Bluenoseuk

Sometimes I can write for long periods an devery word that appears on the page looks perfect, it looks good, it sounds good. But somedays I can't write or put three words together that sounds right. Has anyone felt the same, and if so, how do you go about getting back on track.

I also wanted to ask, whether anyone sits down and reads their own work, like if you were reading a strangers? I can't really do this , I never feel right doing it, I just don't enjoy reading my own work? It would be interesting to know whether Stephen King reads his own work...would be a bit strange though, don't you think???

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Imagination is our sixth sense...

Tori

If you write the body of work I think it is always hard to seperate yourself from it. I know I cannot. The only way I have been able to is by putting it away for an amount of time and going back to it. There have been times I wrote something which I thought was brilliant only to go back months or years later and think, 'what a horrible piece of crap I wrote'

I find there are times I get in a rut and just cannot find any words to put down on paper but I keep a journal regardless. There are times when my journal entry just reads, duh stinky, stinky. I think writing is work if you wish to really improve and become good at it. My advice would be to write through writer's block and to do things that stimulate writing during those times also (example...join a class or even pick up a book to read).

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Wyndham

I'm not writing a book like many here seem to be. I write short stories and some articles. I certainly don't sit down and work on one of my stories every day. I just don't have that many ideas. However, I will often go back and look at something that's unfinished or that I haven't submitted yet or that has been rejected. Often I will get caught up in revising and the time will fly. Otherwise, there is always "business." I check out the websites of different magazines looking for where to submit, order sample copies if I can't read a copy on-line, and go through my files of unfinished work and decide if any of it should be trashed.

Something I highly recommend is getting involved with an ezine. There are a number of them out there that need people to do editing, etc. I find that editing other people's work, whether fiction or nonfiction, helps me improve my own writing. Plus it gives me writing related things to do when I don't feel creative.

Emma LB

I have a similar probelem. Today for example I couldn't write one good word. That is I wrote 2 or 3 pages, but I deleted them because they were rubbish. I think I've deleted a bit too much. So far I have like 2 paragraphs I really like the rest I've put down as rubbish that seriously needs re-writing.

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Chris

Writing the first sentence of a story is my greatest challenge. Even if I know what exactly is going to happen, what I want to happen and how I'm going to do it, I still get stuck on that first sentence. It can really be quite infuriating because for some reason, I want it to be perfect. When I do find the right sentence (or settle for a mediocre one, so I can get on with my story) the writing becomes easier and I get caught up in the plots, characters etc leaving my awkward following sentences to be fixed up on revisions.

On reading your own work as if it were a stranger's, well that's kind of impossible. Unless you developed a sort of controlled amnesia or something, because there's so much of you in the story, so much history, hard work, blood, sweat and tears, that you can't examine your own work from an objective perspective. It doesn't mean you can't try, and try you should, but it'd still be difficult. I agree with Tori, the best method is to put your story away for some time, work on something else, then go back to it.

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"...Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:
Fool! said my Muse to me, look in thy heart and write. - Sir Philip Sidney

gabriella

Blue, you stated that you can't read your work like a stranger would -- for me, however, my work is often a stranger to ME.

Unless you're finished the novel and you're editing it, you shouldn't be worrying about the perfect word or phrase.

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

Emma LB

It's such good advice, but so hard to follow. I'll try harder... hehehe, no more deleting sentences... argh, going to be difficult.

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"You should be the change that you want to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
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Wyndham

I don't obsess over first sentences because I rarely keep them. Almost always I find that my story or article is vastly improved by starting with a line or paragraph about half-way down the first page. I find this a lot when I edit other people's work too. People often try to come up with some great first line or paragraph, but often as not, once the piece is finished that beginning has very little to do with the end. Only the writer has worked so long and hard on it that she is reluctant to give it up.

A friend told me that she took to seeing those first few lines as a warm-up exercise. They get you moving into the story, then you can reject them later on.

