Before I ask for help, I just want to say... I'm having no trouble writing any stories at all. They are all going smoothly for me. My problem is that I really don't feel like doing it, but I've been blowing it off for far too long. I know that I need to man up and just type, but every time I open the story, I just can't type. I write like one sentence, and then I'm like "I can do this later", but I never do.

Do you have any tips or suggestions?

1212867
Superglue yourself to the chair, disconnect your internet and uninstall everything except Word. It's the only way.

Grow a pair and just do it...

1212870 I don't use Word...

1212871 I know that's what I need to do. I just can't put enough attention into the story to actually write it.

1212870 a little extreme don't you think?

1212875
But you can't use GDocs without internet...

1212877>>1212870
Not metal enough

1212878 I don't use Gdocs, either. I type here on FiMFiction.

1212867
You just do.

1212867
Can't really say how. It's all up to you, really. Once you get started, though, you won't want to stop. Just force out a few sentences and immerse yourself in the world you're writing.

1212883 When I force myself to write, I often find myself rushing it.

1212870>>1212871>>1212883 Let me rephrase... how do I stop letting myself procrastinate?

1212892
Duct tape yourself to the chair and do it.
Note: duct tape would actually hurt pulling it off, so I would recommend against that step if at all possible.

1212905 How do you hide text?

1212867
In words of the Angry Video Game Nerd: "Sometimes the only way to do it...is to just fucking do it."

But if you feel a lack of motivation on your current project you could always take a break and try writing a short one-shot or something

1212867
Don't write. Post a message for continuing stories that you're taking a break.

We do this for fun. There's no need to make it a chore....

1212906
[ spoiler] but without the space.

1212878 Pen and paper work marvelously well, I hear.

1212867 One thing that helps me is daydreaming. If I'm stuck on a story, sometimes when I go to bed at night I lay down and close my eyes and think about the story and the characters. I find it easier, as my consciousness drifts to that half-asleep state, to formulate ideas I simply would not have thought of otherwise. One or more of those ideas will appeal to me so much that they stick, and once I have that, I can structure the scene in my head as I go about my day--showering, going for walks, whatever. By the time I sit down to write, I know roughly how I want the scene to go. By the time I start writing, the characters kind of take over and there we go--finished chapter.

Another good thing is to set a word goal for yourself. 100 words. Then 200. And so on, until you're banging out several thousand words per sitting like it's nothing.

Best of luck

1212918>>1212921>1212905 Thanks.
1212926 Thanks... again.

1212928 I know where I'm going with the story, I just don't want to write it.

However, that last suggestion... I always follow the 100 an hour system, but that's usually to prevent me from rushing it. I had thought about using it, but decided it wouldn't do anything for my attention span... however, after reading your comment, I had an epiphany. If I manage to crank out 100 words, I would be so immersed into the story that I wouldn't want to stop... well, thanks everyone who commented!

1212867

You have to just do it. Those first few sentences are always the hardest, but once things start to flow, things should come easily enough.

If you feel that you're rushing or that your quality is suffering, then stop. You don't have to write a whole novel every day.

If you feel like you're running out of ideas, take a break for a while (you'd certainly not be the first to encounter a stubborn writer's block!) Take some time to think, just let your mind run free a bit. Soon enough something should touch off an idea.

If you don't have one already, look into procuring a notebook and pencil to carry around at all times. Most of my best ideas I usually have while on the bus to work for some reason, and I know that I wouldn't be able to remember them properly if I couldn't write them down until I got home at the end of the day.

If your schedule is flexible, look into moving a few things around so that you can write whenever you are at your most productive and creative. Perhaps even experiment a little. Even though I always stay up late, I've actually discovered that I'm usually very productive in the morning when I've slept well.

Hopefully these lessons of experience help you out!

1212946 Well, part of the daydreaming is engaging yourself with the story. And hell-it's YOUR story. You can change where it's going if you want :p

And yeah, once I bang out about 200 words or so, I just kind of keep going until I have 4k words in front of me and I'm like 'wat how did this happen'

1212948 Thanks. My schedule is a bit too free... school's out. Now I just want to go to 8th grade, yet I hated 7th... well, from now on, whenever I feel like that, I'll just force out a few sentences... and if they're too forced, to the point of them being bad, I'll rewrite them at a later time.

