How do you write consistently?

[Demesnedenoir]

A few days of not writing when I'm in the middle of a book can cause anxiety. Ideas flying around and too damned busy to write, and I start getting the jitters, heh heh.

I've made writing a habit. Now it feels strange not to write each day, but I don't always systematically write stories from start to finish. Sometimes I outline or re-outline or write pieces of dialogue that come to me. To develop the habit, you need to write a bit every day (or most days) and not care if it's good or not.

 

[Ned Marcus]

A few days of not writing when I'm in the middle of a book can cause anxiety. Ideas flying around and too damned busy to write, and I start getting the jitters, heh heh.

I know the feeling!

 

[Fyri]

But, I can also write to songs with words and my wife can't, but noise-cancelling headphones are a wonderful thing.

I am your wife. Er, not literally, but spiritually. You get the picture. XD

I know a lot of people with ADHD need background noise to focus, but I am on the opposite spectrum. Noise kills my focus. Sometimes I can handle instrumental music, but usually, I need dead silence to hear and feel the plot and characters, so I can tell them exactly why they are crap and what to do to fix it. XDDD Noise Cancelling Headphones have saved my life in so many instances.

I've made writing a habit. Now it feels strange not to write each day, but I don't always systematically write stories from start to finish. Sometimes I outline or re-outline or write pieces of dialogue that come to me. To develop the habit, you need to write a bit every day (or most days) and not care if it's good or not.

That reminds me of another point I wanted to mention! Inspiration from a fresher POV can often mean "I want the writing to feel like it is good writing." Another things that has helped so many authors is the exercise of writing bad on purpose. You never know what you'll learn when you do that, and worse case scenerio, you get to laugh at yourself and have a little careless fun with your craft. One of my friends actually found his official voice through an exercise where he wrote badly on purpose! For me, especially in a draft or scene that I know I'm gonna have to fix later, sometimes I just give up and allow myself to write what I know is just awful.

I write linearly—cannot skip from beginning to end to beginning to middle, etc. Often times authors struggle with "I know this scene needs to connect to this scene, but I cannot figure out how." Sometimes this can be enough to stump a writer and halt progress. I've found that if I just allow myself to write a bad transition and leave a loving note to my future self saying "fix this later, X is dumb," I can keep my momentum and move into the next scene easier.

Two more quotes that may help here:

"You can't edit something that doesn't exist."

"Your rough draft only has one job; to exist."

 

[Gallio]

Thanks for all the helpful comments here. I've found it difficult to write lately, mainly because I have serious doubts about the value/interest of my intended story.
Must discipline myself to write ever day! I like pmmg's suggested strategy -- at least one sentence a day!
Now to get down to it!

 

[Fyri]

Thanks for all the helpful comments here. I've found it difficult to write lately, mainly because I have serious doubts about the value/interest of my intended story.
Must discipline myself to write ever day! I like pmmg's suggested strategy -- at least one sentence a day!
Now to get down to it!

Mm, yeah. That happens. I often say "The world is full of people. If you like it, someone else is bound to also." Nothing is worthless. Good luck!!

 

[Gallio]

Mm, yeah. That happens. I often say "The world is full of people. If you like it, someone else is bound to also." Nothing is worthless. Good luck!!

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[skip.knox]

>I have serious doubts about the value/interest of my intended story

That may well be the crux of it here. If you're writing from inspiration, this self-doubt will kill it off most times. If you're writing from discipline, self-doubt will make every session an exercise in self-punishment. A drag, either way.

I know there's no way to change how you think; all we can do here is encourage you to try. Herewith:

Screw doubt. You're a lousy judge of the value of your work. You can judge spelling and punctuation. You can judge consistency of characters. You can even judge pacing or tension. But you cannot judge if your story has value or is interesting.

That's up to your readers.

And you don't have any readers because you haven't written yet! That is, you've not finished and put it out to beta readers or editors or agents or whoever will be your first readers. They are the ones who will say the story was or was not interesting. They'll tell you if they found it valuable. If they do tell you that, first of all realize how precious are those comments, but also know that it's likely different readers will value different aspects.

So, it is absolutely a waste of time to doubt the value of your story. First, it's not a story yet, not until you've written to completion. And second, it's not up to you. Not your concern.

So go forward. Write the thing. There's still plenty to fret over. How is the transition from this scene to next? Does the dialog flow well here? Have I let the tension drop? All sorts of things where you can be a critical judge of your own work. And the more you write, the more you'll have to work with.

 

[Plinto]

Same way you teach yourself to do anything consistently: go at it like its a necessary part of your day. Same way you make breakfast, wash dishes, fold laundry. Set an alarm, or some other kind of reminder, and when its time for you to write, you honor it. You do it even when you don't want to, like you do when it's time to clock in for work.

