One shot Wonder

[Datadr]

Call it block, call it a cramp, but in reality call it, "can't seem to finish anything else".

I know I'm not the only one, thats managed to put together a few words, that just kind of ran into a story at least a few people enjoyed. Now, I can't seem to get it together again, focus long enough to finish another.

Yep, got two or three working at all times, and even manage to spend a little time with each occassionally. Still somethings holding me back, something keeping me from letting go, and crawling into it, becoming a part of the story. Living it to the end.

Just can't get there... Any suggestions

Datadr

 

[Ray Dario]

Well, I've managed to complete a few stories, but right now I'm suffering the same thing. I've got no less than five stories started and can't seem to finish any of them.

I've kinda fallen into the "Oh my God, what if it isn't right?" paranoid funk and I just keep rewriting and hacking at the stories and hating each new version more than the last.

Hmm, maybe this belongs in that other thread. "Don't you just hate it when ..."

Ray

 

[MaxSebastian]

I think I may be stuck there too at the moment. I have several stories to write. Lack of time, other projects - all gets in the way.

I'm also trying to write some non-erotic stuff, so that's in the way too.

I suppose you just have to really work at it. Sit down and pick whichever project you most feel like doing and then just bulldoze your way through the 'block'.

 

[MysteryWriter]

i must be the exception

I work a story through to the end or scrap it permenantly. I find if I go back to one all I want to do to it is write a damn ending. I cant find the energy to work more than one at a time.

 

[LivingUnicorn]

I'm kinda doing this too! I got some very good feedback from my last story, but everytime I go back and edit my new story I see the very same problems. Even in the new stuff I wrote!

Ooh, and I so want to get my next story posted, but I'm not going to post it until I know for sure it is very, very good!

LU

 

[Route66Girl]

Yup, I've been there. And certainly will be again many times. I just started writing erotica, so I'm no Literotica expert. But I've been writing other stuff for a while, mostly non-fiction.

When it comes to writing fiction, the best cure, for me anyways, is to just sit down with no distractions and just start typing. I find that if I just force myself to start plugging away at it, even if it's just nonsense at first, something eventually hits me over the head and the story starts to take off again. Like Max said, "bulldoze."

The important thing is the "no distractions" part. That's a luxury that few of us can afford, but it's necessary.

I'd always wanted to write fiction and had a bunch of story ideas, but could never seem to follow them through. Well, I got canned back in October (9/11 fallout) and was left facing a winter with nothing to do. I started writing, and ran into the same road blocks, where the story just tapered off and my imagination seemingly reached its limits, just as before. Of course, it hadn't. But for once, I didn't have any distractions or excuses to walk away from it. So things took off. Having these last months all to myself was the best thing that could have happened as far as writing is concerned. I'm looking for work again now, and am specifically looking for something that will afford me as much free time as possible to write.

Last, but not least, get feedback and exchange ideas with other writers. It's invaluable. Through objective eyes, they can see things you can't.

Sorry to be so long-winded!

 

[wildsweetone]

just a thought...

some experts will tell you to take a break. completely wipe whatever it is that you've been struggling with and do something different.

i suggest trying something else that's creative for a little while. no matter how good or bad you are at it. try drawing, photography, beginning a journal, if all you've done is stories then try poetry. try switching to taking a walk for research ideas. anything that will change your 'mood' which you are presently in will alter your 'mood'.

or how about getting up and go live some life experiences for a little while. come back to it when the mood strikes again.

anybody ever tried brain-gym? if you're on a time limit with writing, then brain-gym will help.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Writer's block.
Amateurs get it; professionals get it. God alone knows
how many people get it in the middle of their first story
and we never hear about them.
One guy wrote a famous novel when quite youg, and wrote
another for the rest of his (fairly long) life. It was
published recently (posthumously, IIRC).
In another forum, I'm in a group which calls it "The Big
Hopper."
I've put 70 stories on a website, some of them short -- but
one of them a novel. So I should be immune right?
Not on your life!
I have at least that many stories as ideas or half-written.
(And I posted the first part of another novel and -- thus --
have to finish it. It started out being posted with six
chapters out of a projected nine in the can. It was
scheduled for completion on Valentine's Day 2001. So far,
I've posted 14 chapters, and I'm not finished yet.)

