TL;DR: How do you approach to writing? What part of the work do you enjoy the most? And how do you keep the motivation up?
I often ask myself if I really like to write. I mean, I have a lot of ideas that pop into my mind and often think "mmm, that could be a good story!", but when it comes to write it down I suddenly feel, don't know, demotivated and lost, or I don't like the idea anymore, so after a few pages (or even rows) I quit.
All I could wrote were two short stories, one of twenty and one of three pages, and I had to sometime force me to write to finish them, but in the end I was really satisfied.
I'd really like to know your opinion, and know if this is a common feeling or if it is just me.
So how do you approach to writing? What part of it do you enjoy the most? And how do you keep the motivation up?
Very thanks for your attention and have a nice day!
Answer
This is a very common problem among writers and I personally experience it in two distinct flavors.
Sometimes, I fall in love with a story idea and just charge into writing it without spending any time on story design, character development or plotting. When I give in to this temptation, the results pretty much parallel what you are describing above. I get a dozen or so pages written, then loose direction. Having firmly captured the idea which originally got me interested in the story, I falter and the writing stops. This is the easier of the two flavors to deal with because all that's required is a little discipline. I'll get back to that in a minute.
The other flavor of anti-finishing syndrome springs up from an overly fertile imagination. Sometimes, I've done all of my prep-work, I know where my story is going and I'm motivated and determined to finish it on time; then another story idea blind sides me and I loose all interest in the work in process. I have found no good solution to this source of unfinished stories, but I find that jotting down some quick notes about the new idea, with a promise-to-self that I will return to it once the current work is finished, sort of helps. This technique doesn't revitalize my interest in the original story, but it does lessen the distraction of the new story.
Back to the blight of the un-plotted tale. Any story longer than a few pages needs structure. A simple one page outline is often enough, but you, the author, should know the entire scope of your story before committing any permanent words to paper. This saves you from the motivational black hole called indecision.
Stories are living things with each scene leading to the next. When your pen falters because you don't know what your character should do next, the momentum dies and sometimes the story follows it into the grave. Knowing what scene comes next allows you to always be writing towards something.
It also grants you two freedoms which are not available to the unstructured writer.
- You don't have to write your story in the order that your readers will read it. If during a particular writing session you're feeling adventurous, write the fight scene or the high tension scene. If you're in a more mellow mood, work on the love scene or some of the character development scenes.
- You can leave candy bar scenes along the path of your story for those nights when you just don't feel like writing. Candy bar scenes are those wonderful character plays which spring forth complete in every detail. They are practically self writing and they are a blast to get down on paper. Whenever I am designing an story's outline, I put a star next to the scenes that I am looking forward to writing. These become my candy bars and I go to them whenever I loose interest the hard work of writing.
Story design, outlining and plotting are tremendous tools which enhance the quality of any completed work, but they are also valuable tools in managing the author's motivation and in making sure that the work actually gets completed in a timely manner.
Writing schedules with deadlines are also useful, but this answer is too long already. I'll leave you to discover the motivational magic of writing under pressure on your own.
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