Undisciplined, Underconfident Writer Requests Advice

[Kerrian1982]

Hello everyone.

I have always enjoyed writing creatively, but have struggled to keep ideas going due to difficulty in focus (partly me, partly ADHD), and a lack of discipline to simply sit down and try to write (my fault entirely). In addition, and I'm not sure how many of you out there face this difficulty, the longer I try to keep on an idea, the more I begin to doubt whether the idea is any good at all, and I slowly begin to tear them apart.

Currently, I have three major ideas I would like to see formed into something other than simple musings. One is an idea I've been writing and mulling over for years, but only recently have tried to take on as a serious project. The second idea is one I've attacked with gusto, but have started to get mentally blocked on how I wish to wrap up the current section, and am beginning to question whether the story will be worth finishing. The third idea is in its early stages; I have the concept, the image of what I would like to see, but I'm not sure how to explain how the concept arrived where is currently is.

Any advice or suggestions either on getting focused or disciplined would be greatly appreciated, and I'm open for help on my current projects as well.

Looking forward to hearing from people, and thank you for your time.

 

[The Judge]

Hello and welcome to the Chrons.

I can sympathise with your frustration, not least as this is something I have to battle constantly, and it's worse when I'm blocked as to how to get my characters out of (or into...) a tricky situation, or even just where to go with the story next.

Routines help. Make yourself a routine and stick to it and after a while habit takes over. I find deadlines very helpful, though for me they only work if they are genuine (eg I have to finish a chaipter because the next meeting of my writng group is approaching). Bribery sometimes works ("If I finish this chapter I can have cake") but it's not reliable ("I'll go have the cake anyway"). Removing other distractions is a good idea -- so no watching TV/playing games during the hours you've set for writing. Work around the writing, eg do more research, look up images, try to find locales that fit with your world's geography, and see if they inspire you.

Sit and write a sentence. Then another. Make them into a paragraph. Then keep going.

Good luck with it!

 

[Hex]

In my experience (but there's not much of it), focusing on finishing a novel length story is very helpful. You don't worry too much about anything except whether you can write the story and make it long enough (anything over about 50,000 words) and don't lose confidence because the point isn't to write a novel that anyone else will like, it's to demonstrate to yourself that you can write the thing.

Then, once you've done it once, doing it again is much easier.

 

[jastius]

There are several writing apps you can get for tablet or phone that work on the pomodoro system. You get an alert to tell you that you haven't wrote anything yet that day, and once you get your word count in you get a treat.
It establishes a writing habit.
To get your ideas down, you must write.
Do not edit while you are writing. Stop that. Its immensely counterproductive.
Your object is to get all the words on the page.

Blank pages can seem fearsome, but they can be conquered. If the pages intimidate you but you can tell your story, by talking it out to someone, then recite it into a speech to text application, while recording it. Play back the recording while you go over the draft.

A writing group is a good idea, as is a creative writing course. Sometimes you can take these courses for free through adult night school, or for a reduced cost through community programs. Recreational centers of cities sometimes offer them. Remember, they may be called memory writing, storytelling, or even recording your family history.
All these teach you how to tell a story.

There are very good blogs and forums focused on the subject, as well. Including this forum.

Another supporting program is that of nanowrimo, and its smaller version, camp nanowrimo.
There was a recent camp nanowrimo just finished in April. There will be another starting in June or July. You will find help there in pushing that story out.
Take a look at the camp nanowrimo blogs for some very pertinent articles.

Get yourself into the workshop here. All kinds of writing exercises to JumpStart your writing battery.
The challenges we have on the forum (May challenges, 75 words on departures, 100 words on reflection). All stories entered in the challenge Get mini reviews by volunteers. Put in your best shot and see what they say.
Sometimes we embue our work with lesser qualities then it actually possesses when we perceive it within our writing isolation.
Then you will know your strengths and weaknesses, and can work those out.

There is a critiques thread and even a private writing group here. Entrance to which is unlocked with a certain amount of site participation. (Hint; over a hundred posts, and critique participation)

But ADHD and even dyslexia is not a major stopping point. There are several types like that on here. Very good writers, too. (I have a dyslexia problem myself, with it showing up in information retrieval and transmission.. and all through school I was told I had an ability to write..to get the same work done... I had to work harder, and push myself where other kids didn't and they said that work showed.. . Go figure?).
Neither is having English as a second language, as a lot of around the world chrons members could assure you... Any situation like this just involves using different individualized approaches. But you can do it, honestly... You really can. Good luck and welcome!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Welcome in!

