How To Finish What You Start

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

I've run across several posts lately about people having trouble finishing the stories they start. The common problems seem to be that they either lose interest after a while or they can't figure out what happens next and they can't finish.

Hi, I'm ariedraconia and I have trouble finishing the stories that I start too. I'm great at starting them but lousy at actually, you know, getting to the end.


So why do some of us have this problem? Some people might say that it is a lack of discipline and to some extent that's true but it isn't the whole of the problem. For me, the problem has a lot to do with not knowing what comes next. If I don't know what happens next the story peters out and dies. I couldn't seem to come up with what comes next and next after that all the way to the ending. I'd get frustrated and feel like the story wasn't working and I'd lose interest and abandon it to work on something new in the hope that the new and shiny story would carry on to the end. I have many beginnings of stories but no complete stories. So why weren't the new and shiny stories working any better?

I used to be an organic/pantser kind of writer, which meant that I never planned anything I wrote, I just wrote whatever popped into my head.
That method may work for a lot of people but I discovered that it wasn't working for me. I decided to try a new approach. I wanted a guide and some landmarks to help me stay with the story and get to the end so I'd never have the big uh oh, what happens next blank. Yes, I'm talking about the dreaded outline. When I started to make up a rough, short and simple outline I found that knowing where I was going in a general sense helped keep me on task and the story didn't just dry up. I can make shifts and adjustments in the outline because it is only a rough guide and it needs to be flexible.

So far, this method has helped me stay on task, stay better organized with the flow of the story and I've been able to stick with the story and get farther along with it than I have ever managed to do before. The journey from landmark A to landmark B is often times an organic process but I have the next point to aim for to help me go on. Do I ever get stuck or discouraged? Oh yes, but I have been able to continue and my current WIP has not dried up and died on me though I have felt, on occasion, like whacking it with a stick.

If you are also someone who has or had trouble finishing your stories what is/was it that hangs/hung you up and makes/made it hard for you to finish? How do you overcome it and what methods are working for you?

Comments

[aravah.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. It's interesting to see how other writer's organise their writing. I do a lot of freewrites to get ideas and play about with them until something firms up in my head. I'll often write a first draft of a story and after that, I'll be a bit more structured and write an outline for subsequent drafts. It seems to work for me at the moment. I think my natural inclination is to be a seat-of-the-pants writer, but I know outlines do help me. I am constantly aiming for a happy medium.

Here are some links to articles on planning and outlining (http://community.livejournal.com/start_writing/tag/planning+and+outlining). Some people might find them helpful. :)

[amethystrse.livejournal.com]

I've never been good at outlines because I simply don't know how to do one. Never learned. I've tried to figure it out but it always felt so artificial to me. So I made my own way. I just write. I start with one POV and just write whatever comes to mind. Beginning to end. For the novel I'm writing now that made 20,000 words. Way too short for a novel but hey, it was a start. That was my outline. The main plot all figured out.

Then I add in other sub plots, POV, and whatnot.

Then I smooth it all out. Figure out ways to make more sense out of what I wrote. Make it flow better. Basically EDIT like crazy! I print out the story and edit on paper which is easier for some reason.

I'm still writing the novel. It's a slow process I have but for once it's working. Right now someone is reading it and giving me notes. I'm at 73,000 words. It's mostly complete, just needs a few tweaks. This is the last edit before I send it out. Hopefully by the time I'm done with this edit I'll have 80,000 words (which for a first time fantasy novel is ideal).

[baltimoreandme.livejournal.com]

I have what I guess is the opposite problem. I tend to see stories as much in terms of structure as in terms of character, and as a result, I'm a compulsive outliner. And sometimes, I find that if I outline too thoroughly, I lose interest in the idea, because I've already "solved" it, so to speak. What I've discovered works best, for me at least, is to write down only a part of the outline, the most basic structure of the story, and let the rest of it fill itself in as I write it.

[xguhx.livejournal.com]

What hangs me up is the fact that I know I have a lot of weaknesses in my writing. What keeps me staying is the fact that, for some reason, this thing feels incredibly important to me. Like it will do good things for those who read it. Is that too self-important? I just feel like this story is mine, it's my baby, and it NEEDS to be told. Even though I don't know it front and back, beginning to end.

