Motivating & Completion

[litmlove]

Hi, I am a new author learning to write (for fun).

I have sensed that I am struggling to find the motivation to complete a story I have been writing. In fact, it has got to the point where I have almost written another story to around the same point (completing some scenes, then tons of editing).

I suppose there are several reasons for this:
- Trying to write sex scenes is difficult and strange at the best of times
- freely writing dialogue and the story is fun, rewriting sections/adjusting/editing is not
- Naked Procrastination
- Anxious about .. I dunno, something


Does anybody have tips to help encourage me and others? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Gunnlaug]

Hi, I am a new author learning to write (for fun).

I have sensed that I am struggling to find the motivation to complete a story I have been writing. In fact, it has got to the point where I have almost written another story to around the same point (completing some scenes, then tons of editing).

I suppose there are several reasons for this:
- Trying to write sex scenes is difficult and strange at the best of times
- freely writing dialogue and the story is fun, rewriting sections/adjusting/editing is not
- Naked Procrastination
- Anxious about .. I dunno, something


Does anybody have tips to help encourage me and others? Any help is appreciated.

Ha! No-one ever said it would be easy

I often have to really force myself and I find it to be a real grind a lot of the time. The moments when the words just fly out are to be treasured.

Specific answers to your points;

1) Do you really want to write sex scenes (there isn't a rule that says you MUST include them - provided you get the category right you can avoid them)? Do you have difficulty with 'sex' words - 'cunt', 'fuck', 'cock', 'riding a massive dildo'? Because if you do there is no necessity to use them - you can always use 'politer' words and still paint an enthralling picture.

2) Editing is something I HATE, but it has to be done. Perhaps having a volunteer editor might help you.

3) Procrastination is my curse - there is always some form of displacement activity. This is where I find that I just have to be disciplined. And even then I'm not very good at it.

4) What are you anxious about? Criticism? Someone linking your real identity to a 'sexy' story - and thus, embarrassment? In the end, my personal experience is that the only way to overcome anxiety is to dive right in. After all, in the great big scheme of things, what's the worst that can happen? EDIT - Are you confusing 'anxiety' with 'excitement'? They can feel similar.

Anyway, good luck, and remember - there is nothing wrong with having more than one story on the go at the same time. Currently I am working on three scripts, and three different Lit stories. I switch between them depending on mood, ideas, etc. If one isn't flowing, perhaps another will.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Writing is easy, and if you had anything worth writing it would write itself.

The real problems are: People are lazy and too stupid...I mean, their skulls are empty of ideas and experiences, and their attitudes are MANANA IS GOOD ENUF FOR ME. I like to remind writers static verbs are markers for stupidity, and serve as short-cuts around actions the writer cant articulate.

 

[Hypoxia]

Hi, I am a new author learning to write (for fun).

I have sensed that I am struggling to find the motivation to complete a story I have been writing. In fact, it has got to the point where I have almost written another story to around the same point (completing some scenes, then tons of editing).

I suppose there are several reasons for this:
- Trying to write sex scenes is difficult and strange at the best of times
- freely writing dialogue and the story is fun, rewriting sections/adjusting/editing is not
- Naked Procrastination
- Anxious about .. I dunno, something


Does anybody have tips to help encourage me and others? Any help is appreciated.

An out-of-towner lands in New York City with a destination in mind.
Wandering around midtown, he's lost.
He stops a pedestrian and asks, "Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?"
The local looks at him critically and says, "Practice, practice, practice!"

That's how it goes with writing. To get good, just write. Then write some more. And more. After about 1,000 hours, you might be OK.

Some approaches:

* If you've ever kept a journal-diary-blog, write your story like that. Just relate what you've (mentally) observed, and thought about. Just the facts, ma'am.

* Maybe you're motivated by guilt. I sure am. I over-commit to write or edit or do anything, then sneak in my own writing as a guilty pleasure. Without guilty deadlines, I'd never finish anything.

* Your anxieties are your own, especially the free-floating type. Can't help you there.

* Yes, writing about sex is tough. You actually have to THINK about what's happening. My advice: See it as a video playing in front of you, and describe the action. If it's a 1st-person narrative, put yourself into the video and record your thoughts and feelings.

* Editing is vital, sort of like training a dog. An untrained dog is an abomination. So is an unedited story. HEEL! SIT! PLAY DEAD! Good boy...

* Don't forget to plagiarize, but be certain to call it RESEARCH. Learn from the masters by copying them.

Be careful. Once you start writing a lot of erotica, you'll probably read less of what others have written. Doing it yourself is usually more fun that watching what others have done, right? [OK, there's a couple fetishes that say otherwise, but just humor me.]

Basically: Write. Write some more. And more. Repeat until dead. Have fun!

 

[oggbashan]

...

Does anybody have tips to help encourage me and others? Any help is appreciated.

Try writing to enter a story in one of the themed contests. The next one is Nude Day.

Writing for a themed contest gives you several things:

1. Obviously you have a theme to write to. That reduces the possibilities and helps concentration on the story line.

2. You have a deadline for submission that you HAVE to meet.

There are other benefits as well:

3. You and your story get far more attention (unfortunately some of it could be unwelcome) than a new story submitted by an unknown author.

4. You might even win, even if it is infamy in The Authors' Hangout Last Place (tm) Contest.

 

[VenusButterflies]

Hi, I am a new author learning to write (for fun).

I have sensed that I am struggling to find the motivation to complete a story I have been writing. In fact, it has got to the point where I have almost written another story to around the same point (completing some scenes, then tons of editing).

