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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16281
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you've written at all, you can write long stories. A long story is simply a bunch of short stories about the same subject that are stitched together to form a narrative.

Your life is a long story. Don't agonize over how to sustain focus or worry about losing interest in a long story. Just start somewhere. Anywhere. The middle is often a great place to start a novel. The best novel I wrote was one I started randomly one day from the middle.

Losing interest is totally common for beginners and veteran writers. If you've lost interest, either the story isn't good, or you want to write a different story.

Don't underestimate the power of habit. If you sit down every day and write a page or two on the same subject or idea, you'll eventually hone in on it.

I've been writing the same book now for six months. It took two weeks to build it into a habit. I didn't get distracted or bored with it.

Boredom also means that the writing might not be good. This is not the end of things. It means you must make it more interesting. Beginning writers have a tendency to keep too much of what they write. Try trimming fifty percent of it. Suddenly you have a sharp, focused story that moves along.

Envisioning the reward of completion is also a way to stay inspired. If the book is good, it could be published. At the very least, you've WRITTEN A BOOK, or a long story. This is cause for celebration.

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