Let's Talk Motivation

[GreenBanana]

I'm waiting for the new Chyoo to go up because the current Chyoo is having technical issues that prevent me from adding to my own stories. That doesn't mean I'm not writing in the meantime, or rather, intending to write.

I'm not short on ideas to roll with, here. I just can't be bothered to do the actual writing. It's just so much faster to think about them, and the effort-reward ratio is thus far superior to producing content.

Prowling the internet's uniform stock of advice is less help than intended. The cloying words of the rich and already-successful sound like the tedious ramblings of aliens who've never set foot on our world before. A professional writer's globetrotting is, frankly, out of touch with the homebrew struggler nobody knows. You lost sight of your humble beginnings the moment you cash that first check.

Hard-boiled advice isn't much help either. The proliferation of internet trolling has spawned a resurgence in alpha male posturing, so now we're prone to misidentify testy phrases such as "Well, if you aren't writing, then obviously you have no intention of ever doing so," as constructive criticism. Through many years of constant disillusionment, the one thing I have consistently ever wanted to do is write. I'm not doing to abandon an ingrained mentality.

I just look at a writing form, and it suddenly feels like far too much work to bother starting. It's a sorely isolating process, which perhaps is the biggest hurdle I face. The vicious cycle comes into play with the fact you can't get noticed if you don't do any writing at all.

Also, practice makes perfect, so there shouldn't be an excuse not to do any writing whatsoever. As it stands, I can't even bother to spin a 180-character addition on FoldingStory.com. Plus which, it just takes time to build up that momentum in the first place.

I'm out of motivation, and I'm at a loss.

 

[2p1k3]

As Nicholas Sparks says: 'look at the people around you and realize that they are dealing with problems just as difficult, and maybe more-so, than you.' Ironically I find humility helps me with depression/apathy/motivation.

I find it helpful to 'follow' twitter accounts that repeat positive quotes from successful people. There are a myriad more successful people in history than what 'popular' culture spits out. The point is to think 'as they do' because they are more successful than I am. Of course, defining what 'success' is important, first.

Think of whatever helps you the most to be happy; And, then keep thinking of it. If it's an action, then keep doing it. Meditation is helping me a lot with this. Meditation is like a muscle, the more you use it, the easier it is.

I also believe that some sort of spiritual belief is essential; regardless of a specific any belief, just something. Even if all you want to do is follow the teachings of the great Master Yoda.

I believe actual writing should be far from a chore. So if it is; then I am doing something wrong. I agree with the idea of "write about what you love". I think people misinterpret this saying as writing about what you love to read. They may be the same thing for most; but confusion can make them different.

If someone is giving you useless negative feedback on whatever your life choices are, then cut them out of your life. Such as whoever is telling you that crap about "if you are not writing..." I see little point of maintaining 'friendships' with such people, as I certainly want to be far from 'like them'.

I hope that something I have written here helps. Thank you for sharing your time by reading it. May the Force be with you.

 

[Kaitou1412]

People get curious about the success of a writer, but more often than not, those writers don't quite know how they did it themselves. They tell you what they think they did, other than get lucky. And quite frankly, with the general direction of western fiction these days, my response to modern success is to quote the GazettE: I don't want to become the fucking garbage like you!

If one's work fails to get published, it might not be a result of poor ability. Sometimes, one writer's voice is too similar to another's, and most publishers aren't interested in promoting a doppelganger while the original is still active. On the other hand, a first person perspective that requires amateurish narration may be taken as the writer's true ability and gets tossed aside before the publisher takes the time to understand the writer is deliberately lowering itself. All these handicaps and many more against success, and they only create another problem. Some people assume these handicaps are the reasons for their inability to earn money as a writer, instead of considering that they're doing something wrong in the writing itself - but this is a whole new problem worth a whole new rant.

It also doesn't help that we're moving towards a society where we give people what they want. The idea that people don't know what they want is quickly disappearing, and publishers and producers will only promote what's already popular, with a few off-topics intermingled to make up the numbers while receiving little-to-no promotion. Nobody gambles outside a casino anymore.

