posted
I'm assuming you're new to writing. If not, then this is a very strange post.
First, congratulations for writing every day. You need to write every day if you're going to be a writer.
You might want to think about deciding on a quota--how much you're going to write daily. For me, it's between 5 and 6 handwritten pages a day--between 1000 and 1200 words. Some days I can only get in 500; when you're a stay-at-home dad of three small children, you have to go with the flow or else you end up insane.
But you don't have to have a quota. Hemingway didn't have one, but he did write every day. What you should do is start a writing journal. Simply note the date, what you worked on, and how much you wrote. It doesn't matter, really, if you write 450 words one day and 1200 words the next. So long as you're writing daily. A writing journal keeps you honest.
Second, you should be writing a story from beginning to end before starting a new story. You probably won't finish every story you start. But if you see a pattern that you're starting more than you're finishing, then you need to start letting your ideas cook for a while before you start writing them.
Finally--and I'm assuming you're a beginning writer, of course--eschew all notions of publishing anything for at least one year. Give yourself the freedom to write what you want how you want. Give yourself the freedom to learn how to write. Give yourself the freedom to figure out who you are as a writer, and what your fictional concerns are. Then after a year of hard work, you'll be a much better writer than you are today, and you should be a in place where you can start thinking about sending out some stories.
posted
Remember that the length of time you want to wait before even thinking of publishing can vary a lot. "At least one year" doesn't exclude waiting ten, twenty, or thirty years. If you start writing young and happen to have the right genetics, waiting a century or so before you really start thinking about getting published can work very well (you can also die and be published posthumously, but I don't recommend it as a strategy--even if that's how we get some really great literature).
Another thing that doesn't seem to have been mentioned, keep those stories! If you're starting new stories every day, there isn't a chance that you'll remember the outlines of even half of them after a year. What if the ones you forget are your best, truest work? Keep them all, throw nothing away.
When you get to the point where you're only exploring a new story every couple of weeks, you can throw out pages and chapters and even an entire story that just isn't working. But with stories that are coming to you every day, you don't have enough time with them to know whether they are brilliant or not. So save them for later.
posted
Yeah. What Survivor said. Keep them. Save them..
I tend to get new ideas going and I HAVE to write them down to get them out of my head so I can concentrate on the current project (whatever that might be).
I'd add that it might be a good idea for you to pick one and force yourself to see it through--just for the exercise of finishing, if for no other reason. Make yourself work on it for at least half your daily writing time. If you need to, if you have more ideas burning inside your brain, take the other half of your writing time to get them onto 'paper'.
posted
Further to the whole writing every day thing: This is the most common advice and probably, depending on one's viewpoint, the best thing to do. It's like practicing a musical instrument, and you must practice daily to maintain your skills and improve on them.
Still, and I'm a very firm believer of this philosophy, there is the notion that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy..." or whatever. Always make time for play, whatever it is.
Finally, sometimes a break or hiatus from writing is the perfect prescription, whether it be a few days, a few weeks, or longer. We take vacations from work and school to relax, recharge, and get away, and the same should apply to writing. Learning to write well is work. And when you feel burnt out, you need to take appropriate steps.
It's really a common sense thing. Write every day, as much as are able to do, but don't forget about playing and taking necessary breaks here and there. Do what works for you and listen to yourself, because only you know when you need to step back from it.
posted
I have a couple of thoughts. First of all, are you starting novels or short stories? If you are starting novels, then I think you should stop immediately. Someone posted a link to an article a loonnnngggg time ago that I'm not going to dig around for, but basically it recommended good reasons for beginning writers to write a short story a week for a year and to not even try to write a novel. I didn't actually take the advice, but I'm not having quite the same trouble you are.
Anyway, writing short stories gives you practice beginning a story and following through. You can look at structure and characterization on a small scale before moving to a bigger one. Also, it should boost your confidene because you are actuall producing something. The article didn't suggest going through and editing them or anything, just writing them, but I think practicing polisghing, sending out for critique, and repolishing is also essential. Who knows? Maybe you can even sell one of them.
If you are trying to write short stories then write shorter short stories. How many words do you write in a day? Come up with a concept that fits into approximately that many words. if you write 1000 words write a bunch of flash fiction pieces. If 2000, write short short stories. Once you get the hang of this, maybe you'll feel confident starting an idea and continuing the next day.
Also, and there are those who will disagree with me on this but those people aren't stuck starting a new story everyday , outline first. Or at the very least have an idea of where you're starting, stopping, and going in the middle. Planning ahead is critical for a lot of us out here who aren't good at writing off the cuff as some others are.
posted
When I get a new idea before I finish the current WIP, I stop, open a new file, and jot down the new idea real quick. That's all. A very basic, bare-bones page. Here's my idea, no character development or fleshing out or any of that stuff, just, "this is what just popped into my head." Then I save it, and go back to the WIP, and don't start to work on any of my new ideas until the current one is ready for publishing (in my opinion).
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Dec 2003
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