The ideas, what to do with them?

July 23, 2009 6:14 AM

How do I force myself to write? I have the ideas...I have the time, I think I even have the skill. I just don't have the follow-through.

Lemme explain.

I'm always coming up with compelling story lines. Like...always. Several times a week, easy. Some of them are dream-based, some are true-life-experience based, and some...well, some I just don't know where they come from. I've started a couple 5th-graderish books several times, but I always leave them a couple chapters in. I've let people read them, and they always want me to finish them, but I just...don't.

When I was a late teen I used to write a lot of awful poetry but also some decent prose. Short stories because I never could think of where to take them.

So anyway, last night I had this crazy thriller-murder-torture dream centering around cyber-stalking and mefi meetups, and I think it would be a fun story to write and a fun story to read.

But I know I'll never *finish* it.

So tell me, if you write, for publication or otherwise, how do you stick to it? I flit around a lot from one task to another, that's a big part of it. Do you outline first? Do you storyboard? Do you just outline blocks of time and force yourself to write?

posted by TomMelee to media & arts (31 comments total)

Just do it. Start out small, write for five minutes, then stop and move on to antother task. Come back a few hours later and do the same thing. Increase that duration and frequency. Make time to do it, even if it's just a tiny tiny amount every day. Don't skip a day. It'll quickly become a habit and you'll be suprised at your outbut.

I keep a timer on my desktop when i do nothing but a single task for 15 minutes, and most things get done a lot more quickly.
posted by bensherman at 6:23 AM on July 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

Doing Nanowrimo I found outlining a great help. I started with a very short outline and then gradually worked up chapter outlines until I had almost everything that happens outlined in some detail. I didn't use any special approach or outlining software, just did it naively.

One thing this does is reveal to you how damn long a novel is and how many gaps actually need filling in and fleshing out - far more than I imagined initially.

Once I'd done that, writing the actual words was relatively easy, especially with the nanowrimo deadlines hovering overhead. Of course I did depart from the outline and change things round as I went, but I never hit a wall as I had sometimes in the past.
posted by Phanx at 6:29 AM on July 23 [3 favorites has favorites]

Check out William Stafford's Writing the Australian Crawl. Stafford was a prolific writer (poet). He wrote a poem a day for his entire life, and lived til he was in his 70's or 80's I think. There's a lot in this book (which is a nonfiction book on his philosophy of writing) that I think an aspiring writer might learn from.

I also liked Mary Oliver's, A Poetry Handbook when I read it, though it's been years. It is again a book about writing, like Stafford's book, only this one is a book about writing poetry, rather than a reflection on the author's own philosophies of writing (though it is obviously that, it is written as a handbook and not as a memoir, whereas Stafford's is more a memoir than a handbook).

I have also heard good things about Steven King's On Writing, but I have never myself read it.

Larry Brown had a short article published, I think in the Oxford American, in which he described his own growth as a writer that is good to read, but I cannot remember it's name. He talks about starting out, and the countless rejections he got from magazines for submissions, and also tells about a story he wrote about some bears in Yellowstone that were eating the tourists, and how that one - which he says was a horrible story - marked a turning point for him, as he started to develop more skill at writing about the people.

I've always been influenced by William Stafford, though, personally. I think a lot of writing is 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration (Thomas Edison?). Stafford was very disciplined. He woke up early and wrote all day. Others may disagree, and say it is important what you write about and should only work on worth projects, and there is some truth to that, but I think a common trait of successful writers is discipline. Mary Oliver talks about making a date with an inspiration, for instance, and being sure to show up on time for the date. If you consistently stand up inspiration, it'll stop trying to visit you. So, my two cents - make a commitment to write X number of words a day, and stick with it for some period of time (say, a year). Then re-evaluate.
posted by scunning at 6:42 AM on July 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

But I know I'll never *finish* it.

You need to let this attitude go.

The only way to write is to sit down and write. Yes, that sounds circular. Yes, that sounds overly simplistic.

But in the past year, since finishing up an MFA in poetry, and having had a lot of time to observe and compare my fiction writing peers who are writers-in-name-only with those who actually produce prose, I've realized that the distinguishing difference between those who write and those who don't is the actual act of writing.

That's the only difference.