DawnMorningStar

I do read over my own work, quite frequently. Especially as I'm writing the piece. I'm constantly skimming over what I've already written and editing it as I go. But to truly be able to look at my own work objectively, from a reader's POV, I have to set it aside for a while (like some of the others have suggested). Give yourself time to sort of "forget" about what you've written, and then when you pick it back up again, it'll be fresh.

There have been times when I've discovered that something I've written really doesn't work, or it sounds awkward, but there have also been times when I've actually been impressed.

Talia_Brie

This is such a brilliant peice of advice, but soo freakin' hard to follow.

Stephen King wrote the first draft if It in about four months, or so I've been led to believe. Basically he just went through the story and wrote down everything that happened, like a treatment for a film.

In On Writing he explains that this is how he does it. Writes out the story, then in subsequent edits he fleshes it out.

Now, this seems to make perfect sense to me, because it's avoiding a problem that I have. When I get to a section of the story and I'm not sure how to present the following events, I can get stuck and not write anything for weeks while I think about it.

Using the SK method, and that advocated by Gabriella, I would just write, Talia arrives in time, fight ensues, Talia victorious. Then, when the subsequent edits came about I could fill in the details, after taking a few months even to mull over it.

But unfortunately, to me this feels like cheating.

I need to be cured of this afflication.

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gabriella

It gets to be a habit, after a while. For me, it's all too easy to shut the critique and write. I've never had a problem with the critique in a rough draft, but there were times when I thought I could write the whole novel in one go, word by word. As soon as that notion passed, and I realized I had to start with a draft, she's never come to me. But here are some tips on getting rid of her that I've been doing ever since the beginning (and, like I said, if it's not natural already, it'll get natural.)

Ignoring the critique doesn't do anything. She just gets louder and more persistent, hammering and wriggling at the back of your brain. But if you could say, "Yes, this is crap, isn't it?" and still keep writing, what more can she say? Go against all the laws of bitch-hood and blunt criticism and agree with you? She can't say it's crap, because that's what you want to hear. And she can't say it's good, either. Heck, even throw in some embarrassing cliches and cringe-worthy jokes just to piss her off.

You could also give yourself a small peptalk before you write. Just sit down and say to yourself, "Okay, today I am going to dig up the shittiest rough draft that has ever graced this planet. I'll rinse it out later. As for now... let's get dirty!"

And that shuts her right up.

Writing the drafts have been one huge joke to myself, so mocking what I write, laughing at my stupidity, acting like a two year old and mimicking everything the editor and critique says with as many speech impediments I could throw into one phrase, and always saying things before she gets to, has kept her far away from me. But of course I invite her back =)

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

Eiji Tunsinagi

Thats exactly what you have to do.

You've got to write it whether its crap or a masterpiece---because if you dont it will never exist.

You cant make something of what isnt there, so write the story and THEN make it good.

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"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

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Nbiz

I agree with Gabriella about not editing when you're writing. Not just because you second guess your direction, plot, characters, etc, but also because it stops your train of thought to often. You'll never get on a roll if you keep revising the paragraph you just wrote.

Like Emma LB, I often write pages of crap, just to get something down. The difference is that I never delete. I have a lot of garbage stored up in my files, but whatever. Maybe someday it'll be something I can fix up and use.

Nelson.

saravena13

The best advice my mom (who also writes) ever gave me:
"Throw s#!t on the wall and see what sticks".

Just write and write and write until you're entire story is written. DON'T HESITATE WITH AN IDEA! THAT'S WHAT SLOWS YOU DOWN! Just get every little basic idea down on paper. THEN you go through what you've written, filter out all the stuff that doesn't work, and edit it to fit your taste.

Otherwise you got this HUGE wad of chaos floating around in your head (all the possibilities that could come out of this), and it gives you a nagging headache.

Believe me...I know... I still have problems following this criteria. School has ground it into my brain that I have to have something done by tomorrow or the next day. I HATE IT.

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Eiji Tunsinagi

yup, you'd be good at NaNoWriMo. Just write stuff, good or bad, it'll come out something in the long run......probably.

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"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"