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Young Writers Society


I guess I write stuff...?



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Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:11 am
spinelli says...



I am a writer. And at first I thought it was a choice because I was 9, and when you're 9, everything new that you try just seems awesome and adorable, and you forget about it in 2 weeks. But with writing, I just sort of kept doing it. And so here I am. Hello.

So my problem here is that I have never finished anything. [>_<] And I completely HATE myself for it. Sounds tragic? Sounds melodramatic? That's because it is. And I can't help but beat myself up over it because I'm capable of doing it. I know I am, as I've written lots of short stories, essays, and papers. But the idea of an entire novel can be a bit overwhelming to me, and I'm not really the kind of writer that reads those cute little books on "How to Write Books," and I'm not really the kind of person that shares my work simply because I've never known anyone knowledgeable or interested. So that's why I'm here on YWS :D

I need tips on writing. I'm going to college in August and I don't want to fall behind on writing. I need to get some serious work done this summer. I'm borderline desperate. :pirate2:
  





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Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:09 am
Nyx says...



Hey there,

I use to hide all of my writing because, one: I didn't think anyone would like it and two, because I could never finish what I started to write :(
In the past I got really upset over the fact I couldn't finish anything. Then one day I just started writing an essay for school and realized I could always finish homework but never personal writing. So I did something really dorky :) I scheduled one hour a day for a week, where all I would do is listen to music and come up with ideas, not the actual story. Then the next week I would start the story. The next week I would look at my ideas and on a different page write an ending. Then I just combined it and altered a the piece so it didn't sound so structured and there was my first finished piece. After awhile I didn't need all of the planning time, or the structure and I just started and have never stopped since.
If I would give some tips...
One: Start small with ideas and simple plot lines
Two: Try a couple of short stories, or creative pieces on a school topic or something you know
Three: Find a place where the environment is right for you (for me it is anywhere with music :))
Four: Once you start writing, don't stop. No matter how bad you think it is, keep writing till the end. Then go back and scribble all over it :)
And never forget to have fun while you do it and don;t give up :)

Hope this helped :D
  





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Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:40 pm
Dynamo says...



Again, I'm a lot like you. I started a lot of story ideas that I never finished, and the ones I did finish never saw the light of day because I wasn't happy with the outcome. But don't think for a second that it's all been a waste. everything you've ever written, whether you've finished it or not, has brought you closer and closer to the writer you are today. Even though you've never had anything published you still have a decade's worth of experience. You have what it takes to write a great novel if you apply yourself and have the patience.

I'm trying to write a novel now, too, but not once have I ever thought of it as overwhelming. Part of the reason might be because I've written about three early versions of it during my school life, and the highest word count they reached was probably around 120,000 words. Another reason is probably because I don't like to think of how many chapters or words I have to put in my novel. In fact, the thing that stresses me out the most is the fact that I might not be able to put enough chapters into my story because most agencies don't accept works with word counts over 100,000 from first time writers. I guess a good way to alleviate the stress is to do a lot of pre-planning before you even get started on your first chapter. you're still in the early steps of your book, right? Now's the time to go back and plan out your story as a whole, even if it means you might end up having to scrap what you've written so far. But if it comes down to that you'll thank yourself for it in the long run.

Once you have a good idea what direction your story takes it's all a matter of getting it down in story form. Sure, it may be months or even years until you finally finish, but perfection takes time. Instead of worrying about how long it'll take you to finish writing it, instead try to think of how you're going to get the most out of that time.

As for being able to keep writing during college, it's all up to how dedicated you are. The best thing you can do is set one day aside every week to spend on your writing for, say, as long as one of your college classes. It's a little easier for me now because I'm in a summer course and we get Mondays off, so Monday is now my "writing day". But for you, if you want to keep writing you're going to have to accept the fact that you're going to have to sacrifice a good chunk of your own free time in order to work on your novel. There's a very steep difficulty curve between college and highschool, believe me. You will no longer have time between classes during the week to do your own thing. you're going to have to choose sometimes between hanging out with your friends or working on your book.

I hope this helps.
Chicken <-- Egg <-- Rocket Powered Fist
Take that, science!
  





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Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:03 pm
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spinelli says...



Wow, thanks. I love being able to talk to other writers! Nyx, I think you gave me some good ideas. :D The problem with my currrent focus right now is that my story has plot holes. And not as in "Oh, that doesn't make sense" but as in "Hm, I should probably think about what happens next." XD Yes, a seemingly tragic way to write a story, but it was an experiment. And while it has given me some great ideas [ones I wouldn't have thought of otherwise], I think I've done enough of that and I need to think about the ending and the stuff that comes in the middle. [I hear that stuff is important.]

And Dynamo, thank you! It's good to hear a different yet seemingly possible way to approach this thing. I think what I'm more worried about though as opposed to having time to write is having the mind to write when I get into college. In high school, I'd be sitting in a classroom for 7 hours, but I managed to get in some of my best writing time. [Sure, it isn't typically suggested to write stories while learning about quadradics, but high school isn't that hard. :wink: ] My worry is regarding stress, and if I have stress I don't know how well I could write or if I would even have the motivation. But I'm a little more optimistic about college now, writing-wise. It's going to be stressful, but writing is my therapy too. Who knows what could happen?

I'm going to keep the positivity in mind [of course] and presume the best to occur. :smt003 Thanks!
  





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Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:01 pm
Dynamo says...



Well, one thing you'll get a lot of experience with in college is stress. In fact, I remember my very first panic attack was in the first semester of my college life. We had a big 3D modelling assignment to finish and about a week away from the due date I accidentally deleted a week's worth of work on my project. I was in the fetal position on my chair rocking back and forth, that's how bad it was. :lol: But thankfully, the modelling program I work on saves back-up files whenever your file crashes, and a few hours before I lost the file the program crashed on me while I was working and saved me a back-up. Talk about dodging the bullet.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, stress is going to be inevitable once you get to college. In the end, it all depends on how you deal with it. Some are able to overcome it, some aren't. Take my program for example, in the first semester we had around 30 people in class, and in the second semester only half of us were left because everyone else couldn't handle how difficult the program was. But if you ask me, I'm glad college is so stressful because it has taught me how to cope with it. I've learned how to block it out so I can work on my assignments more efficiently, as well as take more enjoyment out of my down time.

One thing is for sure though, in my first year of college I had absolutely no time to work on a novel on the side, and I don't think you will either for a while. Just a little heads up.
Chicken <-- Egg <-- Rocket Powered Fist
Take that, science!
  








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