Also - try shorts? You still complete something and learn the discipline of telling a story and writing, but you're not tied down for months (years?) on one thing.

Plus, we all come to the point where we think something is terrible. It's a natural stage.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Firstly, welcome to chronicles!

Secondly, I don't mean to sound dispiriting, but for me learning to write to commercial standard has been/still is like studying for a degree - and then a masters degree after. It is a whole skill in itself to learn, and the ability to string words together is not the same as the ability to write fiction - that's a much more specialist skill.

All I'm saying is to not underestimate what it takes to write as a serious pursuit - but the good news is that aside from our writing and critique groups and discussions here, we also have a valuable board full of resources that will definitely be worth your time to read through:
https://www.sffchronicles.com/forum/writing-resources/

 

[Kerrian1982]

First of all, thank you for the warm welcome. It's nice to come into an active forum and find people so friendly. Also, I want to thank you all for your suggestions. This gives me a few points to jump off from and experiment with. I will definitely work on getting more involved with this writing community. Again, thank you all so much!

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Welcome to the warm, slightly crazy world of Chrons.

Unrelated to your question, but when I saw your user name, Kerrian, it made me smile. Technically I am Kerry-Ann Buchanan but only my mother calls me Kerry-Ann.

As for your actual question, I find it easier to work with a low level background noise such as a radio station I don't like, or a café. Short stories are a good idea, as Jo suggested, especially if you're contending with ADHD. You could always think of a novel as series of short stories that link together and see how far you get?

Whatever you decide, there's plenty of help and good advice to be got here.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

This guy set a goal of updating his blog twice a week
www.elconic.com

 

[HareBrain]

I find it easier to work with a low level background noise such as a radio station I don't like, or a café.

But not a cafe you don't like, I hope?

Kerrian, I think the best way to generate the "discipline" to work on a book is to fall in love with it. It's impossible to make that happen for certain, of course, but I think you'll only do it by getting a certain distance in. Once you've got to know and care about your characters, you won't have to make yourself work on it (or at least, if you take breaks, you'll go back to it).

That's how I work, anyway, because I have as much discipline as a badly trained border collie with a caffeine overdose.

 

[The Judge]

I have as much discipline as a badly trained border collie with a caffeine overdose.

More like an incontinent otter with a smoked-duckling habit...

Kerrian, talking of short stories, we have Writing Challenges, and the current 75 worder is here https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/552474/ It might not help with the discipline of writing a novel, but they are fun to enter.

 

[tinkerdan]

It's almost an assured thing that if you sit on an idea long enough someone else will write about it. That's why I consider all my ideas to be worth about as much as a soap bubble in a strong wind.

Find a character that's interesting to you and see how they fit in that idea and the story will start writing itself; which is always good for someone who can't sit for too long.

 

[Triceratops]

These little muses of self-doubt are always sitting on your shoulder and whispering sweet, negative nothings in your ear. The trick, I believe, is to steam on ahead while remembering the excitement and passion you had for the book idea when it was very new to you. Come up with a fantastic and unique premiss and this, many times, will give you the confidence to go full steam ahead. I'm currently suffering through two or three such ideas at the present. I ran them all by forum members to gauge their thoughts. I now know what the blockbuster is and why it is. I'm just having a real hard time starting it because I lack the crucial scenes that it should have. I've decided to start an outline so the damn thing starts to hopefully write itself.

Chris

 

[Abigail Dunard]

When I sit down to write I have the most trouble getting the first sentence out. I've been trying two new tricks that seem to be helping. The first is to put on some headphones and start listening to a familiar song. As the song plays, I type out the lyrics. This may seem silly, but the act of typing with purpose helps prepare my fingers and brain for writing. The second trick is to always stop writing in the middle of a scene, preferably when something awesome is just about to happen. Starting in the middle of a scene is much less intimidating than starting from the beginning of one. Hope that helps!

 

[Nick B]

Make writing a habit, not something you have to decide to do. Write every day, even if it is unrelated to your main piece. It soon becomes habit and the days you dont write then feel like the 'odd' days.
Dont worry about the times you start thinking your story sucks. I think everyone does at various parts of the process.
Surround yourself with good people, not the naysayers or the arrogant. Ignore the people who try to tell you how hard writing is and that you need xxx years of learning to get it right. You will discover the difficulties and joys as you go along, so dont worry yourself over other peoples negativity.