People who aren't productive writers are likely to mythologize writing. They can only write, they say, under a certain set of conditions. They just aren't inspired (as if they're waiting for a muse to come and smack them on the head). But being a productive writer means nothing more than sitting down and writing a moderately substantial amount of prose with regularity. That's all. Your ideas don't have to be particularly good. You don't have to be particularly brilliant or inspired, although that helps. You just need to write. Because, let me tell you, if you sit around waiting for inspiration or talent, plenty of mediocre, but disciplined writers are going to have written circles around you by the time you get out of the gate.

For me, setting reasonable goals for myself, and sticking to them, has been key. I write an average of 500 words a day. By doing so in the past year, I've written one 120-page novel MS, two short stories, and am 90 pages into a second MS currently. And there was a time when I was like you, when I had plenty of four-page first-chapters floating around. Writing nearly daily, particularly through slogging through that first MS, has done a lot to demythologize the novel writing process for me. Writing a novel isn't particularly hard; it simply entails follow-through. Sometimes it's boring. Sometimes it's rough. But the key is to keep doing it, regardless.

(I've read enough books on writing to tell you that many professional, highly prolific writers--Lawrence Block and Stephen King are the two that come to mind--write their books this way, too. So you'll be in good company.)

So, sit down and put your nose to the grindstone. Try writing 500 words today. It won't take long--maybe a half hour, maybe an hour. And then do it again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. In two weeks, you'll have 7,000 words; working at this pace, you'll have 50,000 by the end of the summer.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:43 AM on July 23 [24 favorites has favorites]

Do you outline first? Do you storyboard? Do you just outline blocks of time and force yourself to write?

Oh, and YMMV, but outlining doesn't work for me; it just becomes a means for procrastination.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:44 AM on July 23

I've started a couple 5th-graderish books several times, but I always leave them a couple chapters in.

I do the same thing. I'm not sure if I'll ever write anything novel-length. But I can write short stories. I would suggest focusing on writing short stories until you're more comfortable with the writing process enough to really buckle down and work on a novel. Short stories are more fun to write anyway because you can focus on just a few elements rather than trying to juggle a lot of plot-lines and characters. And if you don't feel like writing short stories, just sit down and write something, anything, because the more you practice the better shot you'll have of actually writing a full-length book that's worth reading.
posted by burnmp3s at 6:46 AM on July 23

FWIW, if you're having troubling closing on the project, that is a problem. You have to close, but closing is the hardest part in some ways. There are increasing marginal costs to writing a completed project. In some ways, the first 80% is the easiest to write, but after that point, each additional percentage point is costlier to do than the bit before it. I have the hardest time, for instance, getting the manuscript completely 100% finished, because getting it 100% finished involves a lot of careful editing. Dumping a lot of words down on paper is the easiest part, but fixing it in all into a final product - that may take the most time to do, even if it is measured by actual output only seems involve very little writing. But that's a skill that you have to do to get good at.
posted by scunning at 6:54 AM on July 23

There is a concept called morning stories that can be useful. That is, people are generally more focussed in the early morning- so you devote 15 minutes to half an hour of writing- whatever pops into your head- you turn it into a morning ritual like having a coffee, first cigarette etc. Apparently it gets one into the discipline of writing.

As a successful published novelist one told me- writers write, if you really want to write, then write.
posted by mattoxic at 6:58 AM on July 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

1. Listen to PhoBWanKenobi excellent point on this. It really is that simple. You're a writer, so write.

2. Lose the "I'll never finish it" attitude, it's a major energy suck. Save everything you write because you never know how something your wrote last week, last year or last decade will influence what you're writing today.

3. The point of writing is to write, not to finish. Not everything you write will be great or publishable, but by writing you get it out of your system, realize that its crap and then learn and move to non crappy writing.

4. See #1

5. See #1
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:00 AM on July 23 [2 favorites has favorites]

I'll vouch for the success of "morning stories" - that's what I did during NaNoWriMo last year. I installed Q10 on my computer, and once I rolled out of bed in the morning, before getting my coffee or breakfast or even showering, I'd open up the file, re-read the last few paragraphs, and write for 20-30 minutes. It was very much a way to force myself into writing stream-of-consciousness style, since before coffee and morning rituals my mind was too groggy to yell at me about how terrible the writing and how convoluted the dialogue was.

I outline, too, but it's not your typical outline. My outlines read as though I was trying to explain my story to a friend and answering questions they came up with on the spot - they're more brainstorming than anything else. I've tried to outline an entire storyboard including all subplots before, and that just holds me up and prevents me from writing, and often I get paralyzed on one small detail and never end up starting.