Anyway, the point is a writer generally only meets success when the world is promoting its type of writing, its contemporaries are clearly different, and its publisher likes it enough to put several resources towards their success. The remainder are sleepers, hacks who stumble into success by making something that resonates with the world, but their success is no less of a fluke - the only distinction being they created the tide instead of going with its flow. Most don't even realize their ability only impacts the amount of the initial investment, or that later success stems from riding this cash cow instead of having real ability. Therefore, successful writers cannot give advice: those who try fail to recognize the causes of their success; those who recognize the causes know nothing they say will help us. As such, I'll quote the GazettE once more: Shut the fuck up, jack-off!

Now that my rant is over, the best advice I have for general writing (never mind success) is actually a quote from Miyamoto Musashi: From one thing, know ten thousand things. Don't think of writing as only putting words on a page, think of it in broader terms. Most people only list reading and communication as an extension, but there's much more. Personally, I consider something as uninspiring as playing Pac Man to be a part of writing: if I play, I'll empty my mind of the desire to play, allowing me to focus on articulating the relevant fantasies in my head.

Focusing on a goal doesn't mean only doing the relevant activities. It means turning every activity of the world towards that goal. If your goal is writing, find something that relates to writing in everything. Once you look at it like that, motivation is pretty easy, since you never truly stop. The only hang up after this is when your description feels wrong, but that's only an announcement to approach writing in a different way.

 

[TAMS]

I don't know if this will help with your motivation, but I realized a while ago that the reason I couldn't motivate myself to write is I'm easily distracted and I become overwhelmed by all of the ideas clattering around in my skull. After reading several books on how to motivate myself and how to sit down and write I realized what I actually needed was tools.

First, I block out all distractions (as much as possible). I've always been pretty good about strapping on my ear goggles and blocking out the world around me, but the shiny object for me is the Internet. On recommendations of other writer friends I installed an Internet blocking productivity program called "Freedom." That worked great, because it allowed me to set aside a block of time that shut down the Internet completely on my computer and only let's me back on when the time expires or if I reboot.

However, I felt it was a bit extreme and after getting to a point where I felt I had a good writing habit I was getting frustrated. I also need the Internet for researching. So a month ago I installed RescueTime with which I've fallen in love. It tracks productivity and allows the user to mark websites they visit on varying levels of distraction. After "training" my Rescuetime app to know which websites are distracting and which are helpful I click a "focus" button, set a time, and it blocks out the "Distracting" websites. It also does several other useful things that help the user see where they may be wasting time in life. It's sort of turned into a game to see how blue (that's the good color) I can make my daily pie chart.

The website blocking with RescueTime is, unfortunately, only available on the paid version.

I have a PC, but I've heard good things from Mac writers about a free app similar to RescueTime called SelfControl. I've never used it, so can't personally vouch for it, but it's free, so if you're a Mac user what do you have to lose?

Finally, I bring to thee my writing secret weapon: Scrivener. I only started using Scrivener in October of last year, but it's completely changed the way I write. No more research notes scribbled on various word docs or in notepads. No more random ideas jotted down on a post-it note hanging from the corner of my screen. It all goes into Scrivener where it gets organized and is easily referenced. I've been working on a non-dirty writing project for the last six months, so I've yet to apply it to my Chyoo writing, but for keeping all of the threads in my head organized I imagine it'll be perfect.

Scrivener does require a one time payment of between $40 and $50 (depending on if you're a Mac or PC user), but they offer a 30 day free trial. I think it's worthy investment, but take it for the trial first to see if it suits your writing.

I hope this advice helps!

 

[GreenBanana]

May the Force be with you.

Funny you say that, one of my current projects is related to a Star Wars Saga tabletop campaign I was recently a part of.

Sometimes, one writer's voice is too similar to another's, and most publishers aren't interested in promoting a doppelganger while the original is still active. On the other hand, a first person perspective that requires amateurish narration may be taken as the writer's true ability and gets tossed aside before the publisher takes the time to understand the writer is deliberately lowering itself.

Having grown up in the nineties, it always boggles my mind when people don't understand irony, sarcasm, or the subtle nuances a different perspective can offer. I blame the delusion that people are capable of empathy.

