Writing Passionates discussion

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Advice > Swift mind Slow fingers

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message 1: by Josh (new)

Josh | 83 comments So, I have all of these great stories running around through my head. I sit down to write one of them but i don't get far cuz I get so caught up in telling myself the story that i cant concentrate on writing it. Does anyone have any tips on how i could slow myself down long enough to finish a book?


message 2: by Kenzie (new)

Kenzie | 2838 comments Well, I work on the parts that are clearest in my head. If I get stuck at a certain part, but know what's going to happen next I'll write out the part I know and come back and connect it all later.


message 3: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
omg josh the exact same thing happens to me too!! i'll be writing one part and my mind will start writing a scene waaaay ahead in the story! XD what i usually do is i just remind myself that i'll never get to THAT part if i don't get THIS part done, and that motivates me to keep going. also it helps to make a rough outline of what you want to happen, so you can get closer to the end one step at a time.


message 4: by Josh (new)

Josh | 83 comments Thats good advice guys! I will have to try it.


message 5: by Tate (new)

Tate | 106 comments Oh yes, an outline. Make an outline - make it rather rough and just sketch out what happens, from beginning to end if you like. Depending on the length of your story and the detail of the outline, it probably won't take that long to jot all of the notes down - and it's fast. You can get places very, very fast. And then, after you finish your outline (and thus are done with telling your story) write out the book! Yay!


message 6: by Morgan (new)

Morgan (cheshire) | 181 comments I have that problem, but I say go with what they say, because I usualy just end up giving up and telling myself the story for a bit, without ever writing anything down, and then forgetting it.


message 7: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
Usually if that happens, I write the basic summary of what my mind is telling me that is going to happen next, and then i continue to write the present thing...or, if a scene is writing itself in my head, I'll write it, even if it's in the middle of the book.


message 8: by Silvia (new)

Silvia (robin10hood) outlines are good things to have, and i pretty much always do that so i dont forget what i wanted in the story (ever written somehting that you had ideas for how it would end, but by the time you got there, you had forgotten? its sad, but true) not to mention that when i make outlines, i can really just focus on the plot and not worry about characters or word choice for the moment. i can plan everything out and even take care of problems before they happen. not to mention if i have outlined the story i can leave it and then come back to it way later and keep it on topic and making sense.


message 9: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
i don't usually outline my ENTIRE book, but sometimes i'll outline parts of it if i get really stuck...


message 10: by Hannah (new)

Hannah (ophelia17) | 67 comments i dont usually outline, but sometimes i have an idea but i dont exactly have a solid plot yet, then i brainstorm using an out line


message 11: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
exactly... :D


message 12: by Tate (new)

Tate | 106 comments I thought that outlining was going to be boring before I did it . . . until i tried it. It was just like writing a story, but only writing down the basic stuff. Yay! That is teh awes0mness. =D


message 13: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
i wrote an outline for the next few chapters of my story yesterday. it was fun. hee hee. and it's actually helping. once you have an outline, it feels a lot more... comforting i guess. without an outline, you're just kinda walking blindly forward and hoping that you don't crash into a wall. haha. but if you know what you want to basically happen, then you avoid more of these, um, walls. XD METAPHORS!!!


message 14: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
haha! i had study hall in this english teacher's room, and his desk had these bumper stickers on it. and there was one, it was like a star wars one, only it said METAPHORS BE WITH YOU!!! hahahahaha XD XD XD lol. wow i am so easily amused. i really need to get a life.... hmmm XD


message 15: by [deleted user] (new)

my brother says may the cheese be with you.


message 16: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
interesting... XD


message 17: by Tate (new)

Tate | 106 comments Wow, your brother must be a mouse


message 18: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
LOL. XD


message 19: by Silvia (new)

Silvia (robin10hood) haha, "metaphors be with you" is hilarius! that's amasing, i want one.


message 20: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
XD haha.


message 21: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
hmmm. that sometimes works. only i'm a perfectionist, so everything has to be, like PERFECT!!! okay well not PERFECT, but still, like, readable. even the rough draft. i think too hard; i plan like EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE!!! AAAH!!!


message 22: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
oh i liked that. it was good. XD


message 23: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
metaphors be with you...hahahahaha...sorry I was commenting on something said earlier in the discussion. anyway, what are we talking about? oh right...

OMG BRIGID I AM EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!!! I can't just write the basic idea, I need to think about every sentence before I write it; I chew every word before I spit it out, and I consider every option carefully before deciding which adjective to use. OMG I AM SUCH A PERFECTIONIST!! I can't just sit down and write everything in a rush; I have to make everything perfect. That's why it usually takes me HOURS and HOURS to write one chapter.


message 24: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
EXACTLY!!! XD


message 25: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
XD


message 26: by Morgan (new)

Morgan (cheshire) | 181 comments Wow.......... I did an outline, and now I actually have a plot to follow for a story I'm writing! This works really well! Sorry, normaly I just start one with no idea of where I'm heading.


message 27: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
Me too...I should try outlining...


message 28: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
I don't actually do it in "outline" form- I just basically write a summary of what I want to happen.


message 29: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
same here, sella...
i've started outlining my writing recently, and it actually really helps. ;D


message 30: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
yeah i agree.


Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona) (ephona) I outline in my head...helps for my series so I know how to foreshadow things...but honestly, I haven't outlined Beyond the Gates that much...only slightly


message 32: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
FORESHADOW!! hee hee hee i luv foreshadow... XD


message 33: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
me 2 XD


Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona) (ephona) foreshadow is so much fun!


message 35: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
Yeah it is!


message 36: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
fun fun fun


message 37: by Laina (new)

Laina (laineyru) well, I think outlining does help. But for me, it never has. And i was always worried about that until recently when I heard Brandon Mull mention how his outlines are usually in his head. Yes yes! I thought.... that's me!!! For those of you who don't know, Brandon Mull is a fairly popular author of Fablehaven. I've personally never read them, but they are well loved in the area where I live and plenty of other areas I think.

So what i'm trying to say is find what works for you. If writeen out outlines help you, great! If not, keep working on it. Some people can write out of order, but I have to write chronologically. If I don't, I get lost. Characters turn against themselves, and plots fall through.

Try different exercises where you outline. Maybe try just brainstorming and scrawling down a sentence or two about what you know you want to happen. Chew over everything in your mind until you find something that fits. Let the story be a part of you, but don't let it tell you who's boss. A novel can kick anyone's hind end... maybe try starting with smaller projects. That's my miniscule advice that probably won't work, but it's helped me a bit!


message 38: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
Haha. Laina, I know what you mean. I have to write chronologically too, or I get totally lost. XD My outlines are pretty bad; I don't write down, like, the entire plot. But I like to think a little ways ahead. So I'll outline, say, the first five chapters. Then I'll write those five chapters and outline the next five chapters, etc. Sometimes I don't outline at all. And a lot of my outlines are just in my head. I like to write down a couple thoughts now and then, though, just so I don't forget anything. ;D


message 39: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (last edited Jul 21, 2008 04:03PM) (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
I also write in order, and if there's this whole part in the book that i know what is going to happen, i write an outline of it. Usually I write outlines for as much as I know what is going to happen, but for some stories I'm just writing as I go along with only the basic idea. The only story that I've got the beginning to almost the end loosely outlined is Outcast...but I'm stuck after a certain point...


message 40: by Morgan (last edited Jul 22, 2008 04:13AM) (new)

Morgan (cheshire) | 181 comments *Dances* I like outlines!!! They work!!! At least, when I do them my way, the ones they do at school are just annoying........ Anyway. *Grins* Thanks! I'm going to stop going on and on now........


message 41: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
yeah i hate school outlines... :P the ways they make us write at school are so dumb... grrrr...
hmmm... i almost never know how my book is going to end. somewhere in the middle i usually decide how it might end. the only ending i planned from just about the very beginning was the end to soul stealer...


message 42: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
I agree...school outlines are dumb...but my way outlines work. XD

Yeah...for the morte i knew the basic idea of the ending since I started writing it...


message 43: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
cool. ;D


message 44: by Laina (new)

Laina (laineyru) do any of you do this: write the final copy of your essay for school, then go back and do a rough draft, and then an outline so you can get full credit? AND then you go back and revise again. I'm terribly guilty of this act, but my teachers seem to enjoy my essays well enough : ) ONly reason I got a 98% on my Science project (I did it literally the week before it was due and it was supposed to take a minimum of three months...) was because of the way I wrote it. : )


message 45: by Veronica, What the neck!? (new)

Veronica (v_a_b) | 2889 comments Mod
ha ha ha ha! that's great!!!


message 46: by Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. >< (new)

Sella Malin | 4530 comments Mod
Sorry...I'm not guilty myself.


message 47: by Laina (new)

Laina (laineyru) oh dang it! : ) I was hoping I wasn't the only seriously confused and disorganized person out there. I think I've used this before, but...

"I'm Creative; PLEASE tell me neatness doesn't count!"


message 48: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
XD neatness is soooo overrated.


message 49: by Laina (new)

Laina (laineyru) hehe I agree to an extent. However, if my writing environment is a total mess, I find it harder to write. Just like I can't sleep if my room is a mess-- which is why I've had hardly any sleep in two days. : )


message 50: by Brigid ✩ (new)

Brigid ✩ | 5857 comments Mod
well i suppose my writing is a somewhat organized mess, ironically. :P it's all in disarray in my mind, but once i get it down on paper it makes sense. usually. XD haha. well my room is kind of a mess, but it doesn't affect my writing. if i need space i just shove all my crap out of the way; writing comes before cleaning!!! XD


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