I'd also suggest keeping a notepad file on your desktop and jotting down your story ideas. nothing elaborate, 2-3 sentences per story. Open it up once in a while, when you're working on one project, for inspiration. You never know when one storyline's going to fit into another story.

Lastly, and I'd gladly volunteer for this, find a writing buddy. Explain to them what the project consists of, and give them regular updates on how things are going. If you want, get them to read the updates and give you feedback on inconsistencies. This way, you're accountable to more than just yourself - it's easy to pretend to yourself that a story had no potential or future if no one knows about it, but once you and another person have both put in significant amount of time and effort developing the story, it becomes far harder to deny its existence.

I hope that helps. Best of luck!
posted by Phire at 7:06 AM on July 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

I have the same problem, and I think it may be a case where I'm just not a writer.

Several times a week, I'll come up with awesome ideas, but the thought of putting it all down on paper seems very tedious and tiresome. So, I'm exploring alternatives to writing stories or novels.

I haven't come up with anything besides comics so far, but I'm still searching.

YMMV
posted by reenum at 7:11 AM on July 23

Every writer I know can find about 50 things they'd rather do than write. Myself included. I've been a writer for 10 years, and I still hate it a lot of the time. It's hard. It's work. There's an illusion that it's easy -- or should be -- because you already *can* write: you can write an email, a memo, a blog post. So it doesn't feel like learning to play the piano or speak Portuguese, where you don't have the expectation that it should be easy or you should be good at it naturally.

A lot of writing is about discipline. To do this work, you need a work ethic. Whatever works for you, though I think 500 words a day -- good words, bad words, relevant words, inconsequential words, whatever -- is a good place to start. Put your butt in the chair and don't get up until you've written the 500 words. It won't be easy, but it will get easier, some days will be better than others, etc. etc.

Good luck.
posted by janet lynn at 7:28 AM on July 23

How to Write A Lot is more of a guide to academic writing, but many of the same principles can be applied to any type of writing. It is pretty short, so it might be worth a glance.

It basically boils down to making writing part of your schedule, keeping track of how many words per day, and not letting anyone interrupt your writing time. To me it is similar to losing weight - to be successful you have to be good about keeping track of calories, and ensure that your exercise time is a priority.
posted by sararah at 7:29 AM on July 23

Finding or starting a writing group that meets regularly to share and critique work can help. I did some of my best writing while taking two creative writing courses in college. We had evening classes and it was a great feeling to know you would get your ego stroked but also get some constructive criticism. You are then writing FOR someone, and you put that extra effort in to finish a piece (or a chapter) knowing that two or three other people are waiting to see it.
posted by Brodiggitty at 7:40 AM on July 23

Nthing the advice that the way to write is just to write. There's no way around that.

But what you said about your unfinished ideas triggered another thing -- I also used to feel guilty/bad/what have you about that, until I read a quote by the writer John M. Ford. He described the unfinished ideas you have as "Nurse logs. "

In the forest, there are lots of trees that don't grow all the way, but instead fall over. That's the way the forest ecosystem is supposed to work -- the forest starts many more trees than it can possibly sustain. But the thing is, the trees that don't make it all the way to full growth, the ones that fall over, end up decaying and fertilizing the soil for the trees that do make it. If those extra unfinished trees weren't there, the soil wouldn't be fertile enough to sustain the trees that do grow. Those trees that fall over and end up as fertilizer are called "nurse logs", sometimes because the new trees sometimes take root in the old decaying dead trees.

And all your unfinished stories serve the same purpose. The stories you've started but haven't finished are like the nurse logs fertilizing your brain for more ideas that will come later. So don't worry about the fact that you've put work into some ideas that haven't gone anywhere; maybe the reason they fizzled out on you is because they were just there to lay groundwork for something else.

Mind you, this doesn't excuse you from the discipline of working at writing. You can't just write for a few days and then when something doesn't feel fun to work on, just say "oh, well, I guess that was just a nurse log" and be done with it. Persistence and discipline are also part of the puzzle too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:57 AM on July 23 [6 favorites has favorites]

Write something every day. Whether you have a subject or not, whether you feel inspired or not, just write it.
posted by buzzv at 8:01 AM on July 23

The notion that writers just write is absolutely on the money. I'm a composer and used to having to write every day. It's just what you do.

