The Brick Wall

[madelinemasoch]

Most of you probably know I used to be published on this site but I pulled my stories down myself in March. I'm actively writing more to begin publishing again next year. I don't want to touch upon the specificities of my new stories in very much detail at all in this post. That isn't really the issue at hand. What I'm dealing with is this overwhelming desire to continue writing while simultaneously not being able to. I don't really know what I'm doing with certain story ideas yet. The ones that I do, I'm afraid of executing incorrectly, or I'm tired and I struggle to grasp the feeling of the original spark. They all come to me in visual form, in my mind's eye, and right now I'm struggling to translate these ideas to the page/written word. They're more like film ideas, to be honest, but I don't have the means to execute them as films right now. I think this is partially because I've been consuming more content about writing as a craft. Both my perspective and my ideas have changed since a year ago. I'm sort of stuck in a type of paralysis wherein I can't actually freely enact my craft that I care so much about. I'm just stuck there staring at it. Like if you were in a wood shop and you're just like "how the fuck am I supposed to use this saw?" except you know exactly how to use the saw better than anyone you know, you're just afraid of cutting the wood wrong. I can't seem to just freely type out these things... if I did, what would come out would be something completely different from what I want to write about. There's a lot of pressure.

 

[baffling8929]

Have you considered word-vomit-brain-dump and then don't look at it again?

There's a famous writer (or at least somewhat well-known, the name escapes me) who will write a full first draft, then stick it in a folder/drawer/envelope somewhere and never look at it again. They write a second draft from memory, figuring their brain will leave out the crappy bits.

 

[madelinemasoch]

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen for me, personally

 

[StillStunned]

Another suggestion: dictation software. Just speak a scene out loud and record it. Keep going as long as the words flow.

Then read it back. Look at it on paper as if you're looking at a story you've never read before, and think how you'd write it.

(I've never tried this, but it might help to break the "sitting down and typing" barrier.)

 

[madelinemasoch]

Another suggestion: dictation software. Just speak a scene out loud and record it. Keep going as long as the words flow.

Then read it back. Look at it on paper as if you're looking at a story you've never read before, and think how you'd write it.

(I've never tried this, but it might help to break the "sitting down and typing" barrier.)

Potentially.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I put two series' up, sort of got lost in them and gave them dramatic, emotional retrospective endings. People didn't seem to like that.



I have part one of a different one up now and part one of a fourth one will go up on the 21st.

I don't know where I'm going to go with those.

 

[madelinemasoch]

I have part one of a different one up now and part one of a fourth one will go up on the 21st.

Good day to publish.

 

[AG31]

I'm not visual, so what's my idea worth.... But what comes to me is to take a small section of the scene in your mind and just describe it visually, no action, no character, just what you see in a static sense. Maybe that would begin to bridge the gap between the visual and verbal and you could begin to add action and then character (or the reverse.) Your story is there. You have to find it, uncover it. (I almost wrote "just have to find it," but I doubt it will be easy.

 

[madelinemasoch]

I'm not visual, so what's my idea worth.... But what comes to me is to take a small section of the scene in your mind and just describe it visually, no action, no character, just what you see in a static sense. Maybe that would begin to bridge the gap between the visual and verbal and you could begin to add action and then character (or the reverse.) Your story is there. You have to find it, uncover it. (I almost wrote "just have to find it," but I doubt it will be easy.

The only problem with that method is that character and action should be built into the prose as written. I hope that makes sense.

 

[AG31]

The only problem with that method is that character and action should be built into the prose as written. I hope that makes sense.

Well, it makes sense, but I disagree that that's a given. Why do you think that?

 

[madelinemasoch]

Well, it makes sense, but I disagree that that's a given. Why do you think that?

Because the style tips I’ve picked up on all point towards that being the structure of the prose. Active voice, word choices that avoid specific useless words, showing and not telling, and keeping it in the character’s perspective.

 

[AlinaX]

I go through periods where I don't have any enthusiasm for writing, so I don't. Maybe I'll write short pieces, or focus on different aspects of the writing.

 

[AG31]

Because the style tips I’ve picked up on all point towards that being the structure of the prose. Active voice, word choices that avoid specific useless words, showing and not telling, and keeping it in the character’s perspective.

Yes. But I don't see why my suggestion affects that approach. But you know what your gut is telling you. Whatever works.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Brick Wall, you're obviously not listening to enough Pink Floyd...

Seriously, give yourself permission to write something bad. It was Hemingway that said, "The First Draft of Anything Is Shit."

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Have you considered word-vomit-brain-dump and then don't look at it again?

There's a famous writer (or at least somewhat well-known, the name escapes me) who will write a full first draft, then stick it in a folder/drawer/envelope somewhere and never look at it again. They write a second draft from memory, figuring their brain will leave out the crappy bits.

Brandon Sanderson (of the $46 million KickStarter) says that when he sits down, sometimes if he isn't inspired he'll just write five pages knowing perfectly well it's bad and he won't use it. Having the bad version spilled onto the page focuses the writer part of his brain and he ends up knowing what the good version will look like by contrast. Then he throws away the five pages and starts over. I think he mentioned it on his podcast.

