so, How do you retain focus on your writings?

[mista_mo]

I have a had time sticking to any story for a length of time. I can't sit down and type it out for a long period (and I hating writing things down tbh) but I like writing itself. My problem is my inability to focus on one project.

how do you established and unestablished writers do this?

[Eve of the Dead]

Try starting very small... but be sure to finish it from start to end. This could be maybe one paragraph summarizing the entire story. Then keep expanding it until it is the length you desire.

[Danny]

man, ive got hundreds of sotrys about my house, on multiple pcs or in note books, or as random scrawlings on paper hidden around everywere in the house, just yesterday i found a big notebook at the bottom of a chest of drawers full of half finished plots, inluding one to a movie script i abandoned becuase i lsot said script.
it all depends on the subject amtter, your inspiration and enthusiasm for the piece, some writers have been known to write a full story in a day, but then only a paragraph in a month, i know all my random ideas piled high would be like a iconlike effigy to a long forgotten diety ,but my finished ones would number a dozen at best.
origionalitys also a key, sometimes ive started an idea and slowly realised theres something like it allready out there and its fizzled out.

-One fine example of that is "change" a full novel i wrote about 3 years ago, i had a full 200 page notebook full of ideas, really thought it could be my first published work and then i heard about a certain new game coming out in the next few years called bioshock that, whilst wasnt the same story ,the idea of society undoing itself through genetic manipulation was my sotry idea and to try and pitch a book about the same subject matter at the same time would be dumb so i just dropped the idea, i dont have any copies of the book left but i found the notebook a while back so ive been thinking of reworking it as some cross between that and something thats cthulu mythos meets the flood from halo but then ive gotta work up the inspiration to do so first yknow?

its all about you basically, dont force it out or youll get crap, if you write only a paragraph a month, at least it will be a paragraph you feel is something others will want to read.

[dannoofthedead]

Focus! Sure, thats simple, you just sit down and... hey, look at that, isn't it something!... I'm sorry what were we talking about?

I always write until I feel that what I have is done or until it bores me. If you get on a project and you really get cooking with the story, keep at it. If it starts to drag or you find yourself looking more and more at the paragraphs before, take a break. I've got some stories I've been sitting on for years now because I got bored and the inspiration for them still hasn't come back around. If its good, you'll come back to it eventually. If not, no loss.

[Danny]

year the big major thing to say not said in my post or dans is the old saying "if you arent interested reading your stuff, do you think other people will be?"

[capncnut]

I find that it's all down to determination - how badly do you want to write the piece? I've been writing a Sid Vicious biography for over a year and it's about three-quarters done. I go through periods where I get a bit sick of it so I'll maybe play a console for a few days or read a book and the thirst for it generally comes back.

For the last few days, I put the biography to one side so I could start work on a sequel to Stephen King's Christine. I had a bitchin' little idea and now it's just running away with itself, going from half a page to several pages in the first few hours. It's just dedicating the time equally to all the projects you are currently involved with. But the passion for the story has to be there otherwise you'll find yourself getting bored very fast.

[Danny]

i might have to read christine again now, its allways been my favourite of king's:D

[Relic]

Outline your story and do one section at a time. It's the best way to get from start to finish. And try to write in a place with as few distractions as possible. No tv or radio.

[dannoofthedead]

Another good idea is to write down what pops to mind. If you have an idea for something, get it on paper rather than wait for the rest of the story to catch up. You end up losing some real gems sometimes when you wait.

[jdog]

i can never seem to finish a project. i have 7 on the go but i have only ever compleated 2 lol.

[capncnut]

i can never seem to finish a project. i have 7 on the go but i have only ever compleated 2 lol.
Yeah, I've got two done with about ten half-finished pieces scattered around my PC and in notebooks. Still, I'll be sticking to the Sid bio and Christine, two projects at a time is more than my poor brain can manage. :lol:


i might have to read christine again now, its allways been my favourite of king's:D
It's definitely in the King top three. When I put the book down, I watched the movie and then wallop! All of a sudden, I had a complete sequel plot, setting, characters, and a darned good direction as to where it could be taken almost immediately. The most constructive piece of writing I did in years.

[Danny]

Another good idea is to write down what pops to mind. If you have an idea for something, get it on paper rather than wait for the rest of the story to catch up. You end up losing some real gems sometimes when you wait.

very true ive got 3 note books around the house for just such occasions, though inspired by this thread i dug up the first in a 4 part sci-fi series i started about 8 people who are the last people alive as the species has died out, least they think so that is.....:sneaky:

[Relic]

Remember, Stephen King found time to write for 2-3 hours every night despite a college teaching job, his wife working a full-time job, two kids running around the house and sometimes no heat. His "office" was squeezing into the house's only bathroom and locking the door, sitting down on the stool with a board over his legs and his typewriter balanced on his knees.

Now *that's* dedication.

It's all about forcing yourself to do it, and finding a consistent amount of time each day.

[capncnut]

King is a machine, his books average around 500-800 pages. And every one of them is captivating to read.

[Danny]

King is a machine, his books average around 500-800 pages. And every one of them is captivating to read.

ya read dalores clairborne?

not for me.

