Writing endurance

[SpecterNecter]

You keep belittling the work I say comes easily. Just because it flows quickly and without much effort doesn't make it blah. It can still be very good. It doesn't need to be difficult to have value.

 

[StillStunned]

You keep belittling the work I say comes easily. Just because it flows quickly and without much effort doesn't make it blah. It can still be very good. It doesn't need to be difficult to have value.

I'm missing something. Who said that, and where?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Sometimes, stories are easy, and sometimes, it is hard work for me. Sometimes, the second draft is a pain, and getting the right words to say what I want it to say is painfully slow. In other circumstances, the writing flows, and the second draft doesn't require much drafting. But when I do it by the seat of my pants, it flows well in the beginning, and if I don't break from it often, I can get to the end of 7,000 to 14,000 words in a few days. But most of the time, writing by the seat of my pants hits a wall, and I have to plot what comes next because it has progressed further on paper than in my mind, and I'm still not near the end.

A lot of those last kinds don't get finished because I no longer have the thread of the tale in mind.

 

[SpecterNecter]

I'm missing something. Who said that, and where?

Pink glove lady..at least that's how I read her comments

 

[pink_silk_glove]

You keep belittling the work I say comes easily. Just because it flows quickly and without much effort doesn't make it blah. It can still be very good. It doesn't need to be difficult to have value.

That is not true. I'm mot belittling anything. In fact I took you at your word that your stuff is great.

You've asked for advice. I gave some. You didn't like it. So let me try some different advice.

So if I understand this correctly, when you start writing everything is flowing easy and coming out great but then at some point the writing gets tough, the inspiration isn't so strong. That happens to all of us I'm quite sure. There are times when everything flows well and times when things slow and even grind to a halt. That's writing. Since you shouldn't have to slog through and you shouldn't have to wait until the flowing muse returns, might I suggest writing shorter stories that can be completed within your flowing muse window? Don;t think too far ahead, just think of how it might wrap up quickly. There are countess writers here who are popular and successful writing short vignettes rarely over 10k or even 5k words. There are thousands of popular stories that are even 2500 words long.

 

[SpecterNecter]

I'm ok with it all. I really wasn't looking for advice. I just wanted to know if other's had this kind of issue. However, I think if you reread your responses objectively you will find that you, consciously or unconsciously, put more value on works that were hard to write. As if the effort somehow makes the result more valuable or that it seeming easy means it can be the authors best. That is the only thing I take issue with. I thoughts your thoughts were otherwise all valid and helpful.

 

[SpecterNecter]

I'm ok with it all. I really wasn't looking for advice. I just wanted to know if other's had this kind of issue. However, I think if you reread your responses objectively you will find that you, consciously or unconsciously, put more value on works that were hard to write. As if the effort somehow makes the result more valuable or that it seeming easy means it can be the authors best. That is the only thing I take issue with. I thoughts your thoughts were otherwise all valid and helpful.

Should be can't not can

 

[SpecterNecter]

Sometimes, stories are easy, and sometimes, it is hard work for me. Sometimes, the second draft is a pain, and getting the right words to say what I want it to say is painfully slow. In other circumstances, the writing flows, and the second draft doesn't require much drafting. But when I do it by the seat of my pants, it flows well in the beginning, and if I don't break from it often, I can get to the end of 7,000 to 14,000 words in a few days. But most of the time, writing by the seat of my pants hits a wall, and I have to plot what comes next because it has progressed further on paper than in my mind, and I'm still not near the end.

A lot of those last kinds don't get finished because I no longer have the thread of the tale in mind.

Interesting

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'm ok with it all. I really wasn't looking for advice. I just wanted to know if other's had this kind of issue. However, I think if you reread your responses objectively you will find that you, consciously or unconsciously, put more value on works that were hard to write. As if the effort somehow makes the result more valuable or that it seeming easy means it can be the authors best. That is the only thing I take issue with. I thoughts your thoughts were otherwise all valid and helpful.

You're not asking me to read objectively, you're asking me to agree with you, even more than I already have. Regretfully, I've wasted my time. Perhaps someone else will be your cheerleader.

