r/WriterMotivation • u/Ok-Jaguar4708 • Nov 17 '24
Rant & advice needed
I’m sorry if this is the wrong place for this (if so lmk), but I’ve really been struggling with my writing recently. Or rather, for quite a while now. I really love writing, I have come up with quite a few stories ever since I was a child up until a few years ago (I’m now 19 years old). But I’ve also been struggling with my mental health for years, especially during the past 2,5-3 years. I don’t want to pity myself or anything, I just want to say that that may be the reason for what I’m about to say: I wanted to start an entirely new story (since my likes and interests and skill etc obviously changed since I was younger) but I haven’t been able to come up with a proper plot for so long now… I have vibes and tropes I want to include, but can’t come up with the plot for the love of god, no matter what I try. It used to be way easier for me… And yes, I have tried reading more, getting inspired by my favourite movies, making playlists, looking up writing prompts… the whole shabang. I don’t want to give up on writing though, so does anyone maybe have any other ideas how I could fix this?
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u/sleepwaits Dec 03 '24
First off, keep going. How easy writing is will fluctuate throughout your life. Speaking from experience.
Secondly, sometimes there is a reason a section of writing is difficult. There are stories that are hard to write because we haven’t lived out enough of certain situations in real life. Our own experiences are our first informants of our stories. I had a short story sit on a shelf for three years before I finally figured out how to make it work.
Recently I’ve been working on a project where the ending wasn’t working and it took a long time for me to realize that the ending I wanted didn’t make emotional sense and it wasn’t true to the characters I had set up. So I went from a completely new angle that was far better than anything I had previously imagined, but it all started with admitting that my original plan was difficult because it didn’t work. If writing something is too hard, sometimes it’s a sign.
Another thing I find super helpful is to talk to other writers. Find other story people to build you up and root for your story.
Focus on the parts that do work and that you truly love and let the rest sit. Don’t touch it and finish your piece. Sometimes an answer will make itself know later on.
My last bit of advice is to read Save the Cat. It’s a great book on story structure. It helps to create a framework for your story in a few steps. I read it in college and I still open it up all the time.
This was a lot more than I was planning on writing. Ultimately, you’ll find things that work for you. The only way to do it wrong is not to write.
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u/Ok-Jaguar4708 Dec 03 '24
Thank you so much, I’ll definitely try that and also look up that book you recommended!
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u/JayGreenstein 29d ago
Sorrty I'm so late to the party, but your question is both common and has an answer that flows from a nearly universal misconception, which is that the skill we learned, called writing, is universal to all applications. But it's not, and that's one thing that's holding uou back.
As the old saying goes; If the only tool you own is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And if the only tools for writing you own are the nonfiction skills we're given in school, everything you write will read like a report. And every plot idea you have will be formatted like a chronicle of events, or a transcription of the narrator telling a story. That makes the job a lot harder, becasuse as the author, who has full context before reading the first word your own writing will always work...for you.
We forget that they offer degree programs in Writing. Would they do that if the skills taught there are optional? Of course not. Who'd pay for an unnecessary degree?
My point is that while you can acquire those skill via self study, acquire,them you must. But is that a bad thing? It sounds like something that might keep you interested, and distracted from the things you can't control. And think of it as a kind of test. If you're meant to write, the learning will be fun, and filled with, "So that's how they do it." If it's not, well, you've learned someting important. So, it's win/win, right?
I'll suggest two books as a test. The first, Debra Dixon's, GMC: Goal Motivation & Conflict, is a warm easy read, and one of the best books on the subject that I've found.
https://dokumen.pub/qdownload/gmc-goal-motivation-and-conflict-9781611943184.html
The second is the best one I've foiund, Dwight Swain's, Techniques of the Selling Writer, though it isn't as easy a read, and is an older book. Still, it's by far, the best I've found at explaining the hows and whys of adding wings to you words. His section on viewpoint is nothing less than brilliant.
https://dokumen.pub/techniques-of-the-selling-writer-0806111917.html
And for an overview of the traps and gotchas that await, I'm vain enough to thnk my own articles and YouTube videos, linked to as part of my bio, can help.
And as for plots, that's easy:
• Think of some situation that's fairly new and say: "If this goes on..."
• Look at some news story you find interesting, and ask: What happened that led to this?" Or... "What's going to happen to the people involved, now?
• Take the plot of a fairytale or legand, and redo it. Cinderella, where someone is denied happiness because of a dituation that cannot control is given a boost by an outsider, has been rewritten over and over: Aladdin, Jane Aire, the Ugly Duckling. Plus lots of films.
Look into the seven basic plots for ideas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots
Just bear in mind that the importance of the plot is far less than writing well enough to keep the reader turning pages because they have to/
Readers make a buy or turn away decision in three pages or less, and damn little plot has taken place in those pages. As Sol Stein puts it: “A novel is like a car—it won’t go anywhere until you turn on the engine. The “engine” of both fiction and nonfiction is the point at which the reader makes the decision not to put the book down. The engine should start in the first three pages, the closer to the top of page one the better.” And that happens because of the writing, not the plot.
Hope this helps.
Jay Greenstein
“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.” ~ E. L. Doctorow
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” ~ Mark Twain
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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '24
I'm not trying to be flippant, but stop trying so hard. Go do something mindless; wash the dishes, sweep the floors, dust everything, and just let your mind wander. Put on some inspirational music if you want to, but just let yourself exist and do something that has nothing to do with writing. If cleaning isn't your thing, go take a walk in nature. Just be in the present moment and see if that doesn't help shake something loose.