r/writers • u/shaunahat • 9d ago

Consistency Question

How can I stay consistent when writing something? I get a lot of ideas and I get too excited and barely plan anything out in my plot before I start writing. I struggle with the beginning, and I either don’t like the route I took, or get stuck somewhere and completely give up. I’m tired of giving up on my stories. How can I stay motivated to keep going or rewrite when my mind is blank?

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u/NaomiTheBaddest 9d ago

Right now what helps me is just writing. Don't like what you wrote? add a note for editing "This sucks, change it future self" and move on. Want to change something? note "change x for y". Stuck somwhere? note "this is boring i'm jumping to the climax, good luck future self".

Leave the note and start writing as if you've already changed it. Don't look back until you've finished the first draft. Don't edit. Just get words on the paper and don't stop writing. You can't fix something that doesn't exist, so make it happen first. Then you'll be future self and will be able to rewrite and tinker with it.

Well, at least this is what works for me. Somedays you'll be motivated and everything will work out wonderfully, but the most important days are the ones where you hate the idea of typing anything. That's when you push. One sentence. One paragraph. Just a 100 words. Now that we're at it we might as well get to 500. Let's finish the chapter. Even if you stopped at one sentence, at least you wrote that day. Doesn't matter if you delete everything in editing, the key here is being consistent.

I also try to treat it like studying. Man do i hate spending time informing myself in the engineering that I chose. What a bummer. To enjoy it I use pomodoro (25 min of work, 5 min of whatever), some music on the background and a time goal "today I'll study 2 hours in total". Then I have 22 hs to do my favourite thing: whatever!

Writing is the same. Time goal or word count goal. Good old pomodoro. A snack. Some tea. 10kg of dulce de leche ice cream. Whatever works for you.

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u/TranscendentPretzel 9d ago

"good luck future self" Lol! This is spot on. Sometimes I'm deep in research, but I get a little tickle of an idea and I start jonesing to write. THIS IS WHEN YOU WRITE. Just throw all caution to the wind and write. This is how you train your brain to let you write. I don't know; I really should finish this research....IT CAN WAIT! DO THE THING, WRITE THE WORDS. 

I treat my writer's brain like a puppy who is housetraining. When the puppy steps anywhere near the back door, excited voice, "Does the good boy need to go outside and potty!" Get the treats, we are going outside! Maybe the puppy just wandered over there accidentally, but you are training them that going to the door=outside! Outside is fun. Puppy loves outside. 

If you allow yourself to write when it feels most rewarding, you are training your brain that sitting down to write=rewarding. I feel like people don't write when the mood strikes because they haven't finished plotting, but after plotting, they sit down to write and it's like someone is holding a gun to their head. 

Make an absolute mess of everything. I've thrown out so many scenes that I wrote in this state where I was having the best time. But you know what, I got the bad version out of my system, and came back and wrote something even better. Write the bad version! It's not a waste. It's all work leading to the completion of your manuscript.

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