 

[SpecterNecter]

You're not asking me to read objectively, you're asking me to agree with you, even more than I already have. Regretfully, I've wasted my time. Perhaps someone else will be your cheerleader.

I don't need a cheerleader, thanks.

 

[Jmanchu]

Same struggle here, OP. Always. Things you can do in that situation when your flow stops and just write and hit the wall are:

A. Take a break and just do other things aside from writing, preferably while spacing out or daydreaming and thinking about your story in your head.
B. Just write, even if it's nonsense and you'll scrap it, then you might be lucky enough to actually get an idea of where to go and then go your new idea and write that.
C. Take some time to just brainstorm and organize your basic ideas with an outline, which can be hard if you're a seat-of-your-pants kind of writer like me, but it's a good skill to practice, nonetheless.
D. Keep to a writing schedule and get a comfortable habit of just writing with whatever little rituals you take to get into your writing. Whatever it takes to get you comfortable
E. Avoid letting yourself get into editing hell while your draft is still not completely written yet.
F. Don't procrastinate like I do.

 

[Silver_Arrow]

Procrastination over time is one of the biggest mind killers. If you fall off the horse and don't get back on it get's harder and harder to write with every passing day. I've experienced that and ended up with a 6 months gap between writing. Even if you write a few words or a sentence in a day that's enough.

I'm just wondering if others have the same problem or if it's just me.

I think everyone experiences this at one point or another. Just don't beat yourself up over it and write a little bit at a time. Burn out is real and if you constantly force yourself to write and write and write it only gets worse. Be kind to your mind. And yourself.

 

[SpecterNecter]

I don't know. Right now I'm reading more instead of writing. My main point of all this is that writing can be exhilarating and it can be exhausting. At the moment I'm not willing to slog. Maybe I will have to at some point to get the exhilaration back. Or maybe I'll just write half stories forever and tick some people off.

 

[Jmanchu]

I don't know. Right now I'm reading more instead of writing. My main point of all this is that writing can be exhilarating and it can be exhausting. At the moment I'm not willing to slog. Maybe I will have to at some point to get the exhilaration back. Or maybe I'll just write half stories forever and tick some people off.

Key tip. You can't only write when you have the inspiration. You have to slog sometimes, otherwise you will likelier not get back the inspiration, or it won't come for a long while. It's like waiting for a campfire or furnace to get hotter when those flames start going down. If you're not actively putting the logs and charcoal and fanning those flames, they will cool down on their own. You gotta slog or actively try to work on finding your muse or whatever helps you put your state of mind into that flow state or you will create a bad habit where you will more often hit writer's blocks and end up with a LOT of half stories. Speaking from experience.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Glad you think so!!!

Interesting

 

[AllenWoody]

My latest story is much like my others. An idea hit me and I wrote and wrote, hours seemed like minutes, writing and editing and writing more. But then I hit a wall and minutes seemed like hours and the writing becomes like work. I have the next part in my mind but writing it seems like such a slog. Anyone else have this problem? Some are messaging for the next chapter but I'm stuck in neutral. I'm not looking for advice on how to get motivated. I'm just wondering if others have the same problem or if it's just me.

This is a common pattern for me. I get an idea and the words flow, usually at least until I get to the sex scene. Then I grind to a halt, usually because I realize I don’t know enough about the motivations of my characters or struggle to make the sexual parts continue the story instead of just being bolted on.

What I have found works is to have stories in the works at all times. Usually one of them will call to me.

 

[MillieDynamite]

My muse and I are on a first-name basis; I'll her Mistress; she calls me an ignorant hack!

It's tough love, or maybe she's a sadist.

This is a common pattern for me. I get an idea and the words flow, usually at least until I get to the sex scene. Then I grind to a halt, usually because I realize I don’t know enough about the motivations of my characters or struggle to make the sexual parts continue the story instead of just being bolted on.

What I have found works is to have stories in the works at all times. Usually one of them will call to me.

 

[SpecterNecter]

My muse and I are on a first-name basis; I'll her Mistress; she calls me an ignorant hack!

It's tough love, or maybe she's a sadist.

Or maybe both?

