Mental block or laziness?

Hi all,

Does anyone else here go mad thinking about a great idea, writing a few pages and then convincing yourself that you've actually written the greatest load of bull ever and just chuck it away, leaving you to start afresh with another idea, only to walk into the same trap?

This has been happening to me for a while now, I love thinking and writing new characters and then planning to put them into a story of some description.

Problem is, I get so far and then I realise that nothing seems realistic or nothing makes sense or it is far too ridiculous for general consumption.

Maybe it is laziness on my part kicking in or maybe my mind gets too distracted with other ideas (or maybe I'm just going mad ), I don't know.

If anyone else feels this on occasion, any sort of suggested remedy would be great, thanks.

Odaise Gaelach

No, I'd call it lack of confidence. Everyone (and I mean everyone!) goes through something like this, where you write some pretty good stuff but you think that it's terrible.

What you have to do (I find) is to slog it out to the end. Get the first draft written, sit there looking miserable at it for a while, then have another look. Pretty soon you'll find that if you change that word, alter this description a little bit, maybe take out that paragraph... hey, this story ain't so terrible after all!

It's really difficult trying to finish a story that you've (so far) got no confidence in. But keep at it, and you never know, you might end up with a story that you can be proud of.

It's good to know that it isn't a isolated problem, if more people feel like this, then it must be just something that happens and to get over it.

Thanks for your advice, I'm going to sit down one night and pump out as much as I can (just throw down lines, without really giving much thought to where it's going, the structure, etc) and then revise, in the hope that my ideas will be converyed somehow.

I actually found this quote on the net, that I find is quite uplifting in ways:

"In writing, as in life, nothing you do is ever wasted."
I forget the website that's from,thought it was worth a mention though

MsFifers

Yeah - I think confidence is probably the problem alright. But laziness can be an issue too! You really have to force yourself to sit down and finish. There is always a wonderful burst of energy for the first page or two - but then, really, writing can be drudgery. Most "real" writers say the same thing - its hard work, dammit!

I sometimes get a first draft down and if I think its crap then I stick it into a drawer and don't look at it for a month or two. More often than not when I go back I am quite happy with it - on occasion even impressed by myself!
I think you need to kind of forget what your original idea was - that perfectly realised, wonderfully insightful idea. Its rare (impossible?) to achieve what is initially planned, but sometimes what actually does arrive on the page is perfectly decent. Well - good enough to deserve some further work anyway!

Odaise Gaelach

And just to emphasise the point...

In the words of Philip Pullman:
"When I've finished a story I'll type it all on to the computer, editing as I go. Then I read it all again and think it's horrible, and get very depressed. That's one of the things you have to put up with. Eventually, after a lot of fiddling, it's sort of all right, but the best I can do; and that's when I send it off to the publisher."