Bored with details

[TrueImpossibility]

I love coming up with stories, and my friends love to read my writing, but I can never finish anything! My biggest obstacle is that I develop stories so quickly in my head that I just jot down the outline of events so I don't forget any of my storyline. But then when I go back to write in all the detail to make it an actual story I get bored with it. I'll still love the storyline but I guess it just feels like it is so slow to write it out, I can't keep up with my mind and I get lost a lot.

You know when you are reading a story and you just keep thinking "what's going to happen next, what's going to happen next" ... so you skip a couple pages to see what happens, then when you go back to read the pages you skipped they aren't nearly as exciting because you already know what's going to happen. That's kinda how I feel when I'm writing.

Anyone else deal with something like this or have any ideas how to overcome it?

 

[sunstruckdream]

This happens to all of us.
Well, it happens to me, anyways.
Go back to the part of the story that had you excited and work on the details of that part. Work on the "fun" parts to get yourself excited enough to work on the details. I've found that as much as i love to work on my stories, sometimes it takes a lot of effort to drive through and put the necessary work into the details. However, i think it's more than worth it. be patient with stuff - you don't have to finish your idea in a set amount of time. just do your thing and enjoy it.

 

[flying_kiwifruit]

Yeah i used to do this but now what I do for longer stories is a Chapter summary. Which is just words that don't make sense but still tell you whats going to happen in that chapter. I then go and write the chapter with the details straight off

 

[TrueImpossibility]

Thanks for the ideas, I'll have to get them a shot whenever I have time to write some more.

 

[ShyFlower]

I feel that way a lot too when I start working on a story I've had outlined. For me, what usually happens is, I just start writing out my storyline and end up changing things around, adding in new things of interest. Keeps me from getting bored.

 

[sunstruckdream]

Yeah i used to do this but now what I do for longer stories is a Chapter summary. Which is just words that don't make sense but still tell you whats going to happen in that chapter. I then go and write the chapter with the details straight off

yeah, i do that too. my outlines don't make sense to anyone but me (and sometimes not always that), but they work.

 

[avatarblade2000]

Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one with this issue. That takes a load off.

I've developed a rather unhealthy habit of writing my stories out of chronological order, as a result of this. I'll plan one part out, write it out while I feel like I actually WANT to do it, then skip backward and write a series of events that happened way before, chapters and chapters away. Whether that works out or not is yet to be determined, but...it keeps me from getting bored.

 

[teen4jesus92]

You are definitely not the only one! And I'll be taking some of that advice.

 

[Tariel]

Yeah that happens to me too. But outlines don't work for me, because the details always seem to end up changing the course of the story.

 

[sunstruckdream]

i think boredom with details is something we all have to overcome, and the ability to work through it and stick to something is part of a writer's gift...you know?

 

[TrueImpossibility]

Okay, new thought, but along the same lines. Sometimes I can write scenes with amazing detail, but then I wonder if it is as exciting to the reader as it is to me. Like I love writing about a character exploring a new room or something even when the things s/he is investigating aren't necessarily vital to the plot.

How do you judge when you have written too much detail? Or do you ask friends to read it and have them let you know?

 

[flying_kiwifruit]

Yeah that happens to me too. But outlines don't work for me, because the details always seem to end up changing the course of the story.

I still waver from my out line a lot, things happen that I don't plan that might change things around a little but I ajust my outline constanly to reflect any surprises that might crop up as I'm writing.