 

[VeraGem]

Loving all the company.

Bulldozing, or as Stephen King calls it in his book, 'On Writing:' "Shoveling shit from a chair," has taken up most of my available time for the last several months.

See, I have this one - it's finished, I think - sometimes when I read it I'm struck dumb by it's brilliance. Other times, (most times), I think: "This is the most godawful crap I've ever seen."

Then I'm afraid to touch it for fear of overdoing it.

Then I go and hammer out a couple chapters of more senseless drivel. I guess I'm going through a period of no fun - so I'm working on mechanics. At least it's something to do.

I'm trying to stop worrying about it, hoping it'll just come when it comes. It's always nice though to have company, so if any of you have a sudden inspiration or breakthrough good for you. I don't wanna know about it though.

With tongue firmly in cheek,

VG

 

[jon.hayworth]

I may be about to upset a lot of people. A while ago I took a course called "Writing for the Media", we did both fiction and factual writing. The journalism tutor, an ex newspaper editor used to say that for professional writers there was no thing as writersblock.

The point he was trying to make was that journalists would force the words out to a deadline no matter how they felt. The same rule applies to scriptwriters, especially those working on soaps.

The advice we were given was to set a daily number of words to write and write them even if you think they are crap. Next day before you begin to write that days quota, edit what you wrote. I think sometimes it helps if you set yourself deadlines.

Having said that I have several stories on the go, and I am skiving at the moment so I shall soon return to my half finished story.

Best of luck everyone.

jon for those who are really down and for skivers

 

[Closet Desire]

Writer's block...

...is what happens when you try to build something before all the materials are delivered. In news writing it's trying to write the story before you have enough facts. In a novel it's before you've sorted out what the whole story is.

Everybody works differently. I listened to an interview with Stephen King a decade ago and he said that he didn't know what was going to happen until he wrote it. One way of working that works for him and many others. Sometimes I work that way too. Other times I just wait until the story has sorted itself out and then write.

Personally, I don't get writer's block. When I run out of story material I just wait for the next delivery and pick up where I left off.

Just a thought.

 

[MaxSebastian]

an ex newspaper editor used to say that for professional writers there was no thing as writersblock.

And of course, he'd be right. Writer's block is purely a mood thing. You can force yourself to sit down and get through it, but to some extent, for some people, I think writing erotic fiction needs a certain amount of emotional connection between the writer and the text being written - in a way that journalism just doesn't have, particularly news-writing.

Writing sensual stuff if you're not in the right mood is very tough - and the writing can suffer as a result. As much fiction as there is in the media from day to day, writing that kind of copy is a different matter entirely. But hey, I'm just a journalist!

The truth is, sure we can get rid of writer's block. Personally, I just need a break now and then to let the creative juices build up again. We just like whining about the block because it gives us something to lay the blame on which isn't going to come back and say 'hey, don't blame me, sucker!'

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Re: Loving all the company.

Bulldozing, or as Stephen King calls it in his book, 'On Writing:' "Shoveling shit from a chair," has taken up most of my available time for the last several months.

See, I have this one - it's finished, I think - sometimes when I read it I'm struck dumb by it's brilliance. Other times, (most times), I think: "This is the most godawful crap I've ever seen."

Then I'm afraid to touch it for fear of overdoing it.

Then I go and hammer out a couple chapters of more senseless drivel. I guess I'm going through a period of no fun - so I'm working on mechanics. At least it's something to do.

I'm trying to stop worrying about it, hoping it'll just come when it comes. It's always nice though to have company, so if any of you have a sudden inspiration or breakthrough good for you. I don't wanna know about it though.

With tongue firmly in cheek,

VG

;
When you have something to rewrite, save it in present form,
then take another copy of it and rewrite every section.
Almost always, you'll like the second one better; if not,
you still have the first one in its virginal form.

 

[Quint]

"I spent all morning putting in a comma..."

"...and all afternoon taking it out." I think that was Oscar Wilde.

Damn, sure wish more people would use commas!

Taking out the trash is just as important as adding more, except you get less readers, since you never actually get around to WRITING more. That's where I am right now; the last time I looked at my ongoing story, all I did was take out a faulty sentence.

