Trying to write but getting stuck

Hi,

I am also working on a novel, and I can understand the problem that you are encountering with becoming bored. It doesn't necessarily make your story boring, because it bores you. I have been there, write for hours just to become bored, and highlight all the text, and hit delete. I have learned to stop doing this because what you freely write can be very useful. Sometimes while rereading it, I have been disappointed with certain parts, but then realize some words form a great point, and then if I have to delete it, I can start from the point of view that was boring, but to add just a little more character to it. You can bore yourself if you spend a lot of time writing, or focus to hard on it. Just let yourself go, don't be analytical about it, and see what you come up with. I have found that writing out a detail character view of the story helps a lot. Have a separate sheet for each character, and write what that character will go through during the story, concentrating the hardest on your main character, as this character forms the story, from beginning to end. You don't always have to make your story have a set time line, where you are explaining every moment in between, it's okay to skip from month to month, if you explain it to your audience that there is a time gap, which doesn't take much explanation. I like to visit writersdigest.com sometimes to read others writing techniques, and its very helpful there. Congratulations on writing your book, and good luck!

It happens to me as well.

Try refreshing the whole plot in your head. Imagine the situations.

Personally I always want to write next chapter or so, having a vision for it, while I'm supposed to finish a previous one first. So I try to write in a correct order to be able to start this chapter I'd wanted to write as fast as it's possible.

A writers road to hell is paved with unfinished work - My advice to you would be to just write and don't look back. Even though you might feel you stray from the original subject, who's to say what can happen in a world you have created?
And even if it turns out bad, it's still an exercise in writing, and that's never a loss!

One way you can write that I found is very helpful at times is something that, while it may be obvious, isn't actually done too much!

This secret? Create an outline! This way, if you have a beginning and an end, you can fill in the middle. Grab a piece of paper and put down a start point and an end point. Then find a middle point, and fill that in. Then go from there! It really helps! And don't feel limited to ONE sheet of paper, either!

Books, like movies, are not generally created in a linear fashion. Of course, there are exceptions (like the remake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead by whatshisname with Ving Rhames). My own story is a series of mismatched scenes right now, which I will later organize into a linear, cohesive plot.

That having been said, I'd say that you should write what inspires you. I have about twelve ideas floating around in my head on the front burner at any one time, with Lord knows how many on the back burner. When I write, I write what comes to mind.

I can typically tell when a writer publishes something that they were forced to do. It always seems under the par of what they write when they feel inspired. My advice to you is to keep writing scenes, and eventually an idea will come to you about how to get your characters from A to B, then B to C, and so on.

Sometimes having from point A to point B mapped out can create stress on the writer. It is best to sit down with the basic knowledge in your head and let the characters and situation guide you to where the book needs to go. You can always revise, but the best thing to do is just write and eventually you will become inspired.

I was afraid of the same thing happening to me, and honestly when I wrote that way and just let my chracters develop in a more free form way, I would get lost in my writing and look up after a few hours and feel like I had just sat down minutes before. I hope this helps at least a little bit! Good luck!

Annmarie Raite
Author of Graces' Hope, available on smashwords website.

I'm certainly no pro but I will say that for me it's not a linear process (as someone else pointed out). I often start with the scene I most want to write and then head back to the 'beginning' and start writing and introducing the basis of the plot and the characters. I am not fanatical about outlining. I think it's an individual preference. I spend a lot of time rehearsing the scenes in my head, like a movie, so when I sit down, I have a general idea of where I want them to go. Also if I get stuck (and I do) I sit back and think about it a bit and figure out ways around it. Most times inspiration hits and I'll think, Whoa! Great idea! and then run with it. If scenes need research, I will put markers in to go back and work on it. Occasionally I'll get several major scenes in and link them together. And finally, I have friends who I can contact (usually through one of the instant messenging functions) and say, I've got such and such a situation and I have no idea what to do with it, and then we start a session of throwing out ideas back and forth until something concrete slaps me in the face and I say, I can run with this. Much of the time, I'm answering my own questions and coming up with my own solutions this way and their discussion with me helps solidify the ideas (sort of like how "House" uses his students to bounce ideas off of).

Finally, I do keep notes (jotted down on just about any kind of paper) so if a good scene does pop into my head, I will outline that scene briefly so I can remember it later on and insert it when the time is right for it.

Two books I suggest that every writer needs to invest the $40 or so in:

Hooked by Les Edgerton
Finding Your Voice by Les Edgerton

I read these and my process for writing just took proverbial leaps and bounds.

Is that for writers who don't already have a writing style? Because I've already got mine People read my stuff and say, I can tell it's your work, it has your flow and style.

LadyNRA said:

Is that for writers who don't already have a writing style? Because I've already got mine People read my stuff and say, I can tell it's your work, it has your flow and style.

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Finding Your Voice definitely has that theme, but Hooked is more about good storytelling. I've found that when I get stuck, it's because I've gotten off-track of what's truly important in the story. Once I figure out what's important to the story, I can get to writing again.

Quoth said:

Finding Your Voice definitely has that theme, but Hooked is more about good storytelling. I've found that when I get stuck, it's because I've gotten off-track of what's truly important in the story. Once I figure out what's important to the story, I can get to writing again.

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That's certainly a good thing to remember. Sometimes I leave too much to my muse though so it really is because I've written myself into a hole and can't figure out what is coming next (if I'm writing fanfic and it's about a show that has a lot of weirdness, I don't always know which direction the story will take but for the sake of the exercise, I'll start it and keep writing it with a vague idea of where I want it to go and just let my muse scream at me now and then with ideas)

I've got a novel in the works that I should have finished by now, but I'm finding it difficult to concentrate. The story is adapted from a screenplay I wrote, so it's not as hard as writing a story from scratch... but still, some of the things I've been going through have made it difficult to concentrate. It's really tough.

Daily distractions can cause lots of problems with writing. No doubt about it. Add to that lots of stress or medical illness and the muse can run screaming into the hills. I sympathize.