Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
I'm new to this forum, and I appreciate all the advice that has been given to me so far.
I wonder whether anyone has the same problem as me with finishing stories. I rarely find time to write and when I do, it is usually when I'm off work, as my job is so demanding that I rarely have time for myself. When I do find the time, I usually procrastinate (like I am doing now or like I was earlier today when I was watching Poldark or Mr Selfridge on DVD), or I have usually lost my train of thought and the thread I am going with. My current story I have been working on since about 2006 and it has already had several revisions, but I'm no where near finished it. One revision was because the main characters were really annoying me, so I changed the whole story. Now I have gone back to it various times, and I have added to it and changed it since then; however, the style I had originally written in seems to have gone. Instead of it being quite quirky, it now seems to be quite serious. It doesn't seem to flow, but the quirkiness I was originally writing with has gone.
For a while I abandoned the story and started working on a Supernatural one, but I really wanted to finish one novel, so went back to the original one. I am really finding it difficult to finish.
Could it be that I have been working on it that long that I have lost sight of the original story? Do I need to be writing more often? Does anybody else have this issue? Do I need to plan more? Do I need to abandon it completely?
How do other people deal with demanding jobs and a lack of time?
Many thanks.
Comments
Could be, yes. Ideally yes. I reckon it's quite common. It's worth trying, especially if you're losing ideas before you can get them down. Maybe if you've been struggling with it for a long time it might be a good idea to try something else and see if it comes any easier.
Agree with yourself you will spend at least 30 minutes three times a week adding a few hundred words.
If you are not keen to do that, ie don't think you can fit in 10 minutes here and there, or as you say, if you choose to procrastinate when you could be working on the story then I'd suggest what your problem is, is the original story you wanted to write does not excite you enough any more to be bothered with it.
If you're not being excited by a need to write then I'd suggest you ask yourself whether to continue with writing is what you want or find something else to do.
It's the same process when someone says one year they want to quit smoking but five years down the line there they are, still puffing away regardless. Unless you really want to get this story out of you, unless you're really excited and have a reason to want to put the effort in to write it, it just is not going to happen.
Don't worry about making changes just write when you can, even 500 words here and there build up.
I'd love the luxury of being lucky and gifted enough to do it full time. I don't expect that to ever happen but I live in hope. Some writers are exceptionally lucky/talented that their first effort is picked up by a publisher and becomes a best seller though I suspect that is as rare as picking up a newspaper and not finding a picture of Rita Ora in it so the rest of us plod away more in hope than expectation.
I suppose to many writing is more like an obsession, occasionally an unhealthy one but for me when I'm in the zone everything just vanishes into the background and the characters on the screen in front of me become more real, more substantive than anything in the real world. That's maybe not a good thing but I think it's a necessary thing that only others who do a similar thing can understand and relate to.
I wish I knew the answer.
Has for demanding jobs my job can be demanding, it's just finding time I guess. Try doing Nanowrimo in November and you will realise how much time you do have and might waste. My problem is I want to do so much e.g. courses, reading, writing, film and tv and spend time with family and I have to work but I can't fit everything in. I also suffer with anxiety and that can take over sometimes
I did write a short exercise yesterday (kindle ebook back to creative writing school) and it made me feel so good to be writing again after about a month or so of not really writing much. This morning I woke up with an idea (old idea from years ago that's found a new angle) and I have a novel idea I've been thinking about for months.
Maybe you need to be inspired, try writing exercises to get you into writing, I'm sure you can spare 5mins a day or a few times a week to do them. Once you start writing again and you awaken that creative side of your brain you might find you can't stop for a while.
Then you might stop and have to try and be inspired again.
This is what seems to happen for me.
I've set myself a goal to write four first drafts in September, I know I can do it.
See if you can set yourself a goal, it doesn't have to be big. It could be simply brainstorming or looking for ideas one day and then writing a page another.
Everyone is different I think you just need to find a process that works for you and don't be put off by all these people who say write every day etc as if you're like me it might just stress you or make you feel guitly (and clog your inspiration) if you can't
On the plus side, the last few days I have written notes for both my main stories - especially the one I was stuck with. As I am thinking about them, the ideas seem to be flowing a bit more. My plan is to write a bit more today and tomorrow before I go back to work on Tuesday. Then, I'm going to try writing or at least writing notes every week by trying to find spare time when I can.
I suggest you create a detailled plan of your story before beginning to write. It will be easier to finish your books.
It takes me 6 months to gather all the ideas: choose plot, characters and ending. My plans are 3k words long. The writing is much faster and fun since you know what's coming and you are thrilled to write it.
Good Luck