 

[AchtungNight]

Sometimes you just need to put a story aside for a while until you work through the emotional baggage or mundane life issues preventing you from working on it. Then, when you’re ready to work on it again, out it flows.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sometimes you just need to put a story aside for a while until you work through the emotional baggage or mundane life issues preventing you from working on it. Then, when you’re ready to work on it again, out it flows.

Either that, or it disappears like food behind a refrigerator.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Pretty common malady I'm afraid. For me, everything between the sexy scenes is super interesting and fun, and I tear through them pretty quickly. Building the backgrounds and plot, fleshing out the characters, and setting the stage. It's all just bliss for me. And then the sex begins and I'm forcing myself to not take a break.

Sometimes you need to minimize the sex scenes, or if it's the same two people again, just make a brief note of it. You can write it any way you wish; you don't have to do what you think everyone else on Lit is doing.

D.H. Lawrence was one early mainstream author who wrote explicit sex scenes. Some of the excerpts I've read are terrible. He felt a need to make them "dramatic" and long-winded. One of my female characters finds that annoying and thinks, "Come on David, let's move this along already." (She was referring to Lady Chatterly's Lover.)

 

[Voboy]

Sometimes you need to minimize the sex scenes, or if it's the same two people again, just make a brief note of it. You can write it any way you wish; you don't have to do what you think everyone else on Lit is doing.

I feel like this technique is underutilized here.

Say you make a couple people hook up. Then they fuck gleefully for a few months or weeks, then you give them a denouement (with more sex, of course). That's a pretty common general trope here.

A number of writers would write the initial hookup, then start a series, in which the month of gleeful fucks are told in granular detail: they kiss, they round each base, they go into anal, they start pegging, they bring in a horse, whatever. And, for many writers here, each of those becomes a separate chapter.

I think that gets old. Fast.

I'm much more likely to tell one story, not several, and to turn the month or week of gleeful fucking into what I think of as a "sex montage," along the lines of a training montage in a Rocky movie. A few paragraphs make it clear to the reader that this couple, whom you've just described in the throes of orgasm, is having a bunch more orgasms. Then, when you set the sexual stage, culminate in the denouement with another detailed scene.

Less is more, I think.

 

[STrent]

My latest story is much like my others. An idea hit me and I wrote and wrote, hours seemed like minutes, writing and editing and writing more. But then I hit a wall and minutes seemed like hours and the writing becomes like work. I have the next part in my mind but writing it seems like such a slog. Anyone else have this problem? Some are messaging for the next chapter but I'm stuck in neutral. I'm not looking for advice on how to get motivated. I'm just wondering if others have the same problem or if it's just me.

Not just you, I have been stuck for an ending for my ongoing series for three months now.

Lots of half written stories and some finished but unsatisfying ones - nothing seems to stick at the moment (if you’ll pardon the pun!)

I think it’s because I’m in the uncharted territory of trying to create a fictional future for the characters, rather than playing on experience and creating stories from that.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I feel like this technique is underutilized here.

Say you make a couple people hook up. Then they fuck gleefully for a few months or weeks, then you give them a denouement (with more sex, of course). That's a pretty common general trope here.

A number of writers would write the initial hookup, then start a series, in which the month of gleeful fucks are told in granular detail: they kiss, they round each base, they go into anal, they start pegging, they bring in a horse, whatever. And, for many writers here, each of those becomes a separate chapter.

I think that gets old. Fast.

I'm much more likely to tell one story, not several, and to turn the month or week of gleeful fucking into what I think of as a "sex montage," along the lines of a training montage in a Rocky movie. A few paragraphs make it clear to the reader that this couple, whom you've just described in the throes of orgasm, is having a bunch more orgasms. Then, when you set the sexual stage, culminate in the denouement with another detailed scene.

Less is more, I think.

Hah, I like that Rocky analogy. I had to go back to the sentence again. "Oh, he meant boxing."

Probably many of the readers here (and writers too) have grown up with on-line porn videos. Those things usually follow a simple formula because, well, why re-invent what already gets an audience?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm writing a non-fiction essay (about movie theaters) and it's been quite a slog to get to 3,000 words. I underestimated the amount of research it would require. Fortunately, I found much of what I was looking for on-line.