i have HUGE writing problems - Writers Forum

bheid1.01 · 11-05-2005, 11:42 AM

i've read on this forum that you have to "warm-up" so to speak, but when i warm-up and produce some content for anything i write, it all seems lousy to me, and then i have a tendency to start over...

evrything i write seems stupid and cliche

Jimmy_James · 11-05-2005, 12:02 PM

You know what everything you warm up with is gonna seem stupid but warming up is just a way to get the garbage out of the way to let the great stuff shine through, its like cleaning house. Basically you probably have alot of ideas stuffed up in your head right now that are all trying to come out at once, what you need to do is write write write and like everyone seems to say around here forget that there is a backspace key on your keyboard. And nothing is ever stupid. Whatever you write is creative to somebody, and someone will always appreciate your ideas so don't get frustrated and i see you hitting the wall there. Writers block is something you create in your head when you feel like you can't go on, don't let yourself feel like you have writers block, keep writing and show us what you got on here, you can always count on us to be honest and sympathetic to your writing skills no matter how stupid it may seem to you. You have the power to write something great and you have great people here to aid your ability along the way.

Don't give up!

I expect to see great things from you

suzakugaiden · 11-05-2005, 01:17 PM

Keep starting over until it doesn't seem bad. There's nothing wrong with that.

bheid1.01 · 11-05-2005, 01:21 PM

there is if you're me.. i'll get bored with the concept and it'l never be done

oh and thanks, jimmy james, i'll keep writing through my contempt

Jimmy_James · 11-05-2005, 01:48 PM

I'm always here for you...um...i'm assuming your name is heidi

LoCo · 11-06-2005, 05:17 AM

All writing is lousy, but some writing is more lousy than others.

All writing is cliched, but some writing is more cliched than others.

Yes, those are very bad imitations of the real thing. (I hope that you at least get that I am mimicing Animal Farm.)

I think you need to get yourself an ego. It's something I started without as well, but I learnt that although I might not think I'm that great, my writing doesn't know that. If I can fool my writing into thinking that I am good at it ... well, then it just gets better. Same goes for you, make your work think you know what you are doing and let it do the rest.

Last of all, finish. You can't tell if something is good or not untill it's done. Don't delete anything. The only time you touch the backspace key is when you fix a typo. If you start thinking a piece isn't good enough, don't stop, let it end. If you don't finish it, it will still be rolling around in your head and will start contaminating every idea it touches. The idea is to get both your good writing, and your bad, out of your head on onto the paper/screen. Once there it can be prodded and pushed without losing the initial idea, because you always have that first copy.

tanmay · 11-06-2005, 08:47 AM

I totally agree with Jimmy and LoCo. Don't lose heart. We all have come here to learn and improve. You don't have to be a William Shakespear to post on this forum.

Regards,
Tanmay.

mammamaia · 11-06-2005, 09:39 AM

i've never heard of a writer having to 'warm up'!... is this something new?...

as far as i've ever known/seen/heard/learned, writers just 'write'... it's not like athletics, where you have to get your body ready to stand the abuse of a game or whatever... your mind doesn't need a warm-up period... what you need is either there, or it ain't...

so, what's all this gluck about having to 'warm up'?... and, who says you have to?... someone care to enlighten me?

[or, is that just a fancy way of saying 'rough draft'?]

doctor · 11-06-2005, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bheid1.01

i've read on this forum that you have to "warm-up" so to speak, but when i warm-up and produce some content for anything i write, it all seems lousy to me, and then i have a tendency to start over...

evrything i write seems stupid and cliche

I have exactly the same problem; but if at first you don't succeed... yadda yadda yadda.

Jimmy_James · 11-06-2005, 12:40 PM

OH MY GOD!! I loved animal farm!! that book was so great, with all the pigs starting a society and stuff, i'm gonna go get that book right now!!!

scifi maniac · 11-09-2005, 07:11 AM

i must agree that i have just recently suffered my first blow to the 'hitting a wall' syndrome. i was 30,000 words into a novel i was writing, i got to the end of a chapter, and i just stopped. nothing to it, i simply stopped because i had lost the will to continue. now i'm writing a novelette because i think that it would be easier than a novel to start with. with a novel you need to stick with the idea for a LONG time if you ever hope to finish it, and i have a tendency to expand things unnecessarily and obsessively check the word count. with a novelette, at least it takes a lot less time (about a decent 12 hour weekend to finish a good first copy), and i don't think i'm ready for the committment of a novel just yet. i really hope that what LoCo said won't come true; i hope my new idea won't be contaminated. but i'll just continue and see what happens, hoping i succeed.

amusinglackoftalent · 11-09-2005, 09:11 AM

Scifi wrote: “i was 30,000 words into a novel i was writing, i got to the end of a chapter, and i just stopped. nothing to it, i simply stopped because i had lost the will to continue.”

This has been my trouble with every ‘novel length’ work I have attempted, I believe a total of four now. It is the chief reason that I joined this forum. I don’t have the ‘answer’ for you on this one Scifi. I’m posting in this thread so that you will know that there is at least one more member who shares your ‘trouble’. I am, and have been for a very long time, stuck in the too long for short story, too short for novel place. One of my personal problems is that I want to set my own word length which is however long is necessary to tell the story the way I want to tell it, dammit.