A couple of years ago I was writing my doctoral dissertation which was hard for me as it involved words. It sounds strange but these things that we all use every day seemed foreign to me. I got over it by writing every day for at least 20 minutes. I even wrote things down like "I have absolutely nothing to write down".

It's the same principle that I use in writing music. In all creative endeavors the blank sheet of paper is the anti-matter, you need to fill that up fast. So you should think on paper, throw out whatever ideas, thoughts, or even non-ideas and non-thoughts, you have and then start playing around with certain ideas that strike you.

A lot of people have this weird notion that once you have the idea that's it! That somehow now you have to wait for the muse to carry you to the end. No. You have to actively work on your ideas, even have fun with them, all the time trying to ignore the big picture which is depressing as you realise how far you have to go. Everything gets done one day at a time, one sentence at a time and one word at a time. So, just write.
posted by ob at 8:01 AM on July 23

If you decide to outline/storyboard, get you ideas on paper in time to participate in NaNoWriMo. It might help to have other people who are also writing in the same time-frame.
posted by asras at 8:09 AM on July 23

Read Writing on Both Sides of the Brain. It's a slim little book, with some exercises to unlock your writing. People who read it increase their output and decrease their writing stress.

The book makes it easy to just do it.
posted by ScarletPumpernickel at 8:14 AM on July 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

I am a writer. Back when I was a published writer (lightly published) I wrote personal essays. I still do a lot of personal writing, but I no longer write for publication (or at least, I'm not doing that at this stage of my life).

I am not a fiction writer. Yet fairly regularly I will come up with an idea for a novel. Sometimes it builds on a dream, sometimes it's clearly inspired by something I've been reading or watching, sometimes it's just a cool idea I have. I will spend a fair amount of time telling myself this story in my head. Yet I am not a fiction writer; when I try to put these things on paper, they die. I will be astonished if I ever write a novel, or even a short story.

I have one idea I think would be really cool as an element of a fantasy-type novel. But I just have that one element; I don't have a plot, or any conflict, or anything else like that, and I probably never will. It's just this one shiny thing I like to take out and turn over in my mind from time to time.

Some people have a lot of ideas. People like this will have more good ideas than they could ever follow through on. I don't mean to discourage you, and I certainly encourage you to take some time to write while letting go of any expectations or pressure to "finish." Let yourself play around, freely, with the ideas in your head, and eventually you will figure out for yourself whether you're the kind of person who finished stories and books, or just the kind of person whose brain tosses out these ideas all the time. Either kind of person is a good kind of person to be; my life has gotten better since I realized that just having an idea doesn't lay an obligation on me to realize it.
posted by not that girl at 8:35 AM on July 23

In terms of forcing yourself to write, this site is quite useful. Made by a fellow mefite.
posted by mammary16 at 8:50 AM on July 23

500 words a day -- good words, bad words, relevant words, inconsequential words, whatever -- is a good place to start. Put your butt in the chair and don't get up until you've written the 500 words. It won't be easy, but it will get easier, some days will be better than others, etc. etc.

Seconding this. Have a word target and hit it every day, no matter what. If you're going to do this, it has to be your job, and you don't get to skip your 500 words any more than you get to not show up for work. Don't do blocks of time -- it's easier than you think to do nothing for two hours.

That said, I never would have written a novel all the way to the end if I hadn't spent a year in an MFA program where there was a clear-cut due date for the project. If you're serious about doing this, you might consider applying (if you can find one with decent funding; I wouldn't go into debt for an MFA.)

Finally, be aware that you might not actually want to be a writer. You have a lot of ideas and stories in your head, but writing, in the end, isn't primarily about ideas and stories, it's about putting words together into sentences and sentences together into paragraphs. If you don't like doing that, don't force yourself.
posted by escabeche at 9:02 AM on July 23

You guys are truly awesome. I hate that it took me this long to come back, I got surprise swamped this morning right after posting.

I've read all your answers, and I'm secretly hoping for some more kick-me-in-the-ass posts too. I'm going to reread them all when I've got more than 5 minutes and I'll be back!

Sidequestion: have you ever written a (good) short story and then come back to it some time later and turned it into a longer story? I kind of feel like that's what I need to do...get the "general describing it to a friend" style down and then go in and fill it all in.

