So WIPS can be hard to continue or work on, and there are numerous reason why you might not have continued a WIP or find that you find another idea interesting. This thread is to voice out all the internal crying, negative feelings, procrastination, and setbacks you have while working on your WIPS, as well as a well of sources to keep writing and working on your WIP.
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Helpful Tips for procrastinators and loss-of-interest:
Music is a wonderful thing to have in the background, specifically music that get’s your rocks off but doesn’t do it too much. I usually find that doing this can usually spire a chain of thoughts that can lead to great ideas and motivation. I also find that acting as your characters by yourself can result in a deeper immersion in your story, further motivating yourself to keep writing.
And finally (and most importantly), find time to set yourself on writing and writing alone. Be isolated and turn off any messaging software.
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I finally, finally got a “new” laptop!
(It’s a refurbished secondhand one, as I can’t afford new, and want to recycle when possible anyway.)
I don’t think I’ve actually said anything, but my old laptop broke down, completely dead, after a long cycle of being repaired and then getting worse again. In it’s place I’ve been using my older one, which is practically a zombie laptop, is unable to run solitaire and winamp at the same time without lagging, cannot handle the internet at all, and was at risk at breaking down any minute. Joy.
So I didn’t dare try to work on my WIP’s on it, and being pretty much broke meant I just couldn’t afford to upgrade sooner.
This might sem a bit silly, as I do have a desktop computer, but I just can’t write while I’m sitting in a computer chair. Coding is fine, writing is nope.
So while I have been doing a lot of planning, and thinking up interesting scenes for later in SiS, I haven’t actually done any writing, which I’m feeling kinda bad about.
But now I can get back on track!
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i’m not sure if my processes are the same as other people and there’s probably more effective ways to do things but here’s how I work:
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Just stop thinking too hard and type. You can always edit later. Even if terrible, once your crap out that initial starting sentence, it becomes a lot more easier for things to just flow without really thinking heavily.
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Spend at least an hour outside in the fresh air. For when it is actually important that I think about things carefully, a change in environment is really helpful. Stepping away from things for a while can generally be more effective than trying to force them.
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While you can always look at what other people do and what works for them, what needs to be thought about is what works for YOU. Sure, draw inspiration from authors you like. Mostly everyone does, but you won’t ever properly feel satisfied with anything when it’s not really something you can call your own.
I’m just one in a hundred authors here, and I don’t have anything against that, buuuttt…on other sites(Which I don’t know if I should give the name of) I’m quite a fair bit better known. One of my stories there is getting close to breaking one hundred thousand readers(Small numbers compared to some other people though.)
Point of my rant being, developing your style takes time. It’s why I prefer my second WIP to my first one honestly. I plan on doing both those projects, but the second one is a lot more what I feel like I can actually call my own.
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that happen to me alot…
just sit there…and look…words are in your head but your body won’t type ! Grr
I like the 1st poster , I use music . Thats how I get idea and how I keep writing . Music inspire me . I can see worlds and peoples when I listen to music .
But even thats not enough when you are stuck .
In my long assed story I made . I made a goal for myself . Must have X content before the day is over . Believe it or not…at first I was struggling like hell…cursing…what was I thinking making this rule ? but overtime ? Holy hell…its discipline and I started enjoying it !
So my best advice is…take a break . Walk around , stretch…eat…drink . But I always go back and try again . If I play or watch something…I never be able to continue writing . So it has to come out eventually .
The more you write…the more you define your style . But does it get easy ? that really depand on the person . I’m uber lazy…so it never easy lol feel like removing a stubborn tooth…it will come out…but damn…it gonna take forever to do so .
Good luck !
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I’m working on two WIPs and I have several others on backburner. It’s hard to work in parallel but it’s much harder to maintain focus on just one project when my mind bounces all over the place. With two, I know that if one is crawling I can shift gears to the second for a while. I can write two things with different style or tone, to occasionally take a break from some particular aspect of my work that’s bogging me down or boring me. Right now, I’m writing a novel and a CS game. I was struggling getting through the first act of the novel manuscript, and splitting time with the game helped a lot. I’ve made real progress on both.
I use the Pomodoro technique, usually in chunks of 25 minutes with a 5 minute break. Having a playlist or ambient sound mix helps keep me focused, and I try to be disciplined and mindful about keeping away from distractions, putting my phone on silent etc.
Getting out of the house or otherwise moving my body every hour is very helpful for me. Likewise enforced breaks help me refresh. When I get too engrossed and write or edit for hours, it’s easy to get tired out, and I often find if I’m working like that, I haven’t actually been as productive as it felt at the time.
I found this video from the GDC vault useful for refining my working routine: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024937/Don-t-Break-the-Chain
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I’ve learned that I’m plagued by plot bunnies and an inability to bring my thoughts to life.
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I used to work diligently on my wip but the pass couple of weeks I’ve been slacking on my wip. It was easy in the beginning when that was the only thing I would do as well as trying to start a habit of daily writing. Now once the habit was broken I didn’t know if I was willing to try it again. I now look at the code and find it terrifying. I also didn’t expect to go on such tangents for choices sometimes. I need some serious organization tips and ways to not get bored continuing a scene I left behind a couple days ago.
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Work is hard. It’s hard to sit in front of a computer all day and then come home and try to motivate myself to spend another hour or two in front of the computer. It’s also hard, physically. On my back, and because of eye strain.
I’m lucky I know what I want, because without my passion for writing I don’t know where I’d find the motivation to write while both chronically ill and gainfully employed.
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I can’t write a damn thing unless.
- I’m drunk
- My thoughts start to speak in a British accent.
Most of the time, I just procrastinate. Good job me
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After a long hiatus from writing, I decided it was a great idea to kick myself in the head and finally get a move on with my WIP. It makes me cringe that I haven’t worked on it since March of this year. I decided to build a routine for myself and rely on it instead of relying on motivation (which is shoddy at best).
So, here’s a list of the few things that managed to get me out of the rut:
- Watching movies directed by Christopher Nolan. Inception and The Dark Knight were really excellent movies, in my opinion. Haven’t gotten around to watching Dunkirk yet, though.
- Playing through Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- The Social Network. Seriously, I just wasted a lot of time watching movies on Netflix.
- There’s this channel on YouTube, Lessons from the Screenplay, and this guy is awesome. He breaks down a movie into components and analyses the storytelling elements in it. I’ve been watching through a few of his videos and it’s given me a few ideas for future WIPs.
Now, here’s the routine that I promise to sticking with to finish my current WIP:
- Write at least a hundred words a day.
- Cup of coffee before a work session.
- One hour of work.
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