It also doesn't help that we're moving towards a society where we give people what they want.

I find it quite Orwellian. Not only do we have to give people what they want, we have to want to give people what they want. Sounds like slavery of the mind to me. In short, audiences are spoiled and the notion they have responsibilities on their part no longer dawns on them.

Anyway, the point is a writer generally only meets success when the world is promoting its type of writing, its contemporaries are clearly different, and its publisher likes it enough to put several resources towards their success. The remainder are sleepers, hacks who stumble into success by making something that resonates with the world, but their success is no less of a fluke - the only distinction being they created the tide instead of going with its flow. Most don't even realize their ability only impacts the amount of the initial investment, or that later success stems from riding this cash cow instead of having real ability.

Sounds a bit damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't. Again, though, the masses are simple, and I'd rather write for a niche market who will "get" it. I blame the American education system for all of this. It's easier for people to be ingrained with precepts of how everything should be done and just go through the motions to obedience. It's all very Skinnerian. This makes it easier for people who make all the decisions for us to adhere to lazy prejudices.

I don't know if this will help with your motivation, but I realized a while ago that the reason I couldn't motivate myself to write is I'm easily distracted and I become overwhelmed by all of the ideas clattering around in my skull.

First, I block out all distractions (as much as possible).

If I have to be alone with my thoughts, all I think about are the infinite reasons I'm a loser.

On recommendations of other writer friends I installed an Internet blocking productivity program called "Freedom." That worked great, because it allowed me to set aside a block of time that shut down the Internet completely on my computer and only let's me back on when the time expires or if I reboot. However, I felt it was a bit extreme and after getting to a point where I felt I had a good writing habit I was getting frustrated. I also need the Internet for researching.

My problem with this is I use thefreedictionary.com when I write, though I wish its thesaurus was a bit more extensive.

 

[Kaitou1412]

If I have to be alone with my thoughts, all I think about are the infinite reasons I'm a loser.

Well, ignoring the self-loathing, you have to go deeper. If you're after Mu, the absence of idle thoughts, and this is getting in the way, then you need to focus harder on emptying yourself. I cheat and fulfill excess desires, TAMS cheats by having a program block out these distractions, but the skilled don't need either.

Or you can go for Shikan. This is about the full focus on a single idle thought that has absolutely nothing to do with your goal. One of the great Shikan practitioners was Yoshioka Seijūrō. When he dueled, he focused on a bird perched on a treetop, and it's said his concentration was so great that hundreds of bird flew to the treetops all at once. Besides the parlor trick, he was the master of the (defunct) Yoshioka School, and one of the most skilled warriors in all of Kyoto until he was crippled in a duel (which he fought without this mental stability). Find your own positive idle thought if you want to try.

Either one is a well founded means of training the mind, and in some cases Shikan can lead to the achievement of Mu.

Other than this, you've already got the right attitude: Never stray from the Way. All you need is a little less clutter.

And don't get me started on society's monotony and conformity. I already threw in two quotes from the song Vortex. That's enough on that subject if we want this to be about your motivation.

 

[2p1k3]

Maybe look at as the audience has to 'want' what you 'want' to give them? The concept of slavery is an illusion. To be a slave requires the will to subordinate your self to another's will. Thus you are still responsible for the 'choice' to subordinate.

I think these traits have always existed, contemporary society has just cleaned off the extraneous, so that it is more easy to see the primary vectors. Instead of society changing, we are the ones changing.

...I find it quite Orwellian. Not only do we have to give people what they want, we have to want to give people what they want. Sounds like slavery of the mind to me. In short, audiences are spoiled and the notion they have responsibilities on their part no longer dawns on them...

Thank you for this thread, I think it may have helped me as well.

 

[HiddenEyes056]

Frankly, I just write because I like writing niche smut that doesn't get much showing elsewhere. Sometimes I get really carried away. I don't think I write that well, but whenever I get compliments about that sort of stuff I'm over the moon. I don't have the attention span to write very much unless I get in one of those carried-away moods, which is why my writing is either somewhat brief or fairly lengthy.

In short, I'm an easily-distracted pervert and this is my motivation.