I'm waffling

[Queshire]

Sigh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm at that point, where after putting all that thought and energy in a story, well, really a setting, suddenly I can't stand to look at it. I know I was really excited when I originally came up with it mere days ago, but now ugh, it looks so childish, especially compared to whatever crazy awesome idea I currently have which I'm just going to regret just as much in a week.

This has been a problem with me for years, I come up with something, but then come up with something that seems even cooler later and so on and so on.

I know I should just grit my teeth and stick with one idea, but...

So how do you guys do it? Manage to stick with one idea long enough to actually DO something with it? I know I have this... passion, but I just can't keep it concentrated on one thing long enough to actually acomplish anything....

 

[Ravana]

Work on something else. While you should develop a level of discipline in terms of trying to work something through to its conclusion, there's no point in flogging yourself over something that just isn't coming. (Not unless you're working under a deadline, at least.) Pull out the old stuff on a regular basis, see what improvements you can make, put them back down when you can't think of more. Do this daily, if possible–not looking through everything you have, but at least looking at one working text each time.

When you pull something out, read it through, and don't see anything you want to change or improve… it's done.

 

[Codey Amprim]

Try incorporating both

I always doubt my own writing and ideas, but you'll never really know what you have until it's finished. Stick with it, let it brew in your mind. My current WIP is 8 years in the making, and I won't give up on it until I figure out how to completely fix everything and link it all together.

Don't give up unless it is truly awful, and I doubt that it is. You put enough tine abd thought into it to let it die before it is born.

 

[ThinkerX]

Pick a point and type that first sentence. It is not easy; it will actually be one of the harder things you've done. Odds are, you won't care for what you've written - but just let it sit there, and go on and write the second sentence. And the third.
Then it gets easier. You start anticipating things, start wanting to get this scene down.

Odds are, you'll get a couple pages done before calling it quits for that particular session. If you're lucky, you'll be sufficiently intrigued by what you've written you'll jump right back into it the next day, and the day after that.

But still, I would imagine that pretty much all the actual writers here have file after file after file of stories that made it like two or twelve pages and then just stop - probably four or five or those for every finished story. I know I got a bunch of them.

 

[James Chandler]

Pick your favorite idea, any one element, throw the rest out and use the remaining idea as a jumping off point.

 

[SeverinR]

Sigh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm at that point, where after putting all that thought and energy in a story, well, really a setting, suddenly I can't stand to look at it. I know I was really excited when I originally came up with it mere days ago, but now ugh, it looks so childish, especially compared to whatever crazy awesome idea I currently have which I'm just going to regret just as much in a week.

This has been a problem with me for years, I come up with something, but then come up with something that seems even cooler later and so on and so on.

I know I should just grit my teeth and stick with one idea, but...

So how do you guys do it? Manage to stick with one idea long enough to actually DO something with it? I know I have this... passion, but I just can't keep it concentrated on one thing long enough to actually acomplish anything....

I'm pancaking myself, but enjoy. --rimshot--

You might have burn out on this story, you might be painted into a corner, walk away from it and find something else to write about, then return and look at it with a fresh perspective. It might only need a slight deviation from where you are, or it might need a major rewrite, but something isn't working in it.

When I started writing, I had three books that would not wait to be written, I worked on all three at the same time. Even with this I started several more during the writing of the the first three. It was much like spinning plates, I would work on one, then another would take over, then back to the first, then on to the third. Strangely I never mixed them up.

I believe writing is alot like a big dinner, you eat a bit of this, a little of that, you don't just eat all of one thing then go on to the next...ok, I guess there are some that do this, but you know what I mean.

Work on what ever inspires you at the time. Keep thinking of the problem story, you will work it out or you will decide it is not fixable. My dead file has at least 10 different stories that could not be saved. These were not failures, they were learning experiences and they might inspire a better story in the future. Maybe a literary organ donor? They died so that other stories could live.

 

[LBGale]

It seems to me like this is an issue of procrastination. I've found that I love the planning part, but when it comes to actual writing, that's when I begin to waffle. You need to dive right in and start writing with your latest idea and see where it takes you. It will likely change an enormous amount by the time you are finished with ten pages of writing.

 

[Sparkie]

MMM, Waffles...

Sorry, I'm hungry

On a serious note, the interview article with Michelle Franklin (on the Mythic Scribes homepage) goes into this a little bit. The article is called Writing an Online Fantasy Series. I'd suggest checking it out.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I focus on the person. Once I get a person I want to write, I hope the rest will fall into place, and it usually does. That being said, I tend to not outline, I think up a half dozen or so scenes I just HAVE to have, and then I fill in the connecting bits.

If you get tired of an idea or find you're lacking inspiration, put it down and come back to it later.

 

[Darwin]

I have had this problem myself. Over just the past 5 years I've started and stopped multiple projects just out of boredom. What I've done now, and am currently going 4 months strong with, is I incorporated aspects from all of these defunked ideas into a much bigger story that's able to keep my attention. Whenever I get tired of one aspect there are numerous others for me to focus on until I return to that other subject.