For writers: How to get motivated to writing a book.

[anoni]

Ok, the idea is I have a huge, thought out story in my head, it's got pretty much all the characters, narrative, setting and stuff thought out. I briefed it to my friend and I went through a brief synopsis of what the book was about and it took me about 40 minutes. So there's no problem with what to write. The problem is this:

  I find it difficult to be motivated to write that much, like it's going to clock in at least 300 pages (probably more) and I just have problems continuing. First of all I'm kind of a perfectionist with this, so I write it out but don't think my writing is good enough and can restart chapters over and over again. Second, sometimes I want to get to a "good part" or a part I'm really excited for so I try and skip past the important details of the book, some days I want to write about one thing, some days I want to write about the other. Lastly, I simply have trouble being motivated to write it down, like I might write it for the first week or so, but after about 2 weeks I kind of forget about it. I really want to right this book and get the ideas in my head out on paper (or word document) but I've attempted this 3 times and haven't been able to continue more than chapter 3 or 4.

  So do you guys have any suggestions to cure this so I can be more motivated and more in-tune to write my book?

[MrRazot]

divide the book into key points in the story when important things happen
write them down... they can be chapters if you want

now all you have to do is figure out how to get from point A to point B
how can you do that?
you could this point into sub-points!

this could even let you write the individual sections you want.

also i dont know if you've ever read the LoTR books, but even there you can tell when Tolkein had a good or bad day.

[MrRazot]

Good luck Anoni

[anoni]

Ok! Thanks guys

[Rocoro T. Pup]

I know I'm kind of late to the party, and this is an old post, but I think I can give you some advice, pal.

I've been screenwriting short films for years, and even a play once. Knowing that you'll be spending a LONG time doing something really boring is always a deterrent. Sometimes you sit down in front of a blank screen, and after a long time, you realize you're just not motivated.

Here's some tips. Bring a notepad everywhere you go. Whether you're driving to school, at home, or just out with friends, some inspiration or idea may just come to you, and you'll be screaming at the world if you don't have a pen and paper to put it down on.

Another thing to do is build a structure. Stories often begin with a lead-in to the protagonist(s), and then a shocking revelation, and then a twist, and finally a climax. Don't stick with this concept entirely, get a little loose. But keep it within those lines and you'll have something that will be hard for a reader to put down.

Also, work on the dialogue. Pick up a thesaurus and try some new, fascinating words. The most topical, untrodden, and enchanting dialogue will perpetually bewilder and astonish the curious bookworms.

It's not much, but dang... it's something. Good luck with your novel, and please hit me up when you near closer to it's publication.


EDIT: Forgot to throw this in; get into the mental habit of trying not to stop writing or typing a sentence at all. Even if you want to change/edit a word, you can go back and do it later. You can simply/easily add/apply a slash to make/create/spawn cool/interesting/awesome words and events/occassions without loosing your concentration/motivation. When you are the most fluent/uninterrupted, you become/are more poetic/philosophical/driven to keep writing/typing.

[Kio]

Copy other people's stories, change the words to your liking, custom plot to interest, integrate your own story ideas. Unless you have an epiphany or are basing off life events, then just follow along with it, or just be crazy and spontaneous, an over-reactive imagination can be compelling to a reader but you got to keep it interesting and structure helps with this and grammar hooks, so I can tell (can't tell you much about that, I'm not the best with grammar).


Even famous authors do it (and you're gonna do it naturally, anyway).
For example, JRR Tolkien ripped off Harry Potter as shown in the discussion below.



...lol
But seriously, they do it often so don't be afraid. Just depends how good you at English, helps to read others' books and to have an overall understanding of the vibe of reading books, I guess. Which is something I've never had so good with that, the blind teaching the blind, etc, etc.

[anoni]

Again, I already know the story, it's mainly just staying motivated to get it on paper

[Kio]

Again, I already know the story, it's mainly just staying motivated to get it on paper

The story is your motivation.
You should be like Oh yeah! Eureka! Awesome idea! Then glomp the paper / typewriter.

