The Greatest Lie Ever Told To Writers · 6:40pm Aug 20th, 2014
Guys, I want to take a few moments here to talk to you about a little something called "motivation."
Now, before I get started, I'm not trying to step any anybody's toes here, or piss anyone off. I'm just tired of watching this happen over and over and over again.
Basically put, motivation is a lie. A big fat goddamned lie that has killed more good stories than I care to mention. I can't even begin to tell you how often I've seen stories with interesting concepts, fun characters, and/or great humor left to die because the writer "couldn't find the motivation to continue it." Now, there's nothing wrong with writing purely on emotion. Hell, I encourage it for the development of all writers everywhere. It's a good way to crank out a one-shot or a quick fic of under 20,000 words. However, there comes a point in all stories written when the emotion will drain away, and the writer must decide whether to continue it, or leave it because "the fun's gone."
Think about it: my longest fic on here is "The Chronicles of Swarm," which didn't even break a thousand views for the first year or so of its creation. Do you really believe I wrote that on "motivation?" Do you really think every moment of writing that fic was just so much "fun" that I couldn't stop myself despite the poor reception? Hell no! Everyone, let me make this clear: there are days when I have to force myself to write. There are days when every sentence is a struggle. There are moments where just touching pen to paper feels like an uphill battle. But you know what? I did it anyway, because I had a story, and I wanted to tell it, not because I "found" the motivation. What, do you all really believe I just had some wellspring of emotional energy that I can tap into at any time, and that's why I can crank these mofos out?
Motivation is a lie. It teases you, dangling something wonderful on the end of a string for you to follow, but eventually it flitters away like a mischievous, scatterbrained fairy. If you ask me, that's when the true writers get separated from the posers and wannabes, because the true writers still have that story in their head, and they still slam their faces against the keyboard to get it out, even when that beautiful wellspring of emotion is dried up and every sentence is comparable to an hour of Chinese water torture. Now, it doesn't take much: I have a set minimum of 500 words a day. I don't always meet it, but there are days when I shoot right past it, and you know what? Those days make it all worth it.
Now, this doesn't sound all that great, does it? Of course not! Why do you think so many great writers were depressive alcoholics!? Do you really think every moment Stephen King was writing things like the "Dark Tower" series (the last book of which clocked in at over a thousand pages) was just absolute ecstasy? Or perhaps did he have days where the journeys of Roland of Gilead were the last thing on his mind, but he knew he had to get that story out there and tapped away at it anyway?
Come on! Did you all really think it was going to be that fun, little wonderful journey that you started on all the time? The wellspring will always dry up on the longer stories, be it a fanfic, or your own original writing, and your fans will be the ones to pay. That's why that little fairy called "motivation" can be such a little lying bitch. So before I let you all go, before any of you start using this as an excuse to put your feet up and let your fans dangle a few extra months, let me ask you a little question: when the cards are all down, when the motivation is gone, and when you're struggling through every sentence, what will you be? A writer? Or someone who only taps on a keyboard "when they feel like it?"
Because there's a big difference between those two.
Good point, but it can also be applied to any endeavor worth pursuing, not just writing.
Truer words have not been spoken!
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I wish more people freaking knew this! None of my friends can figure out why I refer to writing (something I love) as "work." That is exactly why: sometimes you just write because you have to.
I'd give you some kind of certificate of awesomeness but I am sadly all out at the moment
Hell yeah! *salutes*
Personally, i say that the greatest lie told to writers is the English language.
At least, the U.S version of it.
2385989 Dick
lol just kidding.
Though I will agree that quite a few people in the US deserve to retake an English 100 course, seriously there is a difference between lingo and a complete butchery of the English language.
Then you get places where practically half the city's population doesn't even speak English.
I'M LOOKING AT YOU LA
PS I am American
I have no interest in writing stuff that isn't fun to write.
Sometimes it's the sort of fun that you have to force yourself to start, but if it stays awful once you're started then it's not worth continuing. I have a job. I don't need another one that no one pays me for.
Also, anything that was fun to write and that you stayed motivated throughout is just going to be better.