1212950 Exactly... for one chapter of a story of mine, I started to describe a fight scene. I suddenly just blanked out from the rest of the world, and boom. When I finished, I snapped back to reality, checked the word count, and "holy crap, 2000 words!" Which isn't that much, but it was in about 10 minutes, and din't turn out half bad, either.

1212882

Like a boss.

1212968

Habit building. Do it every day for a while, and soon you can't NOT do it. It becomes a part of you.

Sometimes the scope of what I want to do paralyzes me. Just have to focus on getting one sentence down... and then the rest just sort of follows.

Also, self bribery. I can't get anywhere without a case of diet. dr pepper.

Edit: If you're over 21 (or whatever your local age restriction is) you can try alcohol. Odds are you won't get any work done, but you'll stop worrying about it.

1212867

I've said this before: You're either writing for fun and recreation, as a hobby, in which case it doesn't make sense to write unless you feel like it; or you treat writing as real work, in which case you put your ass in the chair every day and write something no matter what you feel about it. Sounds a bit harsh, but the sooner you learn this the better. You don't want to get stuck in the middle and start feeling that writing is a boring chore you can put off for later, like dishwashing or making your bed. That won't do at all.

Look, I know what it feels like, but you are not obligated to write anything. You either have to be genuinely passionate about it, or be disciplined enough to get it done anyway. Either way, if you truly want to write, then procrastination is a habit you'll want to drop as soon as possible because trust me, it will eat your ambitions alive.

1212892 That's just it: There's no trick to magically stop yourself from procrastinating. In the end it always comes down to:
1. Sit down.
2. Shut off all distractions (facebook, derpiboru) except for maybe some light music
3. Write

That step you have to do on your own, and if you can't muster so much determination, then the story just won't happen.

The lack of the will to write is something that spawns from lack of inspiration, therefore get inspired. They best way for me is to get someone to talk to. Get someone to read what you have already written. See what they like, see what they don't like. Discuss where you are going to go from that point. Bounce ideas off of them. Ask what you can improve or what should be cut. Talk about whether or not this would be better in first or third person. Honesty is always important here because not only will it get you writing, but it will get you writing better.

Even if it's not in first person, write a small pointless paragraph about the main character describing something from their perspective, doesn't have to be used in the story but it gets the ball rolling. Write out a conversation between characters, no need for description or even dialogue tags, just have them go back and forth and the imagery will come naturally.

If none of this works, get up out of your chair and take a walk outside and take yourself completely off the grid (i.e. no cell phone, no internet, just you and your mind and... possibly a dog). Walk and don't think about the story, let your subconscious mull it over for a while. Then go back and try writing again, if that doesn't work do something else that is fun. Talk to people, they are great sources of knowledge and others are great sources of random stupidity that you could implement into the story. Play a video game, preferably one that has a good story line and character development—don't let people tell you otherwise but video games can be a great source of literature.

If all else fails, don't write, save it for tomorrow, and sleep on it.

Good luck then!
~Bridge

Also: You should look into Google Documents, I used to do the same thing on here but believe me Google Docs is infinitely better and makes it easier to have someone edit / comment on your work (makes what I mentioned at the top easier).

Research. You can never do too much research.

1212867
Find a way you can do it on the fly, or even better, set aside a set time and duration for you to write.

Procrastination and not having the right tool when you need/want it are an author's worst nightmare.

Many experienced published authors say start small with 30 minutes a day at the same time. They say, wear "writing clothes." Take your laptop to the nearest kaffeklasch hole. Examine why you want to write, how you write, when you write. If you write when the urge comes on you then try to break that, it's bad for writing really. Establish a routine of writing.

Do that for the next thirty days, everyday. You will then have formed a habit of writing.

Just what I've heard and read about in many creative writing seminars and books.

Of course, I don't follow that...

1213424 I used to use Google Docs. I stopped because of errors while importing; three times, I imported, and everything was centered. Also, typing on FiMFiction allows me to check what it'll look like once published.