[anoni]

It doesn't work for me. I have the whole idea there, but I just don't really stay there and type away at my idea, there's always parts I want to get to more and sometimes I just keep putting off writing more of the story

[Ventus Fall]

I would suggest like some others already might have.

Whatever you think of, just write it all down (preferably on the computer and not on paper).
Do't think about mispells and things that might not sound good. You should do this when you're done writing the whole story. You can always add or delete certain scenes/chapters, etc.
The main thing is to get it all from your head to paper. After that the process of perfection can begin.


Trust me, I wrote a book once and I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if I kept perfecting the story while still writing it down on paper.

[MrRazot]

Copy other people's stories, change the words to your liking, custom plot to interest, integrate your own story ideas. Unless you have an epiphany or are basing off life events, then just follow along with it, or just be crazy and spontaneous, an over-reactive imagination can be compelling to a reader but you got to keep it interesting and structure helps with this and grammar hooks, so I can tell (can't tell you much about that, I'm not the best with grammar).


Even famous authors do it (and you're gonna do it naturally, anyway).
For example, JRR Tolkien ripped off Harry Potter as shown in the discussion below.



...lol
But seriously, they do it often so don't be afraid. Just depends how good you at English, helps to read others' books and to have an overall understanding of the vibe of reading books, I guess. Which is something I've never had so good with that, the blind teaching the blind, etc, etc.

Please tell me you know that Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings books almost 60 years ago (pre-dating Harry Potter) and that Tolkien has been dead for 40 yeas x3

[Kio]

Copy other people's stories, change the words to your liking, custom plot to interest, integrate your own story ideas. Unless you have an epiphany or are basing off life events, then just follow along with it, or just be crazy and spontaneous, an over-reactive imagination can be compelling to a reader but you got to keep it interesting and structure helps with this and grammar hooks, so I can tell (can't tell you much about that, I'm not the best with grammar).


Even famous authors do it (and you're gonna do it naturally, anyway).
For example, JRR Tolkien ripped off Harry Potter as shown in the discussion below.



...lol
But seriously, they do it often so don't be afraid. Just depends how good you at English, helps to read others' books and to have an overall understanding of the vibe of reading books, I guess. Which is something I've never had so good with that, the blind teaching the blind, etc, etc.

Please tell me you know that Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings books almost 60 years ago (pre-dating Harry Potter) and that Tolkien has been dead for 40 yeas x3

I do, they don't. They is quoted. Tolkien might have had a time machine, though.

[MrRazot]

Or maybe, as most authors copy of others, Rowling copied Tolkien
lotr: 29 July 1954, 11 November 1954 & 20 October 1955
hp: 29 June 1997 – 21 July 2007
tell me you're not just trolling

But Anoni, There's some solid advice here.
Keep it up

[Kio]

Or maybe, as most authors copy of others, Rowling copied Tolkien
lotr: 29 July 1954, 11 November 1954 & 20 October 1955
hp: 29 June 1997 – 21 July 2007
tell me you're not just trolling

But Anoni, There's some solid advice here.
Keep it up

Everyone copies everything, same for music and the visual arts, even nature does it. It's evolution, this is a self-similar universe even on a quantum level and while history doesn't exactly always repeat itself, patterns can reoccur and artists learn their inspirations from others.
And I was joking, the screenshot I posted was a big thing not so long ago, thought you'd have had heard of it. A lot of imdb users got trolled and some unknowing fans also fell to support the claim, so it seems. And, LOTR had an influence on Harry Potter, no doubt, and near exactly same stories such as The Worst Witch, there was also several, but mythology and stories preceding it played a big role in LOTR.


http://www.businessinsider.com/imdb-user-believed-lord-of-the-rings-ripped-off-harry-potter-2012-6


Hmm, I still haven't seen The Hobbit, yet, that reminds me.

[MrRazot]

Rofl I know of this and I was simply worried that you we're one of the brainless masses that believed Harry Potter came first.
No hard feelings bro