In the meantime I've had ideas for at least two other stories (inspired by dreams, which means that luckily for you readers out there, these stories will never be written), a poem, and a nice essay. Hey, I AM a college student.

Oh, for a mental laxative.

 

[christo]

I'm always working on 3 or 4 stories at the same time. I get a bright idea and write 10 pages or so and then...I get another idea, and I leave the last one behind. Then I get bored of the second idea, and go back to the first.

It's a good thing, I think, to have more than one iron in the fire. Keeps your brain fresh instead of dwelling on one thing alone. But I have like 6 stories that are maybe half-done, and it's gonna be a lot of heavy lifting to get even one done. I've been better at sticking to one thing till it's done, but it's hard, so hard.

I rarely get writers block. I might come to point where I don't know what to do next, and when that happens I go for a walk. Walking instantly gets my brain working again. I'm confident that no matter how tight the corner I paint myself into, I get find a way out if I just go on a long enough walk.

When I find myself unable to compose another orignial word I like to edit the stuff I've already written. I love to edit, which I think makes me unusual. I get out my red pen and start hacking and slashing. It's a different way to spur the creative juices.

 

[karmadog]

love editing?

How do you do it Christo? I don't think I will ever love editing. In fact, I hate it. Ideally, everything would go straight from my head to the paper (metaphorically, of course) and be done with it.

Editing is much harder than writing. I find it difficult to cut things that I know should be cut, and get mulish when I have to explain things further that are unclear. Does anyone know of a good book on editing? Not the nuts and bolts of grammar and punctuation, but about boiling the story down to its essence.

 

[its Leslie]

Not sure this will help you but writing is often about mood, conditions, setting etc.

What do you actually DO when you are writing?

I am perhaps blessed with an ability to just pour out words onto a page. I liken it to being something of an opinionated big mouth on paper in my case heheh.

But I try to have something present when writing. Something relevant. I have wrote all my erotic fictions sitting here bare assed. That might not be an option to all admittedly.
But if you believe in what you write.....truely believe, then you can support sitting there bare assed even if you might have to explain it to family or others.
For those that think writing about fucking is "dirty" I suggest you stop writing it right now. If you can't sit there bare assed with a visible hard on while writing (yes I know you ladies won't have that condition hehe), then you need to examine more closely what you are doing.
Most of my erotic fiction is created while in a clearly obvious state of arrousal. I think each story has been followed by my doing what I hope happens to all that read my stories. I celebrate a new creation pumping out my balls masturbating.
I have no problem with being seen during the day bare assed. But then I am not supportive of notions that support the idea sex is "bad". My young son has seen dad with an erection. I am assuming he has heard the bed madly protesting my weight while screwing his mom in the morning (although we do close the door, he can get his own entertainment).

Now for the non erotic fiction crowd....well I play music that helps the mood. Or I might read something on a similar vein. Or a short activity directly linked with the material helps.

But through it all, I usually have no problem writing myself. The words just pour out. I am assuming this is not common. But then again, how many of us have a job they need as opposed to want?

Currently I don't "need" to write. I just do it for the amusement of having done it. I could be doing it commercially serious I suppose. And it would not be any harder or easier in my case.

But for those that need it for the cash. I can only suggest you treat your word processor (or whatever you use) as your office.
Act accordingly. When you are there, assume you are at work. See each lost minute as a minute wasted goofing off not doing what you are suposed to. Give yourself the same level of coffee breaks and lunch you would expect in a real job.
If nothing else, you will at least have the right level of expectation from your self.

 

[Justin_Thyme]

One Shot Wonder

The subject title seems to fit my situation to a 'T'. My one shot seems to relate to the original idea or dream or whatever one seems to want to call it.
I am retired, my wife works and I have most of the day, at least in the wintertime, to sit at the computer and do my thing. Thus, I find that, if I can write mostly non-stop until I finish the story, I don't seem to have too much difficulty.