Bheid, I’m not trying to hijack your thread. Scifi wrote something in his post that I couldn’t resist. As for ‘warming up’, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put that way before either, but I understand ‘hitting your stride’. Is that what ‘warming up’ means, to write until you’re in ‘the zone’ so to speak? I find the only way to do that is to sit down and write and wait on this ‘blessing from the muse’ to occur with spontaneity. I do have one other trick that I use. If I’m not sure where I want to go next with my story I will begin at the beginning again and line edit. I guess this is my way of ‘warming up’. (I don’t and never have used an outline and will begin a story with no idea where it might lead. I’ve written nearly all of my work this way and humbly admit to you the fact that I am published and have been modestly paid to do so.) And being 'published' is just another tiny step along the road. I only wrote that to lend a small amount of 'creedence' to my cheap advice. After ten or twelve small rewrites of the beginning I’ll bookmark perhaps on page five at paragraph three so that when I open the story up the next time without a clear path of direction I can start line editing again from the bookmark on page five. I know this might sound crazy to some but it makes for quite a polished effort when you finally reach the end and you are still caught up in the process of writing and improving your piece. (‘The art of writing is rewriting.) Of course, using this method on a novel length work would no doubt drive the average writer insane. (Okay, perhaps we’re all a little crazy anyway, or we wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.) Quite often when I use this method I find that when I get to the place where I had stumped myself earlier I can run right past it because I’m ‘warmed up’ at this point.

Bheid, don’t be so critical of your own efforts. Just write. I know this is a place of advice and much wisdom from the older and more experienced writers, but for me the best advice I’ve ever been given was from an old poetess I know that once told me, ‘If you want to be a writer then you have to write.’ When she said this to me I was offended by the ‘simplicity’ of it. The words sounded SO cliché as they rang in my needy ears and they appear that way on this screen as well, don’t they? But do you understand what she meant?

For me, writing has been like peeling a gigantic onion. We each have been given our own personal onion to peel and it is a difficult process requiring at times the great shedding of tears. Some writers, those we often like to say have ‘natural talent’, were given a small onion and were at the meat of things (the talent) with very little peeling necessary. Their talent was from the beginning very close to the surface. Others, most of us, have to work toward the meat one frustrating layer at a time. This is the reason that I say nearly everyone who yearns to write has talent. They simply don’t have it readily available to them. If it were this way then everyone would write and no one could excel. You get to ‘talented’ by peeling one layer at a time, sometimes using the same technique one might use to peel his or her own layers of skin off, with excruciating effort and pain…

Just don’t quit peeling your onion. If you began for the right reason then that reason is why you should continue.

PamHKyle · 11-09-2005, 09:56 AM

Amusinglackoftalent, the part about the onions was very inspirational and comforting, however crazy it sounds, but you're right.
But the most interesting part to me was your working method. I work just the same, rereading and editing as a 'warm-up' (or whatever you want to call it), and never a clear idea where the storyline's going.
After years of hearing it's the 'wrong' method, I'm glad to find somebody else uses it too, and has succeeded with it.
Just wanted to say this.

And as a response to the original question, Bheid: Don't worry to much about all the advice. Worrying kills creativity and you'll end up with the block. If you find a certain advice doesn't work for you, then don't do what it says. Everyone has an individual creative process, that suits his/her personality.

As to the core of the problem: kick yourself in the b*** (I don't mean this as rude as it may sound) and keep writing at whatever you're busy. Do NOTstart over, just write and see where it gets you. You might end up with a load of crap, you might end up with a good rough draft, or end up with a gem of a finished piece. Whichever of these three possibilities, you'll have gained a lot of CONFIDENCE, since you've acctually completed a story (don't look for quality at this point but quantity). Once you know you can write a full piece, it'll be easier on the next one. The more you practice, the better you'll get at it.
And don't forget the most important part about the whole process: writing should be a joyfull event, not a chore. So, I wish you lots of fun and good luck.

P.S.: I know I might have contradicted myself in a few people's eyes, all I'm trying to say is, no one has the 'perfect' method, and what works for one person, might not work for another.

Black Phoenix · 11-09-2005, 09:58 AM

Off subject Jimmy!!!!! (Good movie though to.)

I think a story starts in the mind. Create a few characters and images in your mind and then try to transmit them into a story, then transmit it to paper. Your mind generates random images all the time (mine does anyway

), why not try to use them? Base a story on the dream you had last night for instance. Or maybe, say a word, now, what image appears into your head? Can you use that?

Or perhaps create three characters or so, flesh them out, and build the story off them and how they would theoretically interact. Don't worry about a plot right away, just consintrate on the characters.

Also, if your writing is fiction, remember, this is supposed to be a fantasy, so why shouldn't it be your fantasy? What have you always wanted to do, see, feel? Who have you always wanted to meet, what kind of people have you wished you could interact with, or who would you rather avoid (good idea for a villian

). Where would you rather not end up? What is your worst fear? (Can help create a climax.) What do you think is exciting?

bheid1.01 · 11-09-2005, 02:19 PM

you guys (and girls) are so good!
a lot of inspiration ob these pages, my thanks go out to you.

(never watched animal house tho)