Question:
Writers, what are three tips you'd give to a struggling writer?
lila
2013-01-30 19:17:00 UTC
I have been writing short stories and novels for about 7 years now. My biggest problem is starting a piece and never finishing it. It's not that I lose interest, it's just I don't know how to keep it going without it getting boring. Any tips for a struggling writer?
Three answers:
Brenda
2013-01-30 19:37:19 UTC
Sometimes, a story doesn't come together with the right combination of characters, plot, and theme. That doesn't mean the story won't ever be workable. But getting stuck because this story isn't "the one" isn't unusual--and it's not shameful.



1. A story's map can be a powerful tool in thinking about a story. You may have gotten off a main trail without realizing it, and you're now stuck in the woods. If so, backtracking and telling the story a different way may get you back to the events of the plot. (When hiking in unfamiliar territory, map readers are taught NOT to hike towards the end destination. Instead, they are to hike to the nearest point on the map they can see from their vantage point. Once there, they take inventory and pick another point closer to the destination. This is a useful concept when figuring out a plot for the first time.) If you're still stalled, consider that you have chosen a hiking trail that is too easy--you need some more excitement. (This is usually where you crash a wrecking ball into the hero's apartment, or throw Huck and Jim off the raft and into the mighty Mississippi.)



2. The Battle Of The First Twenty Minutes. If you can make yourself sit and write, no distractions, no excuses, getting through that initial block can open up your creativity. Even if you don't think the writing is perfect, keep writing until you get past the first half hour or so.



3. Write what you're passionate about. Write the characters that won't let you sleep at night. If that's not the current story you think you should be working on, save that one and write the one that's bugging you. You will find that your writing is that much more meaningful when it matters to you. :)
Chelsea
2013-01-31 03:25:01 UTC
I have that problem as well. My three suggestions for you:



1. Get away from writing. Go for a walk. Go for a drive. Anything that will get your mind off of it. Take at least 24 hours if not more, just cagtching up on other thingsi n your life.



2. Come back to the piece of unfinished work with fresh eyes. Read it as if you just checked it out of a library. Imagine that you are the reader reading this for the first time.



3. Once you get to where you stopped, imagine how you would want it to end. Imagine how an alternate ending would be insane. Play with it. Come up with different ways to end it until you decide which one is your best route.
?
2013-01-31 18:48:18 UTC
1. Plan in detail, beginning to end, before you begin writing. (This sounds like your issue.)



2. Give yourself permission to write crap. Crap can be revised.



3. Write every day.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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