I have authored a particular fanfiction, which has garnered a moderate following on the fanfiction website I published it to. As of now, the story has 279 users following it for updates, as well as 45 users watching me in particular for anything I post (there is some overlap, but it isn't 100%). The story is currently over 100k words split between 18 chapters, with 3k story views and 23k chapter views.

My story is not finished, but over the last few chapters, my rate of updates has slowed. Chapters 1-13 were every week or every other week; 14-17 were approximately every month, and chapter 18 took me 2 months to put out.

This isn't to say I spent two entire months writing chapter 18, far from it! I spent about 3 days doing the actual writing (and then editing time added onto that), and while I spent more time figuring out the plotline, most of it was "sunk cost," as the plotline is a continuation of the previous chapters.

Chapter 18 has been up for almost five months now, and I still haven't put a single word down for chapter 19. I'm not actually suffering from writer's block as I understand the term: I know what elements need to go into the chapter, and I even have specific plans for many (if not all) of the scenes that will take place. The problem seems to be a lack of motivation to spend the requisite time to do the writing in the first place.

I certainly haven't lost interest in the subject of the story, either. The story is a crossover between my favorite tabletop RPG setting (which has a new edition coming out soon) and my favorite animated series. In fact, my Gravatar is from one of the books for the RPG.

The Question

What techniques might I employ to get myself "back in the game," as it were? I admit that I'm not the best at time management, so recommendations on time management techniques (esp. those which apply to writing) would not be unwarranted, but any recommendations for how to get back on the horse would apply.

Complications

When I was pumping out a chapter a week, I was unemployed, out of school, and living with my parents. The only calls on my time were a weekly card game league I participated in, and a weekly game night with my friends.

Today, I have a full-time job, I now run the aforementioned league, I still have a weekly game night, I have picked up a MMO game, and (particularly relevant to concentrating while writing) one of my house-mates often sings to himself, frequently loudly and always poorly (or alternatively, talks to himself, sometimes loudly). The singing and talking is the result of a mental handicap, and while he does oblige if asked to keep things down, he's only able to keep it in check for a limited duration.

Bonus

One of my other housemates is a fan of my story, so he could potentially be a source of encouragement.

I have a subscription to focus@will, which I did utilize (before being a paid subscriber) while writing chapters 17 and 18. f@w won't specifically get me to open up Word and start writing, but it does help with concentration while working on something. According to f@w's blog, it can also build a Pavlovian response by associating f@w's music with "work time." I can't comment on that personally, but then I doubt anyone conditioned for something would be able to.

posted over 10 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

Brian S‭

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