Tactics to get past getting stuck?
I love writing, but I can never truly get past the first few pages of a story that I am attempting. Even if it is well planned out. I always get stuck on what should happen next or I get bored with it. Its been like this for years, never been able to get past the beginning of any story. If not that, then I always get stuck. How can I get past this? Or how do I keep myself interested in the story?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/24664. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
2 answers
You are accessing this answer with a direct link, so it's being shown above all other answers regardless of its score. You can return to the normal view.
I have done quite a lot of reading on the question of talent, and apparently what we perceive as talent is a combination of
- an inborn potential to be good at a certain task (for writing: creativity, verbal intelligence);
- a liking for that task (that is, enjoying the writing, not just the idea of being a writer); and
- perseverance (a need to pursue the task and overcome difficulties).
As I see it, you lack the second prerequisite, joy. You get bored. Writers do not get bored by their stories, they need to tell them in the same way that you need to eat or sleep. If writing bores you, then maybe what you love is the daydreaming and you don't actually want to approach this as a task. You want to invent, but you do not want it to become work.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24666. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads
Two ideas for you.
Go for a much shorter work, plan it out, and then pick a day when you've got plenty of time to focus on your project, so you can write the whole thing in one sitting.
Join a writers group. Write to a very specific imaginary audience (your groupmates).
0 comment threads
0 comment threads