Problems with Procrastination

[Androxine Vortex]

I only recently organized my plot together for my novel(s) but I feel I have left them untouched for too long now. I have hardly next to nothing actually written for the book, most of it is just ideas and plot outlines. Just wondering how long did it take you to finish your stories? And did you also have a bad habbit of postponing things like me?

 

[Janga]

I can be of no help here. I've been organizing my story for the past 5 years and I haven't written one word of my book yet... lol

 

[Telcontar]

I write a lot, but there are at least three books in my head (one is actually a series) that I've been 'planning' over multiple years. The series has been in my head for over a decade in its various forms.

It's important to make yourself start. It's true you may never finish it - I have lots of unfinished stories - but if you can't at least get some words on the paper then you may as well take up knitting.

 

[Xanados]

I once heard this from a very wise person: "Procrastination is natural. I think anyone who doesn't procrastinate is probably a very dangerous person."

I think procrastination is, like the quote says, quite natural. Just don't leave your work too long.

 

[Philip Overby]

I have dozens of unfinished manuscripts left in my wake and I'll wager a bet that I'm not the only one with that problem here. My main issue seems to be with motivation to finish a certain piece. With manga that I'm doing, I am motivated because I have an artist relying on me to finish. With my own stuff, no one is relying on me, so I can "take my sweet time."

However, I do have those bad boys staring at me from my desktop, like so many eyes of stranded puppies watching me as I goof about on the internet and slay dragons in Skyrim. They don't say anything, but those eyes. Damn those puppy eyes!

So, in essence, if you have your unfinished manuscripts haunting you on your desktop everyday, saved in your emails, posted on your fridge, or sitting on the lid of your toilet, you'll have no choice but to look at them. I've recently rediscovered some discarded manuscripts I think could really be good with several hard edits. Sometimes it is good to give a troublesome manuscript some breathing room then you can come back to it with new insight.

I've also gotten in the habit of quarantining any "new shiny ideas" by only opening a new file and naming it. Then leaving it there like some kind of distant promise of a brand new car. Or a new puppy. Or whatever. Waiting for me. Empty and lonely. That encourages me to finish the things I've started so I can start new manuscripts with a gleeful abandon.

So yeah. Let your manuscripts scrape at your basement door. Eventually you'll get sick of hearing them scrape and let them in.

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

Oh dear gods, I told myself I would have my first draft finished by the start of this year, I've still got 2 or 3 chapters left to write. The thing with writing is you never feel you're going quick enough (in my case anyway), I always feel that I'm going at a snail's pace. I have been on this draft for over 2 years now, just getting the first draft sorted, then I can finally turn to editing and make everything beautiful.

The first sentence of the first chapter is always the hardest. We hold a lot of anticipation over it and take it very seriously. The thing is, I introduced my protag in the first chapter, fully aware that I didn't like how I had done it. But I ignored it, because its better to have a crap beginning and move forward than to postpone the rest of the draft by constantly rewriting the first chapter. And now, 2 and a half years later when I finish this draft, I can finally turn around and say "now this is how he is really going to be introduced" and have the rest of the outline ready to work with.

So Androxine, let go of all pressure on that first chapter, free yourself of thinking that it has to be spot on the first time you write it, because you can come back to it any time you like.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Oh dear gods, I told myself I would have my first draft finished by the start of this year, I've still got 2 or 3 chapters left to write. The thing with writing is you never feel you're going quick enough (in my case anyway), I always feel that I'm going at a snail's pace. I have been on this draft for over 2 years now, just getting the first draft sorted, then I can finally turn to editing and make everything beautiful.

The first sentence of the first chapter is always the hardest. We hold a lot of anticipation over it and take it very seriously. The thing is, I introduced my protag in the first chapter, fully aware that I didn't like how I had done it. But I ignored it, because its better to have a crap beginning and move forward than to postpone the rest of the draft by constantly rewriting the first chapter. And now, 2 and a half years later when I finish this draft, I can finally turn around and say "now this is how he is really going to be introduced" and have the rest of the outline ready to work with.

So Androxine, let go of all pressure on that first chapter, free yourself of thinking that it has to be spot on the first time you write it, because you can come back to it any time you like.

Thanks for the advice. And yeah, in most cases, the first few words of a story are often the hardest to write. I've often found myself saying, "Screw this! Once upon a time..." lol

It is a bit intimidating to start something whereas continuing something is easier. It's even relative to science: It takes more energy for an object to begin moving than it is to continue being in motion.

 

[Merc]

I exceed expectations in the lagging sector of my skills. I've completed two, but worked on god knows how many. Then I get that itch. The type that hits you when you've gone a few too many hours without a smoke, and sit down and let the dam open. I've come to terms, that writing is something I should have in pattern, part of my schedule but often I'm too stubborn to change my habits.

 

[Graham Irwin]

I started reading Joseph Campbell's "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" in 2002. It inspired me.