Again, thanks, you all rock. I just unearthed some of my sparkling orange-blossom mead that's been aging for 7 years, and I drank some, and it's uh-mazing. If any of you were here I'd totally share with you.
posted by TomMelee at 9:16 AM on July 23

Sidequestion: have you ever written a (good) short story and then come back to it some time later and turned it into a longer story? I kind of feel like that's what I need to do...get the "general describing it to a friend" style down and then go in and fill it all in.

For me, writing a short story is totally different than writing a longer piece of prose--there's a different emphasis on word- and sentence- level issues, character development happens in a completely different way. What works well in a really tight story doesn't always work well in a longer piece. Authors sometimes do turn short stories into, say, novels. Sometimes I think it works. Sometimes it doesn't. If what you want to write is a novel, I say, just write a novel. Focusing on crafting a "good" short story is something different entirely.

If, on the other hand, you just mean jotting down the general plot to sort out your own thoughts, I think that's pretty common (even though I don't do that, either) and a great idea. I'd just give up on the idea of these notes being "good," because they're for you, not for an external audience.

Also, that mead sounds hella delish.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:24 AM on July 23

I don't like writing short stories, because once I have a story idea I start thinking about the backstories of all the characters and how to fill in plot holes and such, and before I know it it's blossomed into novel-length. I don't know how to make a short story compelling, and to me writing short stories and novels are totally different beasts.

But there are certainly examples in literature about a short story that got turned into something much longer after the fact, like Ender's Game.
posted by Phire at 9:47 AM on July 23

William Somerset Maugham said, "I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp."

Most of the challenge of writing, or any creative pursuit, is simply getting yourself to the point where you sit down and work on something. And then, when you do work, you end up producing lots of crap. Many writers get discouraged by the amount of crap they produce, and give up, assuming they're never going to produce anything good. The good writers, however, recognize that they're going to produce crap, and will either move on and start something else or work with the crap to get it to an interesting/workable/readable state.

In short, writing is a pain in the ass. A pain in the ass that can be fascinating and fulfilling, but a pain in the ass.

The War of Art is a pretty good get-to-work-and-start-creating book, and might help you, but be careful: every hour that you spend psyching yourself up and motivating yourself is an hour that you're not actually writing.

Additionally, consider interspersing the big projects you're working on with smaller projects/exercises/blog posts/whatever. A parallel: I knit, and I can't stand working on big projects. I love the end result of having a finished sweater or afghan, but I usually hate the process of knitting them. So I intersperse my big projects with things like socks and hats that I can actually finish. Being able to see yourself progressing in something can get you out of a creative rut sometimes.
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:17 AM on July 23

I can offer two things; hope it'll be helpful.

1)Be careful with the "I have so many ideas".

There is a balance between the inner critic and the wild creative. A successful writer has the knack of keeping a balance between the two.

I have a friend who is a brilliant critic. He often asks me to work with him on screenplays. I've tried, on more than one occasion. The problem with him, is that while he's a fantastic analyst, and he can take apart any idea in amazing and insightful detail - he just cannot generate new ideas, no way, no how. The reason why I can't work with him, is that he starts with his critiques too early in the process. When generating ideas, I start with "what if character X did this, and then--" - immediately my HyperCritic friend will start with "but why would he, and how does this connect with, blah, blah"... and everything grinds to a halt. I like to take an idea and run it for a while and see where it leads. It is like a plant - if you prune it too early, if you apply the critical faculties too early, you'll kill it. That's why my HyperCritic friend cannot write - he kills ideas, his own, too early, they don't have time to blossom before he needs to vivisect them.

I have another friend, who also asks me to collaborate with him on screenplays. He's the polar opposite of my HyperCritic friend. I call him the WildCreative. He in turn is incapable of telling a good idea from a bad one early enough. He'll go on and on, and practically finish a screenplay before it is clear to him that the idea just doesn't have the potential he thinks it does.

My caution to you, is to beware of thinking that every idea you have is actually a good one. In fact, odds are, it is not. Working with my WildCreative friend, I came to appreciate how an idea that seems good, actually in the long run may not work - maybe that's a particular problem with screenplays, but believe me when I say that many even distinguished script writers have said to me: "I got to the third act, before I knew it wouldn't work". They did the outline, and yet, could not anticipate that it would not work in the actual full form. What is the danger here? The danger is that you will feel overwhelmed by a flock of "good ideas", not know which to pick, and then be paralyzed.