[capncnut]

Maybe I jumped the gun there. :D

But what I meant was that every book I've read thus far (maybe 10 or so), I've enjoyed immensely.

[Danny]

im looking forward to duma key as it apparently ties into some of his other stories like the dark tower ,rose madder and the road virus heads north.

but on the horror topic i picked up dean koontz AKA "the antiking" (remembe rthe family guy sketch, brain runs over a guy, asks if he stephen king, he says hes koontz, brian shrugs then revrses over him) ...anyway, i picked up for 99p "the taking" wich i read 200 pages in a good 20 mintes i can totally recommend it, its about this unnatural rain starts, power goes out, in mirrors people seee creatures, but they dont know if its aliens or something theological in nature, well worth picking up.

[capncnut]

im looking forward to duma key as it apparently ties into some of his other stories like the dark tower ,rose madder and the road virus heads north.
I'm looking forward to that myself as it happens.

[Danny]

its allready out,i just didnt have the cred's to buy it yesterday, plus i bought his other new one, blzae the other day and have yet to read it, i got kim newmans warhammer novels in one anthology "the vampire genevieve" and havent been able to put that down yet.

...until i go this dean koontz one, if your a silent hill fan youll love it.

[Relic]

The premise behind Duma Key is a person has a near death experience when a car hits him and almost kills him. Okay. Isn't this like the third novel in a row where that happens to the main character? I know a writer is supposed to write what he or she knows, but Tabitha needs to slap Steve silly with his using his near-death experience as main source character development for his new novels.

Blaze was written back in the '70s with his Bachman books. Damn good read. Old King. When his writing was lean and razor-sharp.

Anybody read his kid's fiction? Joe Hill? He has a novel (heart-shaped box) which is outstanding, and he also just publizhed a short story collection (2oth century ghosts) which I own but haven't read yet. Just like his papa...

[Deadman_Deluxe]

how do you established and unestablished writers do this?


Well, i WAS going to answer you, but then i read that, which made me have second thoughts, until i got to the very end and read that :skull:

:D

Anyways, if i can offer you some advice that work's for me, i would say just write WHENEVER and WHEREVER you can.

Could be a single word on the back of a bus ticket or anything.

Sometimes i grab a single word, write it down on my hand, and think about it while i am getting on with whatever else needs to be done, then i add to that word whenever i have time to sit down with an actual pen and paper (or wordpad) *which could be anything from one hour to one week, depending on what else is going on.

The point is, you always have that scrap of paper/bus ticket/napkin as your "starting point" for when you DO next sit down and "try" to write! :D

Whatever it is your writing project is, it should almost always be bubbling away at the forefront of your mind, something that is always there, always occupying a small section of your consciousness and just looking for inspiration.

Case in point: I got this prose style entry from the word's "empty" and "afterglow" ... both word's i had barely any memory of even writing down, on the back of a lottery ticket, by the time i had found time to sit down and look at them!

*Im not saying that this is great writing or anything, but the point is that it makes it easier for me to write "something" as opposed to "nothing at all".



8:40 AM - Update 236 : Monday, November 28th, 2005



Empty.

I am empty.

A forced smile in a broken mirror.
.rorrim nekorb a ni elims decrof A
Running on empty.


The past nine months have been hell. Worse than any of the previous years since it all changed. I have struggled in an ongoing fight, in this fight, the fight with no rules, with no meaning. And now it seems more evident than ever that i alone have suffered this cruel and ironic twist of fate.

No one else ...



Yet no empty bodies are destined to be saved.



And so maybe i will break through. Maybe i am breaking through right now, picking up the pieces and embracing the new ritual. Slowly integrating with the other side ... relatively unscathed and soon to be bathing in the afterglow.


Reborn under a full moon.

One cursed night.

Soon.

[Neil]

I have a had time sticking to any story for a length of time. I can't sit down and type it out for a long period (and I hating writing things down tbh) but I like writing itself. My problem is my inability to focus on one project.

how do you established and unestablished writers do this?

With 'The Midas Touch' I literally just did the story in bits - having an idea of the stepping stones of the story - and then the bits inbetween basically just filled themselves in.

I am by no means a 'writer' but just found writing whatever bit I was thinking about at the time worked for me. I would then revisit those bits changing/adding, and join those sections togethor when I could...

I actually wrote the first chapter, and then the final couple of lines of the story... Then big blocks in the middle... Finally I joined them up...

[Danny]

With 'The Midas Touch' I literally just did the story in bits - having an idea of the stepping stones of the story - and then the bits inbetween basically just filled themselves in.

I am by no means a 'writer' but just found writing whatever bit I was thinking about at the time worked for me. I would then revisit those bits changing/adding, and join those sections togethor when I could...

I actually wrote the first chapter, and then the final couple of lines of the story... Then big blocks in the middle... Finally I joined them up...

yeah vie done that and had it work out a fair few times for me too.
i cant rmeember exactly but in film class we were allways told to do this..6 points i think thing with a reason fro the story, what happens to trigger it, a challenge, a middle piece, overcomeing a challenge and a return to normality.