-Annie

 

[TheRedChamber]

If you've got 'filmic' ideas have you tried writing it down in script form?

I do that occasionally when two characters are going to have a long conversation. I develop the scene as a movie playing in my head and then just write down what the characters say first - I can add in all the 'She tugged her braid nervously' stuff in later. This tends to work best for scenes when there is not a lot of inner voice because the characters are having everything out.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Brick Wall, you're obviously not listening to enough Pink Floyd...

Seriously, give yourself permission to write something bad. It was Hemingway that said, "The First Draft of Anything Is Shit."

In other words, you have to accept that you might make mistakes. That's the only way to learn anything.

@madelinemasoch: sorry, I forgot why you took down your earlier stories. I seem to remember that you got push-back or criticism from certain readers.

 

[madelinemasoch]

In other words, you have to accept that you might make mistakes. That's the only way to learn anything.

@madelinemasoch: sorry, I forgot why you took down your earlier stories. I seem to remember that you got push-back or criticism from certain readers.

Oh, I just did it for personal reasons.

 

[madelinemasoch]

If you've got 'filmic' ideas have you tried writing it down in script form?

I do that occasionally when two characters are going to have a long conversation. I develop the scene as a movie playing in my head and then just write down what the characters say first - I can add in all the 'She tugged her braid nervously' stuff in later. This tends to work best for scenes when there is not a lot of inner voice because the characters are having everything out.

I might consider doing this because I've written in this format before.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Most of you probably know I used to be published on this site but I pulled my stories down myself in March. I'm actively writing more to begin publishing again next year. I don't want to touch upon the specificities of my new stories in very much detail at all in this post. That isn't really the issue at hand. What I'm dealing with is this overwhelming desire to continue writing while simultaneously not being able to. I don't really know what I'm doing with certain story ideas yet. The ones that I do, I'm afraid of executing incorrectly, or I'm tired and I struggle to grasp the feeling of the original spark. They all come to me in visual form, in my mind's eye, and right now I'm struggling to translate these ideas to the page/written word. They're more like film ideas, to be honest, but I don't have the means to execute them as films right now. I think this is partially because I've been consuming more content about writing as a craft. Both my perspective and my ideas have changed since a year ago. I'm sort of stuck in a type of paralysis wherein I can't actually freely enact my craft that I care so much about. I'm just stuck there staring at it. Like if you were in a wood shop and you're just like "how the fuck am I supposed to use this saw?" except you know exactly how to use the saw better than anyone you know, you're just afraid of cutting the wood wrong. I can't seem to just freely type out these things... if I did, what would come out would be something completely different from what I want to write about. There's a lot of pressure.

I think I understand your dilemma.

Sometimes after attending a writing event, workshop, or otherwise being exposed to a new writing concept or skill, it will derail me as I consider if I should try something different or change anything about my established techniques.

I've found that going back through older published works and reviewing them against the new concept/skill/technique allows me to gauge the usefulness or acceptability as it applies to what I have previously done. This typically allows me to either put it to rest or actively implement it going forward.

 

[Jorunn]

I hit the same wall a year before you, madelinemasoch, and removed my small collection of stories in March 2023. I stepped away for six months, then came back. If I hit the wall again, I would probably leave my stories, and just step away for a while.

Why come back? I suppose it goes back to why Laurel set this whole thing up. She just liked reading the stories. For me, I liked writing about the characters in my stories, doing things I would like them to do, in places I wanted them to be. I stepped back from looking closely at scores and votes, and just let my mind wander through different story ideas I thought would be interesting to write about. Many of those ideas never go anywhere. But i find it exciting to fill in the details of a story idea, do some research and learn about different times and places, and it is a wonderful feeling when you finally hit save, knowing you have completed a worthy story.

 

[MiaBabe23]

I wonder if, with what you’re saying about how the guides recommend you ought to write, you’re trapping yourself in editor mode when you should be allowing yourself to write
I make that error plenty myself. I find it very freeing when I say to myself, okay this is writing time, which is free and relaxed and joyful or cathartic or whatever the mood might be, and later, in eg two hours it’s then editing time, when I’ll critique my work, consider whether my characters are coming through, is my plot clear etc
Maybe worth continually separating the two?

 

[madelinemasoch]

I wonder if, with what you’re saying about how the guides recommend you ought to write, you’re trapping yourself in editor mode when you should be allowing yourself to write
I make that error plenty myself. I find it very freeing when I say to myself, okay this is writing time, which is free and relaxed and joyful or cathartic or whatever the mood might be, and later, in eg two hours it’s then editing time, when I’ll critique my work, consider whether my characters are coming through, is my plot clear etc
Maybe worth continually separating the two?

I just doubt this will be possible for me because I've always approached writing that way, like thinking about these things that you think about during an edit while I'm actually writing the first draft.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Oh well. I guess it was OK for a few days. Kinda run dry for now.