Do you suffer from Writerus Blockitis?

[katya]

First, I think if you`re willing to spend that much time re-writing a couple of pages a million times, why not just do it after you`ve got more done? For example, you decide a few pages in you wanna change something major. Just keep writing from where you are as if the change happened and then go back later. The main thing is, you can always go back as much as you want, and you`ll have to re-write less times if you get further along before you do it. It`s better to have a lot done, because it gives you confidence and a clearer view of where the story is gonna end up. You can fix the details whenever you want. I know if I had done re-writes of my story a little bit of a time I never would`ve gotten anywhere. I waited until I was halfway done with the whole thing. It changed a lot. I edited the first draft of that heavily, then in the process of typing it out it gets tweaked a little more. And as far as plot, it varies by person but I think it helps to know what the main conflict of the story is and what`s gonna happen at the climax (even if you`re not decided on the ending yet) so you have something to aim for and keep focused.

As for writer`s block, I get stuck a lot. But at those times, I usually either skip to a section of the story I do know how it`s gonna go down, or just write stuff badly and go back and fix it later as I decide how I want it. It`s easier to fix something that`s there than to just produce something good out of nowhere. And since it can take me months to decide on a name, I usually just think of a temporary one and write it in then go back and change it. If you`re writing it in word you can do it easily by using "replace with". Most of my name changes come in re-writing phase though so it doesn`t matter what was there before.

My current story re-write is 22 pages in word and the rough draft about 70 pages in a notebook (and I write really small). I haven`t written a word since I got to Japan so progress kinda stopped. But I`m gonna try and write today because I am starting to forget what was happening in the story and that scares me.

EDIT: a note on temporary names. If it doesn`t mess you up too much, why not? My story is really serious, and dark and sad, but there`s this one guy in the military in it and I can`t think of a good name for him yet so I`ve just been calling him "General Funnypants".

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

Originally Posted by IronParrot

After several attempts and rewrites over the past three years, my full-length novel is still on the fourteenth page.

Anyone else having a similar problem? Of course. Now fess up.

ok right now i am on my 20th page and am very stuck! the second novel is on its like 48th page and i cant seem to get inspired.help!!lol

[Curubethion]

Originally Posted by Me

To get unstuck, you might want to consider throwing in a dilemma of minor to grand scale. Possibly tie it into the plot...

Or, if you're getting hung up on a scene, write its conclusion as is, and go on. You can edit later.

This is the best advice I can think of now...

[Acalewia]

Agreed. Writing the ending helps a lot. For me I've had problems with how to word minor events leading up to a major event. Which is the problem im having with one of my novels.
If your having problems with names, sometimes a baby name book will help. Of course this depends on the type of story your writing. It's not very helpful with fantasy, I've found.

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

First, I think if you`re willing to spend that much time re-writing a couple of pages a million times, why not just do it after you`ve got more done?

Minor obsessive-compulsive tendencies? It makes sense if you think about. After all, what are stories except ideas which the writer becomes fixated on to the point where they keep growing and eventually become too large for the writer's mind to handle at which point the writer puts them down on paper.

If one couples the ability to be so obsessed with an idea that it becomes a full fledged story with perfectionist tendencies then the compulsion to rewrite small chunks over and over and over again emerges.

Or it could just be a reaction to the discovery that if one does 'get more done' and then decides to change a key idea, suddenly instead of just a few pages to rewrite one has an entire book to revise and a lot of that revision will turn out to be scrapping and starting from scratch about half the scenes one has already struggled through.

So those of us who rewrite as we go are either obsessive-cumpulsive, perfectionists, lazy or a combination of the three.

If your having problems with names, sometimes a baby name book will help. Of course this depends on the type of story your writing. It's not very helpful with fantasy, I've found.

That is a difficult trap to get out of... if you find you've used names whose meanings depend on real-world linguistics/culture in a fantasy world and you really don't want to have to change the names of all your characters there are a couple ways to gloss it over.

First: Don't use the melting pot rule of naming. Readers are more likely to notice that the names have been transplanted if you take names from several different languages and mix them together. Instead give groups of characters who share orgins within the fantasy world names which share linguistic orgins from this world.
e.g. Give characters from Kingdom A names derived from germanic languages and characters from Kingdom B names derived from sanskrit.

Second: Perfect the other elements, if the reader is enjoying the story enough they'll probably forgive the name discrepancy. Also known as the 'They'll never notice...' principle.

And speaking of writerus blockitus... I should really be working on a short story for creative writing right now. Oops!

[Serenoli]

I think I have, for quite a while, suffered from the re-writing problem. Which is why, for a long long time, I never progressed beyond page 3!

And, recently, i told myself what Katya says, (not in so many words, of course) and I'm glad to say its disappearing... with occasional relapses... I think I'm rather lazy, and a perfectiontist.

[strider8]

I often think of story ideas for a different book even though I'm all ready writing another so I have 1 started book and another book plot in my mind.