Most importantly, keep at it. The difference between success and failure is usualy whether or not you quit.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Ignore the people who try to tell you how hard writing is and that you need xxx years of learning to get it right.

Yes, ignore it, even though it's true. It also applies to most non-trivial activities:
Cabinet making
Drawing / painting / art
Sculpture
Piano
Sax / Clarinet / oboe
Programming
Analogue Electronics RF design
Startup and run a business
Surgery /Medicine

Most importantly, keep at it. The difference between success and failure is usualy whether or not you quit.

Yes.

 

[Toby Frost]

Yes and yes to both of those. I would love to be better at drawing and painting, but I need to practice, and in truth I know that I'm not going to practice enough. And of course if you enjoy it, it won't seem so much like hard work (or at all).

The other thing I would say is that it's easier to start small. I think some people (not necessarily you by any means) get carried away with the idea of vast sweeping epics, but at the end of the day even those epics are about individual people doing individual things. If you can get used to writing something that's not intimidatingly huge and self-contained, like a short story or a short novel, then it's probably easier to do bigger stuff.

 

[jastius]

I am thinking the beginning of writing, getting familiar with and learning the basics of the craft is like an internship or apprenticeship.
You can work at it for years, and what you get out of it depends upon what you put in. We learn this everyday. Absorbing them and relaying these things, transferring them into usable skills, takes coaching in whatever form. Whether someone at a job sits you down and shows you, or someone at a school writes it on a board, or someone on the internet tells you in a video, or we find the information in a book and diagram the process out ourselves, it is all accessible in many forms. You put the time in somehow. Better and easier with feedback.. The ultimate being graded assessments. But feedback is available from many sources. Thank goodness you don't need a license issued to write. That libraries are free.. That you can audit lectures, and listen to them on the internet. That authors do feedback logs and blogs.
It all is edifying.
Personally I like the lists that are gathered on some websites.
The best bits of books lists.
The best books. The best plots.
And especially the quotes people think are heart wrenchingly, mind blowingly awesome.
The wow bits and the funny bits.
That is my current evil pink plot learning project. Try to write awesome stuff that makes people say wow, and become so totally addicted they have to buy my stories...

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Try to write awesome stuff that makes people say wow, and become so totally addicted they have to buy my stories...

Watch out for that syndrome diagnosed in 2007: J.K. Rowlings Envy
It afflicted even Terry Pratchett.

EDIT:
(A link more suitable for some devices)


Writing of Roger Bannister's Medical book, rather than 4 minute mile:

... He did it for love. He is not in the business of maximising his sales, and the same could be said of all other authors who work to satisfy the requirements of a limited market. But most writers of books are out after the biggest share that they can get of an unlimited market, and this is where JK Rowling Envy comes in.

JK Rowling

She's actually done what every writer dreams of. What every writer dreams of is of everybody reading the book. I speak approximately, of course. I personally don't read Harry Potter books because I was inoculated, very early in life, against all forms of magic and elfin whimsy, even when convincingly disguised as literature.

Depressingly:

Journalists are too used to hearing that Jeffrey Archer or John Grisham sold a million of their latest book in a week. But the average book doesn't sell even a thousand copies in a year. The average book is lucky to sell a hundred in its lifetime. The average book doesn't even get published.

I have one of Clive James's books. I like it well enough. It's better written than Harry Potter, but not as much fun.

This is the best and most important bit:

If would-be writers aren't capable of writing a book for its own sake, they shouldn't be writing at all. I speak as one who would have found it hard to make ends meet as a writer if I had not been wearing another hat in show-business. I can't honestly whinge about having pushed my pen in vain but if I had done nothing else except write books I would be raking the leaves on one of JK's front lawns by now, and glad of the gig.

And I'm one of the lucky ones. The thing to grasp is that if you're getting published at all, you're one of the lucky ones. You're expressing yourself, and the bookselling business is still willing to take a chance on someone like you.

You have to like your own stories. Writing them because it's what you enjoy reading them is the start.

 

[The Judge]

In case part of the problem is not sustaining focus when trying to write, this news story might be of interest, particularly regarding the music one can download.