That inspiration just culminated in a book this last December. To be sure, during that time, I took a lot of time off from the book, but the ideas were there. I knew that if I rushed it back when I was 22 that it wouldn't have the gravity I wanted for it.

When will the trilogy be done? Well, it's turning into a septology now. So... Never?

 

[SeverinR]

Best way to fight procrastination...do something.
It might be wrong, or not worth keeping, but you started.
Your characters aren't just sitting in the pub waiting for you to send them off.

I have two books(not ready to send off) that I changed the beginning several times.

My fifth story finally nailed a good start imho. Maybe try a few beginnings if you don't like the first.
But get them MC's moving they are bored just sitting there with nothing to do!

 

[eternaldream24]

Oh my, this is definitely something I struggle with. I do have about 100 pages of my first draft written, but it's taken me a little over a year to get that much done, and I still have probably about 300 more to go. Some days I just don't feel like writing. I have no motivation too. It gets frustrating, because I see these authors who have like a gazillion books published, and I feel like I'll never get one published or even finished. And what about those books that say you can write a novel in 30, 60 or 90 days? Maybe some people can do that, but if I tried to write a story in that amount of time it would probably be total crap.

 

[W.k. Trail]

Aidan, here's some advice: Delete your first paragraph out of each chapter, unless it's dialogue. I bet you'll find that everything flows surprisingly well: each chapter will spring into the action with a minimum of fanfare, and you'll learn to just get on with life. You can go back and pretty up the chapter-beginnings that truly deserve it after the first draft.

 

[writeshiek33]

i am major procastinator but recently slowly working through baby steps to fix that at least with my writing habits

 

[San Cidolfus]

Procrastination and indecisiveness flow through the veins of all artists, whether or not we want to admit it. Sometimes we say we're waiting for inspiration. Other times we fear we can't make the story as beautiful in words as it appears in our minds, and trying just feels like sacrilege. Mustering the determination to follow through with a work regardless of our own weakness is the mark of a true writer. By epiphany or self-inflicted blunt-force trauma we break through our limitations and sew these wondrous literary worlds, and the final creation is that much more joyous for having suffered to see it realized.
So yeah. I procrastinate like a son-of-a-b***h.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

My procrastination stems from two things: 1) The fear of getting interrupted, and 2) the desire to lazily absorb content.

1) I hate getting into the zone and then someone asks me for something. I have a wife and two kids so this happens a lot. I have to make special time when I won't get interrupted (usually when the kids are in bed and, if I'm lucky, the wife goes to bed early). Sometimes I work around this, I just sit down and bang out words for five minutes between requests for assistance with dinner or to play catch.

2) There are so many movies and TV shows and books games out there that I want to watch and read and play, and I know that mathematically there's just not enough time to see them all -- content good enough to absorb is produced faster than I could possibly watch it. (I finally got around to watching Broadcast News today.) And it's all so easy to get. So a lot of times, rather than go do the hard work of creating, I just want to sit and read or watch something.

#1 is not actually that bad, because every time I make myself Just Start Writing, I find within moments that I'm enjoying myself. It's frustrating when I get interrupted, but in the final analysis, writing for a collective 20 minutes spread out over two hours and getting interrupted half a dozen times is better than writing for 0 minutes over those two hours.

#2 is bad, because it's so easy to just put it off and do something that requires no mental effort. I have to remind myself that I enjoy writing just as much as I enjoy watching movies!

 

[terence.soule]

The best counter I've found for procrastenation is habit. Every day at the same time sit down in front of the computer, open up the file and start writing - or just sit there. But do it every day and sooner or later you'll start writing.

 

[writeshiek33]

that so tue habit is the counter because i am long time procrastinator i am developing habits through baby steps because everytime i try to lun ge in deep end my procrastinating becomes worse so through baby steps with short term goals i can develop a longer goal system and habits that stick

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Procrastination and indecisiveness flow through the veins of all artists, whether or not we want to admit it. Sometimes we say we're waiting for inspiration. Other times we fear we can't make the story as beautiful in words as it appears in our minds, and trying just feels like sacrilege. Mustering the determination to follow through with a work regardless of our own weakness is the mark of a true writer. By epiphany or self-inflicted blunt-force trauma we break through our limitations and sew these wondrous literary worlds, and the final creation is that much more joyous for having suffered to see it realized.
So yeah. I procrastinate like a son-of-a-b***h.

I have realized my main reason for procrastination is that I fear I will not be able to write out what I am imagining as well I hope I can or that I feel the reader wont liek this or that. Basically, doubts. I then get sucked into reading books like the one I am writting or trying to find research on the topic I am having difficulty writting about.

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

I have realized my main reason for procrastination is that I fear I will not be able to write out what I am imagining as well I hope I can or that I feel the reader wont liek this or that. Basically, doubts. I then get sucked into reading books like the one I am writting or trying to find research on the topic I am having difficulty writting about.

Oh gods, yeah I get that. I guess I've just come to accept that my preconception of the character or story is just one stage of the development process.