This is true in other fields as well, but if you're getting paid for it sometimes putting out crap that you had to force is better than nothing. It's no substitute for inspired work though.
Could you quite tagging people faved to your stories to your blog posts when the blog post in question has absolutely nothing in relation to the story you tagged?
Now I know you aren't trying to piss people off, but unfortunately I have to point this out to you... harshly. You may be able to keep yourself writing, but some writers simply can't or have different priorities. Like what you may ask? I don't know, a full-time job, or full-time student work. Those cannot be discounted as unimportant and they DO sap motivation no matter how one tries to deny it. Of course there's the odd bastard who says they've lost motivation etc, when they frankly could actually do something about it instead of leaving everybody high and dry. And there are definitely those people out there.
However, how do you of all people know whether they're relying on so-called 'fickle' motivation and that they have not tried to go on despite the 'fun' going away? It is not our job to judge whether somebody is a lying bastard or not, unless it's fairly obvious that he's just yanking people's chains. A 'true writer' may slam and slam and slam his head against the keyboard no matter how many times, but he may not actually get it right and literally drive himself to the ground. Perhaps the ability to tank this suffering what separates the 'great' from the 'amateur,' but there's no shame in falling out and admitting your own faults if you do it sincerely, and after you've tried and tried and tried again, but failed. How is that not a mark of a true writer? To admit that a concept that seemed 'fun' ended up being unworkable and hence you lost motivation to write it? How can it be cowardly when you've tried to fix your real life up before it crumples and then sit down and write your story, but the fixing up of your real life sucked the motivation to write your story from you?
You're right. Writers should force themselves to write. Motivation should not be a fickle thing to be used as an excuse for failure. But you seem to forget that there are people who try their dammedest best to write and actually use the 'I have lost motivation' button when they really really can't figure out how to make a story concept carry on for whatever reason.
Do you think people want to let their fans dangle on for months? Do you honestly think a good author won't try to force themselves to finish a story they actually like at all costs before throwing the towel in? You suggest that a 'true writer' will finish a story at all costs and that there is no such thing as 'no motivation.' Let me ask you a question Kildeez:
Is a 'true writer' someone who forces himself to type something out he does not enjoy, despite the fact it is ruining his life and family, or is a 'true writer' someone who tried, admitted his mistake, learned from it and then moved on to write something better?
2386079 Of course I'm not talking about people who have other commitments, but there are too many times when I've seen something begun, and the writer straight-up says he "just isn't motivated anymore." I've seen it happen a hundred times, and I had to vent about it. This happens far more often than you think, and I'm just so sick of it. A writer is asking people to become invested in a story, to invest in characters and settings and realities someone may have never even imagined, and to just give up when the fun isn't there anymore kinda pisses me off.
I understand that there are people who run into a block and can't figure out how in the hell to continue, and to those fallen brethren, I salute them. But you're saying what I'm talking about here is some weird, rare occurrence, and that the vast majority of abandoned stories are gone for valid reasons besides the ol' "It's just not fun anymore." And I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing that.
Besides, you've just taken an extreme situation of someone letting their life fall apart around them for the sake of writing, and of course any argument taken to the extreme is going to look silly.
2385925 You're damn right it can.
2385933 It's alright, I don't need a certificate to know I'm awesome
2385934 Glad to hear it
2385969 *salutes right back*
2385989 Ow bro, hard words to hear for somebody who speaka da English goodly.
2386047 YES! English 100 for everyone on this site! MAKE IT HAPPEN, FIMFICTION!
2386052 Well, if it's not even fun in the first place, why did you even start?
2386079 Two last points: you're right about the tagging people thing. That's horsecrap (heheh) and I'm glad somebody pointed it out. Real dickish of me.
Last point: SQUEEEEEE! vren55! I friggin' love Princess Celestia: Changeling Queen! EHRMAHGERD...I can't believe you took the time to read my blog!
Okay, that's out of my system now, sorry about that.
Strangely enough, I once heard someone say something almost exactly like this, but with relationships and romance replacing writing and fun.
