles bits eventually, but no reason to make the whole experience torture.

Finally, good luck with your writing

[Cyclone Jack]

Here's something I've recommended to quite a few people that actually worked wonders. I myself thought it was common sense, but I guess not.

Don't leap right into writing novels! Even if you only want to be known as a novelist or etc. Start with short fiction. Become proficient with telling a complete story, with beginning middle and end. While short fiction is by no means easy to write (some consider it to be more difficult than novel length), by its very nature it allows the beginner a very helpful thing: a reachable goal while that white hot 'oh-lordy-I-gotz-a-great-idea' passion is burning brightly.

Short fiction allows you to practice, in miniature, all the important tools of novel writing: structure, character, plot, dialogue, integration of backstory with action, etc.

And the best part of this as a training technique is this: your short fiction doesn't have to really be all that good! It just has to be completed and analyzed and what you learn from it used to better your next story.

Give it a shot.

[GWiz]

Here's something I've recommended to quite a few people that actually worked wonders. I myself thought it was common sense, but I guess not.

Don't leap right into writing novels! Even if you only want to be known as a novelist or etc. Start with short fiction. Become proficient with telling a complete story, with beginning middle and end. While short fiction is by no means easy to write (some consider it to be more difficult than novel length), by its very nature it allows the beginner a very helpful thing: a reachable goal while that white hot 'oh-lordy-I-gotz-a-great-idea' passion is burning brightly.

Short fiction allows you to practice, in miniature, all the important tools of novel writing: structure, character, plot, dialogue, integration of backstory with action, etc.

And the best part of this as a training technique is this: your short fiction doesn't have to really be all that good! It just has to be completed and analyzed and what you learn from it used to better your next story.

Give it a shot.

Exactly what I'm working on now. I have several ideas bouncing around in my head, and actually finally completed one short story, and on my way to the second. My whole problem was (and still is, really) that I could start a novel length story but only get about eighty pages done before I started blocking. So I started with smaller stuff. So far, it's working ok, and the itch to go back and finish some of my bigger stuff is getting stronger.......and BTW, I'd like to thank all of you for really getting me back on the "writing bus"; interaction with other writers (published or not!) is some of the best inspiriation, bar none!

[KevinEvans]

Another thing to remember is that writing a novel is a lot like making a movie. It does not have to be done in sequence. If you bog down, jump ahead (or behind) to the next plot focus and put some work in on it. Often times this will get your muse to define the "How did I get here" path.
Just a thought,
Kevin

[Guardian 452]

Another thought about short fiction (I'm focusing on it right now as my novel work has bogged down)...

Over the past few years, an awful lot of excellent speculative fiction (to cover most of the genres we're discussing) novels have actually been novels that started out as short stories.  I tend to read a few "best of" anthologies every year, and you can just tell which ones will become novels.  I just seem to get excited over some of the stories, and then they eventually make their way into novel form.

It's also a good way to get some more coverage.  If you can sell a short story that you plan on spinning into a novel and then you approach a publisher, it'll assist you selling the novel.  At least, I think that's a good thing for first-time novelists!

Oh, and if anyone's wondering why I post so rarely here, it's for one simple reason.  I find if I discuss the projects I'm working on I fall into a trap of discussing them more than working on them...anyone else go through this?

Keith

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

yep.


HAve you read Jim's blog on writing? He has an excellent article in there about how to get through the Great Swampy Middle. Might help you.

[Roaram]

 so I have a real problem when I sit down to write. I come up with plots for other books, I draw doodles, I decide I should spend more time with my girlfriend, anything but write. and when I do wrtie, I get wrapped up thinking about how much I suck. or spend thirty minuets at a pop making myself the worlds louseiest thesaurus.

then along came my anal friend to prefrom the miricle of editing. not just a red pencil on paper, he red pencils my scatter thoughts and weeds out extra crap that at any given momemt I decide is crucial to my story.

he gave me this form we call  scene_by_scene. it looks like this

chapter:
characters: who is in the scene
where:
reason: why is the scene in the book
what happens: a summery   of the chapter and any full ideas about what happens

we wrote the whole book out in scene by scene form, and now we are writing the individual scenes to make chapters. because I have the scene already layed out I can set myself smaller chuncks of time to " write" plus my ideas stay there in the chapter where they belong. plus you can completely muck up a scene, get the bare bones laid out in detail and come back later without being afraid that changing a scene 5 will alter the entire book. maybe that helps?

[Noey]

I actually kinda love that idea, because it's easier to set small goals that way. You've got the skeleton in your short summary, so all you need to do is dress it up. I'm definitely going to be trying that myself.

[THETA]

I carry around either A, a flimsy pocket notebook for my purse or bag for school or work environments or B, a larger, more durable leather notebook for writing on personal time.  Record anything, dialogue, ideas, thoughts and remember to write an explanation to go along with it.  Don't take your ideas for granted, thinking you'll never forget the moment of brilliancy.  I've done that a lot, where i've abandoned story ideas because i hated them at the time, but as time progresses and you grow less frustrated with one of your works you try going back to it remembering you had all these clever ideas, but forgetting crucial parts of it.  Explanations are full developments of your thoughts are important. 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I actually kinda love that idea, because it's easier to set small goals that way. You've got the skeleton in your short summary, so all you need to do is dress it up. I'm definitely going to be trying that myself.

It works only if writing the summary does not kill writing the actual scene for you.  There are plenty of authors for whom this is the case; I'm somewhere in the middle myself.  Thing is, any scene/chapter I write teaches me a couple of things about the characters and the setting I did not know before sitting down to write it, and these things build up and start affecting the plot, so I may end up somewhere like I expect to but I do not ever get there entirely the way I expect to.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Don't leap right into writing novels! Even if you only want to be known as a novelist or etc. Start with short fiction. Become proficient with telling a complete story, with beginning middle and end. While short fiction is by no means easy to write (some consider it to be more difficult than novel length), by its very nature it allows the beginner a very helpful thing: a reachable goal while that white hot 'oh-lordy-I-gotz-a-great-idea' passion is burning brightly.

This only works if writing a short story takes you any less time than writing a novel; this is not the case for me.  Some people are natural novelists, some natural short-story writers, some have the good fortune to be both, and, well, I suppose there's Ted Chiang as an example of a natural novella writer; find the length that works for you and work on that.

[Roaram]

even though I  use a scene by scene, I ususally let a scene run its own course. that's why my friend is such a help. I find with my writing its a love/hate thing. I can hate decent writing that does what its supposed to and tells a good story, and I can completely love writing that really should be cut as it does not a single thing for anyone. there have even been chapters myy friend loved reading, yet still took away from the story as a whole, little chapters upstaging big chapters. some times I get to red pencil my editor (ah the sweet satisfaction) but usually he's  right. (i hope he doesn't read this) I doubt my way is the best way for everyone, but I personally find making my writing better is easier than making it perfect on  the first try, or getting it on paper in the first place

[sluice]

I think the key to actually writing is just getting into the habit. An obsessive-compulsive unbreakable habit.