I've found that even if I show up grumpy, uninspired, and certain that everything I've ever written throughout all time and space is trash concentrate, I end up writing through to a place of excitement, acceptance. Like the spirit wakes up by the end. I will admit there are some relentlessly sour days where I hate it when I start and I hate it when I'm done, and can't wait to shut the computer off again. But those are rare.

What really keeps me going is the evidence of improvement through that practice. I'm curious in a mad scientist sort of way, to see how good I'll become if I just keep going and going, keep trying. The difference in quality between myself at twenty three and now at thirty seven is pretty substantial. The same will happen for most everyone who keeps going. You'll get better inevitably if you keep writing, reading widely, challenging yourself, and teaching yourself/learning new things.

I can't think of anything more exciting than coming into our own as writers, to finally be able to tell the stories tucked away in our minds.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Thanks for all the helpful comments here. I've found it difficult to write lately, mainly because I have serious doubts about the value/interest of my intended story.
Must discipline myself to write ever day! I like pmmg's suggested strategy -- at least one sentence a day!
Now to get down to it!

It's called Imposter Syndrome, and we all have it. It's normal. And you already know how to fight it. One sentence, at least, every day. You're determined, and many a career has been founded on determination. Go get 'em!

 

[Gallio]

>I have serious doubts about the value/interest of my intended story

That may well be the crux of it here. If you're writing from inspiration, this self-doubt will kill it off most times. If you're writing from discipline, self-doubt will make every session an exercise in self-punishment. A drag, either way.

I know there's no way to change how you think; all we can do here is encourage you to try. Herewith:

Screw doubt. You're a lousy judge of the value of your work. You can judge spelling and punctuation. You can judge consistency of characters. You can even judge pacing or tension. But you cannot judge if your story has value or is interesting.

That's up to your readers.

And you don't have any readers because you haven't written yet! That is, you've not finished and put it out to beta readers or editors or agents or whoever will be your first readers. They are the ones who will say the story was or was not interesting. They'll tell you if they found it valuable. If they do tell you that, first of all realize how precious are those comments, but also know that it's likely different readers will value different aspects.

So, it is absolutely a waste of time to doubt the value of your story. First, it's not a story yet, not until you've written to completion. And second, it's not up to you. Not your concern.

So go forward. Write the thing. There's still plenty to fret over. How is the transition from this scene to next? Does the dialog flow well here? Have I let the tension drop? All sorts of things where you can be a critical judge of your own work. And the more you write, the more you'll have to work with.

Thank you, this is excellent advice and very encouraging!

 

[Gallio]

Same way you teach yourself to do anything consistently: go at it like its a necessary part of your day. Same way you make breakfast, wash dishes, fold laundry. Set an alarm, or some other kind of reminder, and when its time for you to write, you honor it. You do it even when you don't want to, like you do when it's time to clock in for work.

I've found that even if I show up grumpy, uninspired, and certain that everything I've ever written throughout all time and space is trash concentrate, I end up writing through to a place of excitement, acceptance. Like the spirit wakes up by the end. I will admit there are some relentlessly sour days where I hate it when I start and I hate it when I'm done, and can't wait to shut the computer off again. But those are rare.

What really keeps me going is the evidence of improvement through that practice. I'm curious in a mad scientist sort of way, to see how good I'll become if I just keep going and going, keep trying. The difference in quality between myself at twenty three and now at thirty seven is pretty substantial. The same will happen for most everyone who keeps going. You'll get better inevitably if you keep writing, reading widely, challenging yourself, and teaching yourself/learning new things.

I can't think of anything more exciting than coming into our own as writers, to finally be able to tell the stories tucked away in our minds.

Thanks, again this very encouraging!

 

[Prince of Spires]

"If the story you are writing does not make you want to get up in the middle of the night and keep going, its not the one you should be writing." I think there is some truth to that.

I think this is a personal thing. For me, besides my kids and emergencies, there are very, very few things that would make me get up in the middle of the night. I doubt writing is one of them. There are moments when I'm itching to write. Equally however, there are plenty of moments when I just can't get started and don't want to continue at all. I've found that for me, it matters a lot how clearly I know where I'm heading. The better I've got it figured out, the more eager I am to sit down and write it (which is why plotting works great for me). However, I can imagine that for plenty of people it's the reverse.

"You can't edit something that doesn't exist."

"Your rough draft only has one job; to exist."

This is also personal. For many people this is very much true. However, there are also people who can edit a blank page, and who can only write it once it's fixed and perfect in their head.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Everyone's writing process is different. Find your own, and try different things. Discard what doesn't work, and keep what works. There are no absolutes when it comes to your process, other than that writers write.

For anyone interested in watching 3 succesful fantasy authors discuss (among other things) their writing process, check