Getting the basic story written is the fun part. The work begins when I run the spell/grammar check routine. That is when I have to wonder if I may be dyslexic. I discover I have written sentences upsidedown and backward and spend a lot of time trying to make them read properly.
When satisfied I have done my best, I submit and when the story is posted I find all the rest of the errors I made.
All too often, feedback will prompt me to continue a story I thought was finished. That is when the real problems crop up - trying to force thoughts that aren't there! I don't think I have ever been as pleased with a follow-on project as I was when I thought the story was finished. I think readers spot the situation right away as the number of reads and votes as well as feedback fall off dramatically when sequels appear.
Now, I must close and work on a couple of follow-on stories that I have promised myself - and others - I would do. Fortunately, it is cold and raining outside so I won't be troubled with thoughts of what I should be doing that would most please my wife when she gets home. Fortunately I vacuumed and dusted on Friday, so I can probably ignore that sort of thing for another day.
Justin

 

[Justin_Thyme]

See what I meant?

When satisfied I have done my best, I submit and when the story is posted I find all the rest of the errors I made.
=============================

All, indeed. I might better have said, "some of," as I doubt I am knowledgeable to find ALL of them!

And that, friends, is the way I write. ie, Write it, let it cool for a day or two, then return and find stuff like the above example.

Justin

 

[Quint]

Yes, but...

Do you write it, post it (like the above message, which you caught errors in minutes after posting), and THEN wait the couple of days it takes you to find more errors, or do you actually keep the story saved but not available, twiddling your thumbs, re-reading and re-editing and generally going crazy, and THEN post it? Hopefully you have the patience in stories that none of us do on the forum; here we get our say out as fast as possible so people can nod and reply with another inane, typographically-abundant, meaningless little "me 2." Ahh, forums. Breeding grounds for editorial atrophy.

Anyway, the point of this was: be patient on things that really matter.

 

[Justin_Thyme]

Quint

Do you write it, post it (like the above message, which you caught errors in minutes after posting), and THEN wait the couple of days it takes you to find more errors, or do you actually keep the story saved but not available, twiddling your thumbs, re-reading and re-editing and generally going crazy, and THEN post it? Hopefully you have the patience in stories that none of us do on the forum; here we get our say out as fast as possible so people can nod and reply with another inane, typographically-abundant, meaningless little "me 2." Ahh, forums. Breeding grounds for editorial atrophy.
***********************************
Guess I was not clear on that.
No, I never try to submit 'til after the cooling off period. Then I do the spell/grammar check, rewrite and do whatever else I think necessary to hammar the story into shape. That, of course, necessitates another trip through the spell check routine. Finally, after all that, I post. And THEN I find some more mistakes. Ah well, I guess no one ever said I was perfect. Except for my ex. She mentioned several times her view that I was a perfect....Shoot, no one wants to read all that.
Justin

 

[Quint]

Justin,

Do you utilize the editorial services? An objective 3rd person can really be helpful in zoning in on things your eyes just kinda bounce over.

 

[Justin_Thyme]

Quint,

No, as of now, I have not. Can not explain why as I am not quite sure why. I know that part of it is that I really don't want to bother anyone. Not all are retired and have as much time as I do to fool with this stuff.
And, yes, I know the editors volunteered so I suppose I shouldn't feel as if reviewing my efforts would, somehow, be a great burden on them. But I do.
Right now, the only stuff I have that was written spontaneously has been posted. By spontaneously, I mean things that just flowed from my mind into the computer with ease. I am working on sequels to a couple of stories - works that have been requested by others. I don't even like what I have written on those sequels so far and do not see how anyone else would want to read the stuff. Anyhow, if and when I can get one of them into some sort of form that I am happy with, I just may ask for help. But, darn it, I still hate to bother someone and ask them to read and comment.

Justin

 

[Justin_Thyme]

Now, how on earth did we arrive here, so far from Datadr's 'One Shot Wonder' thread?
Sorry, Datadr!

Justin

 

[Quint]

One last digression from me, I promise.

Justin, I have received two emails from people who, on their own volition (as I'm not a posted editor as of now), searched me out based on my merit as an author (ahhhh, sweet, sweet praise) and asked me to edit their works. I walked on clouds all day. The ego stroking aside, I truly love to read other people's stories and help them improve. It would never be a burden for me to edit a serious author's work, even if it starts out pretty decrepit. Feel free to use me anytime. ::winks suggestively::

Now, back to our regularly scheduled topic!