Kin...

[k-stevens.livejournal.com]

Hah! I know exactly how you feel, Aerie.

I've been writing semi-seriously for thirteen years.. and of those thirteen only the last two have been really serious. When I started writing 'novels' (at the ripe old age of twelve >.> ) I wrote organically... I just sat down and started writing/typing/whatever. My chapters would resemble something close to a loopy coaster. Nothing made sense.

A few years ago I started outlining... and it worked. I'm so glad to hear it works for the most part for you, also.

I still have trouble finishing my novels... and I give credit to three things. The first is my busy lifestyle. I work full time and attend college full time... after homework, cooking, cleaning, and sleeping I have about a good six hours a week to myself. The idea of forcing myself to write during that time is near to impossible.

The second excuse is an over-abundance of ideas. I get a new novel idea about twice a week... I have a notebook full of half written outlines and premises. I come back to these often and write more stuff down when I get a new idea... but I don't touch them otherwise. I don't force myself to write about ideas that are only half-formed.

The third one is the worst... I'm one of those writers that wants the first draft to be perfect. I write, re-write, and erase. I read, re-read, and then repeat from the writing part. My character's voice always has to be the same so I constantly re-write chapters to make sure it is.

It's so frustrating... and honestly I've tried to stop myself. One thing that worked well for Nano last year was to save the chapter as a different file every time I worked on it and whenever I started again I'd have to create a new file. This is great, unless you have to stop mid-chapter.

Re: Kin...

[k-stevens.livejournal.com]

Four kids, to me, would be much more than working and doing classes full time. So hat's off to you :D

As far as the rest... I am super busy... but I take small steps. I take public transit into and out of the city almost every day for work so I usually write a bit while I'm on the bus. I brainstorm while I'm at work (my job involves a lot of mindless tasks such as filing and binding reports) and write on my breaks and lunches. After work time is usually reserved for homework (accounting is another semi-mindless task, so some brainstorming here! ) and then I get my two quiet hours. One is spent watching either Bones, CSI, or LOST (all three are really good at getting my brainstorming going!) and the second is spent reading a little before bed. Right now I'm trying to do a chapter a night of an unpublished piece... but I'm going to have to start giving the author some feedback soon before she thinks I've skipped out on her :D

All in all, they say that no matter how busy life is, you still find a way to do what you love. I love to write, it's just that if things keep going they way they are, I won't be able to make anything more of it than a hobby.

I'm going to spend Nano this year trying to squeeze more time for my current WIP... and then finish it by the end of the year.

Hopes and dreams are what keep us afloat, eh?

[greenfireguy.livejournal.com]

I understand what you mean. The first time I ever tried to write a story I found that nothing made sense. I learned pretty quickly after that I needed to at least plan out what was going to happen. I find that I personally don't need an outline for my stories because I can remember what I want to happen, so I don't need to write it down. The other advantage is that if I want to change something, I don't have to find my outline to do it, since it's in my head. However, I understand if most people need to write it down. I just have a good memory for stories.
Another thing I found, on one of my more recent stories of 42,000 words, is that I tend to come to dislike my stories because I had numerous grammaticalcal errors. I find that if I edit after every chapter, reading through it several times until it's just the way I like it, it helps me love my own stories because I don't have to stop and change something every time I try to reread it.
Another thing I find is that I lose interest in my stories because I already know all the plot twists, and it gets repetitive trying to write a story that you go through every single day. What I do instead is when I start a story I find another book or group of books to read so that in my free time I'm not thinking about the same story constantly, so I'm only thinking of it when I'm working on it. Also, I try to leave the details as vague as possible in my outline so that I don't know all the plot twists until I come upon a good spot for one in my writing, meaning most of my ideas are spontaneous.
Lastly, I tend to rush my stories so that I end up going through events too fast, skipping important details, and I have to backtrack to rewrite it. In order to avoid this, I try to write slower, and plan out each chapter before I write it so that I know I wont leave out important details.
I hope this helps you, and good luck on your current WIP and any other stories you may work on in the future. ; P