2386128 I just said that it is fun. Or, well, implied it.
Since I do still write stuff.
Just, sometimes I'm not in the mood, and I'm not going to feel bad about not writing when it would just be a slog.
And some stories... *sigh*
2386138 Stuff like this actually applies to a lot of places. It all boils down to this: you get out of it what you put into it.
2386139 Even writing while in a slog is helpful. You're still growing, even if what comes out looks like a slurry of sh!t to you.
2386135
2386113
Point taken I do understand that there are a LOT of people who just jerk off and don't bother continuing the story. I'm just rather hesitant to accuse or even bother getting annoyed at them because I'm worried about the situation I described and also because some people just... lose interest. I do get annoyed when I run into the end of a story and say NOOOOOOOOOOO WHY YOU NO CONTINUE, but frankly it's so frquent, I don't bother getting angry anymore. Also, thing is, I don't know about you, but I am good friends with relatively famous author quite closely who is in something similar to what I described, which made me get a bit defensive
and take what you think is an extreme position, when it's something I've noticed here and there, particularly with authors with larger fanbases.
Glad you really like my story.
I take time to read blogs i either agree with or disagree with 
. I'm glad you like my story though... and hopefully not too mad that I haven't updated for a while because... well I haven't exactly been able to drag myself to the keyboard due to a combination of RL issues (internship etc) and procrastination to be honest :P I'll let you know though that I'm hammering away at the next few chapters, but had to rewrite it... several times
So could motivation be equated to "the desire to tell the story" in this context? Seems like it considering what you put.
I can't say I agree with your stance, but I read what you're typing. I get the message. I believe.
2386305 Actually, in this context, motivation and the desire to tell a story are VERY different things. Motivation is an emotion that flits away. The old desire should still be there.
2386237 I guess I am letting myself get a little bit hot under the collar about this, since it does happen frequently and I probably shouldn't take it so personally.
And take the time you need, brah
RL still comes first, but as long as you actually are plugging away, I got no complaints.
2386435
So it's more of a laziness thing? Because you can't do much without motivation. Even if it is just to grind through it, your motivation is to finish telling the story.
Maybe the motivation detailed is more of "am I in the mood to write", or "it stopped flowing easy". Or I'm still confused.
2386456 That last sentence was it. "I'm in the mood to write," "it's just not that fun anymore," "I don't feel like it," all way too emotion based.
2386550
So it's not that motivation is a lie, it's that motivation built on fickle emotions isn't suitable for a long-fic writer.
2386651 Precisely
2386653
Why didn't you say so?
"Motivation is a lie" is such a deceptive message at face value.
2386730
2386128 I was raised with the language. Doesn't mean i don't realize when it it outright stupid.
2387221 Don't I know it.
There are three pronunciations of 'ough': the kind in 'thought,' in 'through' and in 'trough.' Also, i before e except after c, except when not, in which case, you're screwed.
2387231 Why is our country full of literary idiots.
2387267
Because English is one of the hardest languages of the Western tongue to master. Or so I have been told by instructors over the years. If you can get by with the butcher knife, other than for academic/personal reasons, why not butcher away? They'll add it into the dictionary if you entice enough people to your way of slicing the meat up.
Writing, just like much of anything else, isn't really based on motivation. It's all about determination.
I myself have the ideas and the desire to continue all my stories, but I don't write them not because of a lack of motivation. These are stories that won't stop going around in my head and I think they're really good so I want the rest of the world to read them, damn it! No lack of motivation is gonna stop that...
... although staying away from home for over 13 hours a day, being mentally chained to source material for the most part for accuracy's sake, and being a LAZY MOTHERFUCKER do put a bit of a damper on it
But it's not a thing about motivation, really. These don't cover for circumstances and the author's own detrimental flaws.
Preach it
Buck Off is a story I adore but the reason I write it is not just because I'm having fun sometimes. I too, want my story to be told. Even if its pretty shitty.
The point is to enjoy yourself as much as you can but don't let it be your only reason to write.
2394302 Preach it brothah!