Published April 4, 2016
1. Sit down in a comfy spot.
2. Find a writing tool and something to write on. (Tip: A writing surface can be anything if you have enough imagination. Try paper, a laptop, an IPad, a piece of cheese, a lamp, a wall or even your grandmother’s back. Anything and everything will work.)
3. Brainstorm! Write down all the ideas that come to your head. Even the random gibberish. (Example List: Fjfjdjdmxkdksklskskaldks, a dog who is a genius, corn, what am I doing with my life, ect.)
4. Choose an idea and write! Scribble furiously, you can always edit later.
5. Get distracted halfway in. (Tip: Get hungry, watch television, walk the dog, take a nap. Almost anything is a good distraction.)
6. Abandon project for days. Or weeks. Possibly months. Years. Eternity.
7. Have a new idea! Try getting an idea in the shower, in school, at work or in the car.
8. Plan! Outline the story. This could be it! A bestseller! A story about the life of a chair! Brilliant!
9. Slowly lose interest. Ever so slowly, trickling down until you've forgotten that idea too.
10. Get writer’s block. Continue with life as normal until cured. Medicines include: reading, imagining and thinking in general.
11. Repeat this never-ending loop. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
12….
12…….
12. Uh, I really don't know what's next.
13. I've been stuck in this loop for a long time.
14. Years, even.
15. I guess that's it.
16. The rest, I guess you'll have to figure it out for yourself
17. Happy writing!
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139,063 Literary Works • 672,403 Reviews
Exactly the way I do
This is me. I actually thought while i was reading this, has this person been stalking me?
Haha, I don't know about anyone else here but this made me laugh. I can relate to this so much. I was thinking you should put: "Get half way into your story... and delete it realizing it was rubbish then despair after realizing it was actually really good." But hey it was amazing anyway! Happy writing to you too and have a blessed writing life--or life in general. Keep writing so I can keep reviewing!
~Keepwriting
Amazing! So true
Ah, this is me writing in a nutshell. I love it!
Hello and-OMYGOSHTHISWASFANTASTIC!
Consider me inspired, I will never have problems writing again.. But my cheese disappeared into my stomach along with my notes... I'll try again later. You wrote this fabulously, I have yet to find a story along the same lines that is written so well! I don't have a lot of nit-picks because Ellstar already voiced them all. So consider this a review on how awesome your penning was. I really cannot wait to read other works by you, I look forward to it, so let me bid you ado!
Great Job my awesome acquaintance, and Keep on Writing!
Thanks for the review!
Wow.
WOW.
THAT WAS SO HELPFUL THANK YOU OH MY GOD *shares with millions of other friends*
okay, but seriously, this was actually pretty funny.
Going to shortly review it because I sort of want to. I'll start with my complaints, which are basically nonexistent--
-"12….
12……." Personal preference, you could probably either a) play with the rules of three and extend this into three and b) keep the dots to a healthy three. It's more humorous that way, I think.
-"16. The rest, I guess you'll have to figure it out for yourself" Consistency. End with a period, like the other points you've made.
AND ONTO THE HUMOROUS REVIEW
Again, this was pretty funny in how relatable it is. I mean, let's face it--we writers are horrible procrastinators, and it's only detrimental to our work and our mental health. Also, you forgot to mention the piling amount of work on our computers and the number of unfinished writings that we really ought to do but can't because we have Netflix and Youtube and that one author whose releasing 29383 books and you need to read all of them and I'm really sorry writing, but you're just not top priority right now, but I would if I could --
Yeah, you get the point.
I like reading humorous and relatable works mostly because I want to drown in my own self-pity and forget that it's such a big deal. It's funny how that works--if one of your greatest enemies comes to defeat you, the best thing you could do to lead yourself to victory and make your enemies' victories bitter is laugh. You can't take it seriously if you laugh at it. So of course, I'm grateful you've written this, and written it humorously enough. Well done.
Signing out,
--EM.
Thank you so much
I can relate to the frustrations mentioned in this piece, but I think part of the trouble is that you've got your steps in the wrong order.
First, you have Brainstorming and you jump right from that into choosing an idea and writing. In actuality, the pen or keyboard or magic marker that writes in invisible ink, shouldn't be picked up until you've done A LOT more brainstorming. Committing to writing a book is a big deal, because it takes usually years, sometimes decades, to get it right and you have to know that the idea you're starting with is one that can sustain you for that long. It has to be an idea that grips your soul, that pulls at your heart strings, that seduces you. You have to be committed- you have to marry this idea for a few years, so it's not something you should pick at-first-sight.
Writing block's not easy to remedy, especially since it has so many causes. Is it caused by a plot hole from not enough story development, or because of a lack of confidence? A strategy I've used to overcome writer's block is- and this is going to sound awfully cheesy and cliche and I understand that it's much, much harder than it'll sound, but quite honestly- to write. I once heard a quote that said something like 'A writer is a person who gives themself homework every single day' and I think that's applicable. Whether it be to just get something down, even if it's just 'And then they do this thing and the ice cream truck blows up' and move on to the scene that you actually know what's going on in, or to write a quick short story and then return to the novel, both these methods can help get the creative juices flowing again so you've got a running start for tackling that trouble spot. Sometimes when I get writer's block, I just reread what I've written, correct a few things on the way, and let that carry me back into the flow of the story.
I can't help but mention the power of writing short stories for a time. A metaphor: If I tried to run a marathon today, I would faint, or become so angry and frustrated by how slow my progress was that I'd give up. However, if I started today thinking, 'I'll run for two minutes.' and I did that, I'd be like, 'Hey, that was super hard. BUT I accomplished a thing! I ran for two minutes! Hey, everyone, look at the thing I did!' Short stories are the short sprints, the smaller weights, that get your muscles, your heart, your will power strengthened and toned enough to tackle a novel. Short stories allow you to practice and experiment with plot, commitment, drafting and redrafting and editing and changing and character development and word choice and writing style without committing eight months to it. Additionally, they'll keep you engaged in the art of writing while your brain brainstorms for a whopper of a novel idea and starts to sift out all the ones that you'd lose interest in. Who knows? Maybe one of those short stories will eventually become the beginning or the inspiration for your best-selling novel.
Finally, it is very important to remember- though I'm hesitant to point this out- that according to YWS, you are fourteen year old. It might just be that you haven't found your writing formula yet. For example, I've found that the my sticky point is transitioning from writing to rewriting. It took me several attempts to realize that the reason I just couldn't rewrite was because my 'fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants' writing style was keeping me from having anything resembling a plot in my 100+ pages of written stuff. I had to revise the way I approached novels to include a lot more plotting, and accepting that my first drafts are so bare bones they can barely be considered a draft. You just have to find what works for you, even if it's not the advise you're getting from others, and make it work for you.
I won't mark this as a review, because I didn't really critique your piece. I guess this was more advise and encouragement, and I'm sorry if that's not what you were after. I just want you to know that I believe in you. That you can do this.
-tgirly
Thank you so much! I really just wanted to write this for fun to see what people would say, and not so much a serious piece, but I still love the feedback! I'll be sure to remember some of your suggestions and comments in the future.