How do people finish things?

[burgwad]

There are some truly good answers in this thread. All I can add is: try a state shift.

By which I mean, maybe try changing up the time, place, and means of how you write, just to kind of shake the dust off. You can start unusually early, perhaps, or plan to stay up weirdly late. Plan to go to a coffee shop to write, or a cemetery, or a different room of your home (idk your life/options). Write by hand, or dictate into your phone, or pen an email to yourself - etc. - instead of whatever you normally use. Drink unusual beverages. Eat atypical snacks. Take the odd break here and there. Do a drug you find enjoyable, or experiment with writing sober if that’s unusual for you.

TL;DR - Mix up your writing ritual if it’s been awhile

 

[gunhilltrain]

I can't seem to do it.

Behold, the folder where I keep my works in progress. It overfloweth.

I have a story where I've had 40k words written but I can't seem to finish the last chapter. It's even plotted out. I just keep wandering off and working on something else.

Another, 20k.

Several with 10-20k.

At least a dozen in the 1-10k range.

How do you people do it?!

Don't be too hard on yourself. It's not like you are writing a script for a movie already in production. (Yes, that does happen, and often with poor results.)

The advice on this thread is to slow down a bit, and not work on too much at once. Make notes for proposed stories, and then put those aside. Concentrate on one of the shorter works perhaps.

P.S.: I'm sure you've seen how time-consuming this all can be.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Small confession: There are 57 stories in my unfinished file. I'm going to be working on a few today and tomorrow if I feel well enough to try to whittle it down a bit.

I've got some stories (about twelve, I think), that I have abandoned, perhaps forever. However, I never throw them away because once in a while I can find a new use for something in them.

 

[MrHereWriting]

How do people finish things?​

They choose to.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad I have these forums full of people who get it. I'm going to try something different: not writing. I'm starting to think that what distracts me is the flash of some new idea. Ooh, wouldn't it be hot if... And if I can just ignore that long enough, maybe I'll get back to what I should be working on. Maybe write it down in my ever-growing file of stubs.

 

[Britva415]

They choose to.

I like this answer. I find that many of these kinds of dilemmas can be solved by asking myself, "how bad do you want it."

 

[UnexpectedLuggage]

With erotica I find I often have the opposite issue. I struggle with the build p to the actual sex, and then writing the sex and ending comes pretty easy.

But in other writing I've done, I totally get it. Sometimes you just hit a wall. I've got a couple novels worth of stuff that has huge gaps I can't seem to figure out how to best fill or how it should end.

 

[gunhilltrain]

With erotica I find I often have the opposite issue. I struggle with the build p to the actual sex, and then writing the sex and ending comes pretty easy.

But in other writing I've done, I totally get it. Sometimes you just hit a wall. I've got a couple novels worth of stuff that has huge gaps I can't seem to figure out how to best fill or how it should end.

Except when there is no sex! That can refreshing in a way, because there is no pressure to complete such scenes. When I want to do something different, I write a non-fiction essay - basically a mini-memoir - and usually those do pretty well. If the site takes it, and they always do, than I'm good to go. Sometimes those can be a lot of work too, however. It took six years before I had a second chapter to this one.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/movies-and-memory-ch-01

https://classic.literotica.com/s/movies-and-memory-ch-02

 

[Naughtylit81]

If the rest of my life is any indication I will finish my stories in the most disappointing way imaginable.

 

[jehoram]

I have a few unfinished stories, but I don't feel bad about them. I figure that the characters don't know yet where the story is going to end up, and I patiently wait for them to figure it out.

 

[Flybynite1892]

I love all these answers; I feel like there's some really good advice here.

For me, I always think about an interview I heard with a musician maybe 15 years ago, or so. The reporter asked him how he finished writing songs. He said (and I can see all the puns here, for our purposes): "You have to just give yourself permission to suck at it." And he meant, I think, you have to just really get the damn thing out, regardless of how it looks. You can fix any of that stuff later. And you probably won't have to fix as much as you first thought.

Idk, I was a teenager at the time, still really trying to figure out how to make art and what art I wanted to make, but that quote *always* helped me.

 

[oneagainst]

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad I have these forums full of people who get it. I'm going to try something different: not writing. I'm starting to think that what distracts me is the flash of some new idea. Ooh, wouldn't it be hot if... And if I can just ignore that long enough, maybe I'll get back to what I should be working on. Maybe write it down in my ever-growing file of stubs.

Yes. Write less, do us a favour and write much less - focus on that asian vampire, dammit. you fed those bunnies and gave them to me and now don't seem to want to take them back, and they've eaten all my grass.

I just had to get that off my chest. Thank you, please continue.

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

I often write the entire ending in my outline, before I write the beginning.

-Eddie

Yup.

I always outline before starting.

 

[Britva415]

a musician

Do you remember who?

I think the advice is brilliant.

 

[SimonDoom]

I love all these answers; I feel like there's some really good advice here.

For me, I always think about an interview I heard with a musician maybe 15 years ago, or so. The reporter asked him how he finished writing songs. He said (and I can see all the puns here, for our purposes): "You have to just give yourself permission to suck at it." And he meant, I think, you have to just really get the damn thing out, regardless of how it looks. You can fix any of that stuff later. And you probably won't have to fix as much as you first thought.

Idk, I was a teenager at the time, still really trying to figure out how to make art and what art I wanted to make, but that quote *always* helped me.

I strongly agree with this, and I also feel strongly that once you've got the thing out, move on to the next thing rather than fretting about perfecting the thing you've already done.

 

[Duleigh]

How do you people do it?!

When I start (most) stories, I have a definite ending in mind. I either race to that ending or dawdle along the way. It depends on how much I enjoy writing the story. For a series of stories that are going to be published I target 25,000 words per story, that way four chapters make a complete novel.

As for ending a series... I've only done that once and I don't remember how I accomplished that.

 

[Flybynite1892]

Do you remember who?

I think the advice is brilliant.

So, I might get mocked for this, but it was Rob Thomas, the Matchbox Twenty guy. I'd come across their 1996 album in my parents' CD collection and back then I was a teenager trying to find some kind of rock music that wasn't "classic" rock and also wasn't clapping-stomping indie-folk. Anyway, lots of people like to make fun of Matchbox Twenty - I loved them a lot back then but I'm kind of indifferent now - but I think I'd get a coffee with Thomas and talk about creating stuff, honestly. And I have a fair amount of respect for him for fighting through a lot of poverty and addiction to become someone who could keep the lights on through writing.