Here's what you need. Write down short blurbs for all your ideas. That way you will not fear you'll "lose" them. Frankly, it's psychological. It will free you to consider ideas that actually might be worth investing a ton of time and effort into. Choose wisely. Know this: a lot of ideas only seem to be good ideas. If you are unlucky, you'll be like my WildCreative friend, who simply lacks the faculty of analysis and cannot tell the difference between truly good and merely seeming good until he's put too much work into it - sadly, he cannot be helped, he's missing that part... it's like being tone-deaf. Hopefully, you are not tone-deaf, and you have the ability. I say, amp up your inner analyst a bit - obviously not to the level of my HyperCritic friend. But I think it will benefit you. You need to find your balance. Right now, you may be too far on the WildCreative side - and trust me, just writing a couple of chapters and having positive feedback is not enough to evaluate an idea - I've been there, done that, and seen it happen to others much too often.

If you find that balance - by increasing your inner analyst - you will cut down on too many ideas. Now you can focus on the ones with the biggest potential payoff. What a relief!

2)Practical issue. Nervous exhaustion. Sometimes you write or work on a project and hit an impasse and become frustrated. Or, you work and run out of energy and enthusiasm. Then, you chuck it all in frustration and don't finish.

Here's my remedy. I try to work on two or three things at once. This may only work for some personality types, so a caveat here.

I have tried two things: related work, and unrelated work. For hitting an impasse with a hard problem in a screenplay, I use another unrelated screenplay I'm working on. I find that frustration with the first, builds up my energy and enthusiasm for the second one, and I use that energy like a booster rocket to make progress on the second script. When the second one hits a tough spot, I use that energy from frustration and apply it to the first. And so on. For the second problem - exhaustion and waning enthusiasm, I do something unrelated that consumes all my energy. Currently, that is trying to learn to play the piano. The fact that it is a completely unrelated set of issues revitalizes my enthusiasm, and I can get back to the screenplay. The advantage is that instead of leaving my script bored and then stewing frustrated in my own juices, I take my mind off it totally by doing something unrelated, but consuming... at least I feel I'm not totally wasting my time (and yes, I suck at piano).

Thing is to keep moving forward. Don't read too many "how to" books - I find that to be a time suck and it generates its own set of new psychological hangups, problems and barriers which you don't need. You should read enough to know the basics - one or two "how to write" books. Then do it. If you read more than that, and you are not writing, you are cruising for a bruising... you are gathering a brand new set of issues and problems.
posted by VikingSword at 2:17 PM on July 23 [2 favorites has favorites]

Pay yourself to write.

I forget where I learned this trick, but it worked well when I used to sit down and write 4 or 5 nights a week. Set a price on each word you write. At the end of the week, do a rough word count and pay yourself. That's all the money you can spend next week on things like eating out, or buying video games or booze or whatever you spend your money on that isn't bills.

I did a quick count at the end of the night and logged it in a spreadsheet, but I urge to keep the system loose. Reward yourself for a particularly good night. Refuse to pay yourself at all if you kept checking your email and goofing off. It kept me writing and helped me save money.
posted by miniape at 5:30 PM on July 23

Write something every day.
posted by buzzv at 4:20 AM on July 24

Perhaps you are not a writer, at least in how you are thinking of a writer. A writer who writes novels, etc... is someone who usually doesn't attend a thousand writing conferences, and have people prodding them to write. They are people who need to write and who do write. A lot of people are in love with the idea of being a writer. But few people are actually writers. Writers are people who write. I would wish you good luck here, but I don't believe in it.
posted by boots77 at 10:33 PM on July 29

I have the time, I think I even have the skill. I just don't have the follow-through.

The most important skill is the follow-through. Without it, none of the other skills matter at all. There's no category for the Great Half-Finished American Novel.

Ideas are cheap; most are in fact worthless. The only ones that matter are the ones you work on, work out, and share.

So anyway, last night I had this crazy thriller-murder-torture dream centering around cyber-stalking and mefi meetups, and I think it would be a fun story to write and a fun story to read.

But I know I'll never *finish* it.

So what? The idea is not the story. Get that self-indulgent shit out of your head, please. No one cares about your neat story ideas. People care about neat stories.

If you actually care about producing worthwhile writing, habituate yourself to writing every day, read lots of good writing, and treat it as the immensely complex craft it is. Your self-described knack is as important to the readers of the world as your sunny disposition and decent golf swing: i.e. not one fucking iota.

I wish you the best of luck - but mostly I wish you work.
posted by waxbanks at 12:21 PM on August 11