Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

71%
+3 −0
Q&A Chapter 1 Problems

I haven't read the other answers, but still wanted to weigh in with what I think might be going on, because I know how frustrating it is to have an idea you can't seem to fulfill. I'll break this a...

posted 4y ago by Thomas Myron‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Thomas Myron‭ · 2020-06-04T17:40:37Z (almost 4 years ago)
I haven't read the other answers, but still wanted to weigh in with what I think might be going on, because I know how frustrating it is to have an idea you can't seem to fulfill. I'll break this answer down into the things I think you need to address. 

# Determine the problem 

You first have to find out where the problem is. There could be several reasons you're running out of steam, and they all have different fixes. This is very much something that you need to determine, but here's my take on it based on what you wrote. You said: 

>I quickly... run out of ideas for the first chapter. I read through the text and decide what I've written is horrid!

There are two very different problems here. 


# Problem #1 - Inner Critic
The second line is about your inner critic: the part of you which will never be satisfied with what you write, regardless of how good or bad it is. You have to accept this fact. Use your inner critic to achieve good grammar, spelling, and English, and then let other people criticize your work and tell you what works and what doesn't. If you let yourself do this, your writing will never see the light of day. 


# Problem #2 - Lack of development
The first line, about running out of ideas for the first chapter, sounds to me like your ideas are incomplete. Don't worry! This doesn't mean they're worthless or need to be thrown out. Based on the fact that you are running out of steam, I think you might benefit from a style of writing called 'plotting'. 

The style of writing you are currently using - where you sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper and start to write - is called 'discovery writing' or sometimes 'pantsing'. 'Plotting' is the complete opposite. Instead of trying to write your novel once you have an idea, you spend the time up front to develop the idea, work on things like characters, stakes, plot, and all the things a story needs to work. You put all of that together and create an outline for your story, incorporating all of the development you know your story will need. This isn't a rough outline, but a very detailed outline, defining down to the scene what happens. This detailed outline acts as your first few drafts. 

Then you actually write your story. 

# Why this should help you
The advantages to doing it this way are that you avoid exactly what seems to be happening to you. You can have a great idea, but the best ideas by themselves are not enough to tell a story. Stories are carefully crafted things, and if you try to skip that crafting phase, the initial idea and interest can only take you so far. 

Those are my two suggestions to you: learn to master your inner critic by filling your head with examples of good writing, and then letting others tell you what works and what doesn't; and take a stab at plotting rather than pantsing. It's not for everyone, but it could work for you. 

Best of luck in your writing!