awww crap - Writers Forum

Crazy_dude6662 · 11-20-2005, 07:13 PM

i ran out of ideas, or atleast the ideas i have dont equal 38,000 words CRAP!!!!!!!!but im not going to quit.....atleast not just yet, anyone have any ideas on how to get the writing flow going??????????

Jes · 11-20-2005, 07:22 PM

No offense, but I hope you're not writing your story the same way you wrote that message..? If your idea isn't making the cut, why don't you just try to come up with some plot twist or something? Add details, explain character appearances and personalities (but make sure you fit it in properly; misplaced and random information can be an annoying hinder to a story). I suppose details, in the basic, is the way to go. Good luck!

valeca · 11-20-2005, 10:07 PM

Go to the dares thread at NaNo and pick one or two.

Gently mix in dare.
Stir until moist.
Roll out characters onto cutting board.
Fold in second dare to add flavour.

Spoon into baking dish, cook for the ten remaining days of NaNo.

Voila!

Serves six.

richie · 11-21-2005, 03:05 AM

Well, first of all, stop thinking like that, like you have to write a number of words, looking for ways to have ideas flowing. Writing is art. If you are not having a good time with it, ideas will not flow at all;
Now, there's a lot of ways to get the ideas flowing, or in other words, get inspired. Listen to music (my personal choice), go for a walk, go write at your favourite cafe (good one too), read, walk, scribble, etc.
As said before, there's a lot of ways to be inspired, but you have to find one that works for you.
Hope I helped.

gohn67 · 11-21-2005, 03:42 AM

Or you can do what I'm doing, just writing a bunch of interrelated short stories based on a certain theme, so if you run out of ideas then you can just move on to a new story. Maybe that is cheating I don't know. Also I'm not even thinking about what I'm writing just trying to not care what I'm writing, even though it's badly written. It goes so much faster if you don't care how good it turns out, although there have been many times I've wanted to quit because I feel like I'm wasting my time writing crap, but I think it makes me think faster and allows me to write faster.

damien_frosst · 11-21-2005, 08:55 AM

Ninjas. Always good for 1000 words. Bonus words if they're also any of the following: Magical, Monkeys, Undead, Pirates, Time-Travellers, From Space, Naked.

Thus, you gain maximum bonus words for naked time-travelling zombie magical Ninja monkey pirates - from space.

Achilles · 11-21-2005, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien Frosst

Thus, you gain maximum bonus words for naked time-travelling zombie magical Ninja monkey pirates - from space.

If I had inspiration like that I never would have dropped out.

silverwriter · 11-21-2005, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by damien_frosst

Ninjas. Always good for 1000 words. Bonus words if they're also any of the following: Magical, Monkeys, Undead, Pirates, Time-Travellers, From Space, Naked.

Thus, you gain maximum bonus words for naked time-travelling zombie magical Ninja monkey pirates - from space.

A few extra points if they have a strange fascination with anything green and they prefer their jello in bunny-shaped molds.

valeca · 11-21-2005, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richie

Well, first of all, stop thinking like that, like you have to write a number of words

He does. It's for NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words in 30 days. There are 9 days remaining.

www.nanowrimo.org

richie · 11-22-2005, 01:29 AM

Oh, yes I know....but it gets really hard to write that way...
You have to want to write, have fun and all that stuff...even with a deadline...

gohn67 · 11-22-2005, 01:38 AM

You know what you're exactly right Richie. I'm having a terrible time writing, even though I'm pretty sure I will get to the 50k, it's not that hard to write crap or even mildy coherent crap. The only benifit it is giving me is it is testing my will power because 50k in two weeks(at least in my case, I started late) is a ton to write. Also I don't think I have benifited much from attempting to do this, maybe because I didn't have a plot planned out, maybe that would have been different if I knew what I was going to write about.

I'm getting ideas though, just really boring have hashed out plots and ideas that go no where. It has made me feel terrible about my writing.

midlandsmuse · 11-22-2005, 02:09 AM

I think it's all subjective because I've found having a daily target of 1,700 words really helpful. Whereas before I would stare at the monitor for 10 minutes, think "I can't think what to write" and then write nothing. Now I am forcing myself to write. What I've found is that the first four or five sentences are weak but after that my brain has kicked in and it really works.

strangedaze · 11-22-2005, 06:59 AM

I'd say just write, even if what you're writing something that seemingly has nothing to do with the rest. Put the words down and figure out how to integrate them later. This isn't about quality, it's about quantity. Rough drafts, which this will be, are always vomit. Just giver, dude, and let the bodies pile up

strangedaze · 11-22-2005, 07:01 AM

Gohn, at least you're coming out with something. Maybe next year you're going to need more of an outline. I hate the fucking things, personally, but I think they'd come in handy for larger pieces. And yeah, will power's a good thing to have, especially in the world of wordsmithing, so you've got my respect. Keep hacking away. You'll be happy you did, even if your piece stays rotting in a drawer.

Crazy_dude6662 · 11-22-2005, 11:05 AM

okay good news, i got a GREAT idea and now i have nearly 40,000 thousand words!!!!!!!!!!