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Writer's Procrastination



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Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:40 pm
Emerson says...



Writer’s Procrastination
By Claudette :-D


You’re in a slump. You can’t write. You try, but no matter what nothing (good) comes out! You look for the answer and you find writers block. So it must be that right? NO!

Why don’t we go for the first thing everyone asks, what is writers block? NOTHING! People seem to think it actually exists but I disagree, it doesn’t. I’ll explain to you what writers procrastination is, though. Writers procrastination is my take on writers block. I’ve noticed a common pattern among writers, we procrastinate! Which is a horrible thing to do. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Stop it! But I’m sure a good number of us are accused of this crime, its such a terrible thing…

Before I get too far into this, I want to take a moment and say what I do think about writers block. I think it is a lack of ideas and/or knowledge on the topic you wish to write about, thus creating a blockage because you have nothing to say.

Beyond that, I’m not sure there’s anything else but procrastination. You’re too scared to start writing because you’ll think it sucks. You don’t want to write it because you want more research (but you’ve been researching for 2 weeks now, and you’ll looking things up like ‘metal buttons’ because you’re distracting yourself from writing) Or you could be sitting in a chat room talking about how badly you need to write this story/chapter/poem/novel but can’t get your mind around doing it. Admit it, we’ve all done it before. But how do we fix it?

First: Get rid of all distractions. Shut off AIM, close the chats, close the forums (I’m bad with that one) and put the phone in a box. After that, set a goal. Maybe you have to write for 30 minutes? 5,000 words? Or more abstract, “write the beginning.” But set a goal for yourself so that way you have purpose. And if you make it, reward yourself! And if you don’t, well don’t go punishing yourself but you’ll do it anyways; the fact that you didn’t complete your task will make you procrastinate more most likely.

Second Act: (requested right from MetalHead!) Get rid of the mind editor. This is less procrastination and more of a mental block that will cause you to procrastinate. It's simple Blank Page Syndrome. There is your blank page. So you write one sentence, and look at it. "What crap!" you think to yourself, and you delete it. You write another sentence, maybe not even a whole sentence but a half of one (oddly close to the first one, since you have so much 'writer's block') and delete that too. Continue for the next 2 hours. You've got to stop that. Or, at least not do it for two hours! So how do you stop that? Shut off the inside editor. Think to yourself, "This is my first draft. If I'm lucky, it will suck. But that isn't the point, I just want to get it down so I can see my story as a whole. Then, I can make it as pretty and amazing and best-selling as I want." I can't do this yet. Not with most things; I'm too critical. But that's why I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year! To learn how to shut evil-editor off.

Part Three: Brain storming and writers prompts. When ever I don't have a story I go to my friends (preferably those that read a lot) and ask them, what kind of story would you want to read? They're usually pretty bad about it, "A good one," they say. but ask yourself that question, whats the point of writing a story if you wouldn't want to read it when its all done? Just brain storm about emotions, and conflicts. Talk to yourself (when no ones around!) and just do dialogue, make it up as you go, something good will come of it. Use writing prompts. The best I've found are here but do google searches for them, they will give you the best results.

Hopefully that has gotten rid of your procrastination! I'm hoping to add more 'parts' as I think them up. The rest will come later...
Last edited by Emerson on Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:17 pm
Ares says...



This has already been helpful...

Please, continue it.

Thanks,
MH
  





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Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:25 pm
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Emerson says...



continue it? With what!? If I get Ideas, perhaps there shall be a part two? I'm glad it was helpful...but honestly, what would I have to continue with?
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
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Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:29 pm
Ares says...



Well...Idunno. But you give us a First:, so where are the Second:, Third:, and Fourths:?
  





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Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:35 pm
Emerson says...



There should... Or I could take out first! lol. I wasn't thinking what I wrote this, I was just...writing.
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Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:52 pm
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Cassandra says...



Claudette wrote:Or you could be sitting in a chat room talking about how badly you need to write this story/chapter/poem/novel but can’t get your mind around doing it. Admit it, we’ve all done it before. But how do we fix it?


^ My life, Claudette, as you very well know. XD
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:57 am
Ares says...



You are my heroine...
  





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Fri Oct 20, 2006 3:52 am
Tassen Spellbinder says...



This has been extremely helpful. Thank you.


If I may add to the above list, i have found: dont stress on the middle stuff. For me, it works to figure out the end, and get there with no plan for the middle save for new character introductions.
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:09 am
Wiggy says...



Awesomeness!!!!!!! Especially when you get those ideas that you know will make the story exciting. :D

Wiggy ;)
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:09 am
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Snoink says...



Meh. Sometimes writers block does exist though. Like, if you're so stressed out you can barely move, or maybe you're very ill.

*feels argumentive* :P
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:23 am
Emerson says...



. Like, if you're so stressed out you can barely move, or maybe you're very ill.


Snoink O.o I don't think that's writers block, I think that's more like...You-need-a-hospital issues. :lol:

Oh yeah, and I did take it out from the above article (I had it at first) you can add your own ideas if you want, anything that helps you you can post here.
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:37 am
Myth says...



I usually do the above most of the time anyway and I'm still undecided about whether WB exists or not. I take time off writing when I feel I have nothing to write or no way of improving work, then when I return I'm full of ideas and ready to continue.
.: ₪ :.

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Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:26 pm
RoxanneR says...



Thanks for all the help! The night I read it, I sat on my laptop and set myself a target of 1,500 words in about 2hours. Usually I need to be inspired before I can wright that much in one sitting, but I actually did it!

RR*
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