I suppose there are several reasons for this:
- Trying to write sex scenes is difficult and strange at the best of times
- freely writing dialogue and the story is fun, rewriting sections/adjusting/editing is not
- Naked Procrastination
- Anxious about .. I dunno, something


Does anybody have tips to help encourage me and others? Any help is appreciated.

One of the things that absolutely kills my motivation is when I start editing myself in my head before a thought even hits the page. Part of the reason why I start editing is anxiety about what I'm writing. Just remember no one is reading it but you while you're writing it, so don't worry about what people will think at that point.

What makes writing sex scenes difficult and strange? Are you writing what you think people want to see, or are you writing from your own fantasies? If it's the former, it will be difficult and strange, because it's not authentic -- it's not you. If you're writing from your own fantasies, from scenes that get you hot, it's a bit easier.

Rewriting/adjusting/editing sections is my least favorite part. BUT at the same time, when you go back and re-read and start editing, things might occur to you that haven't occurred to you before, and you're able to better tie a story's themes and subtexts together. Sometimes I realize that something I've written at the bottom of the page actually belongs in a different scene. The brain operates like that sometimes (or most of the time), it works on things when you're not even aware of it. But yes, the editing part sucks. I procrastinate on that the most.

And sometimes, I just don't get into a story I'm writing. It becomes a dead end for me. When that happens, I write what I want to write and go back to the other story later, maybe, or not at all. Sometimes unfinished stories are just an exercise. No one says you need to finish them. I have a few unfinished stories on here.

The whole thing about writing is that one can't help but do it. If you have no urge to write, if it's not an outlet or a source of freedom and passion for you, then you're going to struggle with it. If you find that you can't help but write, if you keep going back to it -- even if you never seem to finish anything -- then it gets easier.

I write my stories for here chapter by chapter, and edit when I'm finished with the current chapter I'm working on. I never write an entire story and then edit the whole thing. Maybe that's good, maybe that's bad, but it definitely alleviates the pressure of editing. Edit it piece by piece, section by section, two pages at a time, or what have you. But DON'T edit yourself before your ideas hit the page. That's death.

 

[litmlove]

Ha! No-one ever said it would be easy

Sigh, yeah.

~Snip~ Enter a contest for time pressure

Errr, thanks but no thanks.

if it's not an outlet or a source of freedom and passion for you, then you're going to struggle with it

I do and I don't. I am sure you can understand not having passion for things I hate Ok, that is a cheap answer but I will learn to deal with going through the editing process by myself.

Practice, practice, practice!

Bah! I come from Generation "?" and I don't want to go through all that effort to be good Well, at least I am in the process of learning to get through these difficulties.

 

[3113]

I have sensed that I am struggling to find the motivation to complete a story I have been writing.

Totally normal. First off, I agree that you should save editing till you're finished. Do the fun "freely" writing so that you can bring it to the end (though be aware, you might not want to bring it to the end because then you might be sad...and have to edit )

And, on that note, you might be anxious about finishing the story (what then?) and finally posting it and all. Don't end it, and you don't have to edit, post, etc.

But in the end, what's probably stopping you is simply that you need fresh momentum. This comes with a fresh perspective. If you're driving down one road for a long time, it gets monotonous and tiring. You lose your energy. Raymond Chandler had a great answer to your problem: “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.”

In other words, if you're struggling to get from A-B-C (the end) jump to C! Or take a left turn through a different alphabet to get to "C." Throw in something unexpected, or jump ahead in time, or move the characters to a new place or-- regarding the sex--toss in a new toy or a difficult place to have sex so the characters have to do more than just have sex to have sex.

Sex is easier to write when you aren't just focused on what the two are doing in bed, but rather how they're exciting each other while in a closet during a party.

Does that help?

 

[allamagione]

Hi, I am a new author learning to write (for fun).

I have sensed that I am struggling to find the motivation to complete a story I have been writing. In fact, it has got to the point where I have almost written another story to around the same point (completing some scenes, then tons of editing).

I suppose there are several reasons for this:
- Trying to write sex scenes is difficult and strange at the best of times
- freely writing dialogue and the story is fun, rewriting sections/adjusting/editing is not
- Naked Procrastination
- Anxious about .. I dunno, something


Does anybody have tips to help encourage me and others? Any help is appreciated.

I'm afraid I have no tips. I just wanted to say get out of my head!

I love writing dialogue. I have probably more than 50 stories on my laptop right now that consist of dialogue only. I'm talking entire stories. I'm just too lazy to go back and fill in the blanks. And it seems like I can only get excited about writing sex if the characters talk through the entire thing.

Basically, I've got to really, really, really like a story I'm writing to have the motivation to finish it. It has to be so damn good that not finishing it would be more painful for me than the process of fleshing it out and editing it.

Or sometimes I join a contest with a deadline. That seems to work, too.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Edit when you see the flaw and have a fix, otherwise youll forget.

 

[Hypoxia]

Edit when you see the flaw and have a fix, otherwise youll forget.

I only had a fix once and I passed out. I'd make a lousy junkie.

But I digress. I think it was Samuel Johnson who said, "Only a fool writes, if not for money." So we have many many fools here at LIT. Virtually all write because some internal pressure forces-out the words, sort of like farting. Robert Frost told an interviewer, "Excuse me now, please. I must let a poem."

How do you produce more farts? Eat beans, cabbage, onions etc. How do you produce more words? Eat lotsa words, I guess. They recycle well.