I’m often hesitant to begin/continue thinking that my efforts won’t live up to my idealized visualization of the story. While it’s stewing in my mind, or remains a stack of scribbled notes, the story’s potential remains as this nebulous whole. Sitting down and penning the plot, manifesting the characters, I now think they’ll fail to live up to my expectations. I’m no longer up to the task. The story is perfect in my mind — as it is — why attempt to realize it and ruin it?
Blimey! I’m just about to have a writing hour, now I feel a bit depressed after reading that. You make notes? Map things out? Now there’s a radical concept. If I get an idea for a new story possibly worth following up I let it stew at the back of my mind for a few months then wait for it to knock on my door demanding action. By then the opening is set in my mind and a few general ideas are enough to go with the flow (of beer) and start typing. I’m nearly seventy now so too late to bother changing. Right. Chapter eleven, whatever that is.
The power to realize your imagined scenarios, in a way you know will honor and recognize their genesis, comes and goes with me.
If you’re on a roll, run with it, right?
I experience something similar. I start a story well and enjoy how it’s going. Then after about 20,000-25,000 words, I feel like I’m no longer writing it as well as I was when I started. I’ve lost the flow, the rhythm, and am now just putting words on the page. That’s when I bog down.
I am also suffering from a lack of motivation, and more importantly, a lack of new and interesting story ideas. That said, each and almost every morning for the last decade I’ve sat down, with some music in the background and started typing or editing. I’m still doing that for an hour a day, and so I hope to have a new novel ready for 2024. Once I type the first few words, the hour flies by. Of course it used to be two hours… But you take what you can get.
I have a bunch of ideas rattling around, but I’m still trying to decide whether to turn them into short stories or stick them together into something like a novel. Short stories seems like the logical approach, but I can’t get excited about it. But at least one of them is intriguing enough that I actually want to work it into something.
Just a suggestion. If the ideas are connected maybe think of a serial, rather than a series. My freebie Davron is one such example.. Approximately 10 k words in each ‘episode in a continuing serial. Think of a tv soap opera style. Davron was written a few years ago but it is continuously read on smashwords (now merging with D2D). There are ten episodes in my serial.
Davron is always being read on Apple (from smashwords). Check them out if you like. One of many freebies . But like TV soaps, they need to be roughly the same size and a bit of a cliff hanger is expected at the end of each episode. Once into the mindset it becomes straight forward.
Writers Supporting Writers 
I’ll let you know if I ever do any
LikeLike
I’m often hesitant to begin/continue thinking that my efforts won’t live up to my idealized visualization of the story. While it’s stewing in my mind, or remains a stack of scribbled notes, the story’s potential remains as this nebulous whole. Sitting down and penning the plot, manifesting the characters, I now think they’ll fail to live up to my expectations. I’m no longer up to the task. The story is perfect in my mind — as it is — why attempt to realize it and ruin it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Blimey! I’m just about to have a writing hour, now I feel a bit depressed after reading that. You make notes? Map things out? Now there’s a radical concept. If I get an idea for a new story possibly worth following up I let it stew at the back of my mind for a few months then wait for it to knock on my door demanding action. By then the opening is set in my mind and a few general ideas are enough to go with the flow (of beer) and start typing. I’m nearly seventy now so too late to bother changing. Right. Chapter eleven, whatever that is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The power to realize your imagined scenarios, in a way you know will honor and recognize their genesis, comes and goes with me.
If you’re on a roll, run with it, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know this feeling; it’s a real writing-killer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I experience something similar. I start a story well and enjoy how it’s going. Then after about 20,000-25,000 words, I feel like I’m no longer writing it as well as I was when I started. I’ve lost the flow, the rhythm, and am now just putting words on the page. That’s when I bog down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Get running, rocking and rolling. Another beer and I’ll be doing more of the latter.
LikeLike
I am also suffering from a lack of motivation, and more importantly, a lack of new and interesting story ideas. That said, each and almost every morning for the last decade I’ve sat down, with some music in the background and started typing or editing. I’m still doing that for an hour a day, and so I hope to have a new novel ready for 2024. Once I type the first few words, the hour flies by. Of course it used to be two hours… But you take what you can get.
LikeLike
This is the kind of routine I need to force myself into. It’s been years since I’ve been able to. Time for a change!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a bunch of ideas rattling around, but I’m still trying to decide whether to turn them into short stories or stick them together into something like a novel. Short stories seems like the logical approach, but I can’t get excited about it. But at least one of them is intriguing enough that I actually want to work it into something.
LikeLike
Just a suggestion. If the ideas are connected maybe think of a serial, rather than a series. My freebie Davron is one such example.. Approximately 10 k words in each ‘episode in a continuing serial. Think of a tv soap opera style. Davron was written a few years ago but it is continuously read on smashwords (now merging with D2D). There are ten episodes in my serial.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linked stories would work for me, I think. Each one will add to a larger work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Davron is always being read on Apple (from smashwords). Check them out if you like. One of many freebies . But like TV soaps, they need to be roughly the same size and a bit of a cliff hanger is expected at the end of each episode. Once into the mindset it becomes straight forward.
LikeLike