How does /lit/ find the motivation to keep writing. I've been stalled on my current project for nearly a year. Every time I sit down an open my word doc, I find myself just staring at it blankly for an hour before I open up another tab on my second monitor. Posting here rn when I should be working on another chapter.
>>25190699Motivation is a liar. Motivation promises to help you and loves to paint amazing pictures of what you will do together. But anytime you need him, he's gone. What you need is discipline. Discipline will show up every day, do a reliable amount of work, then leave without complaining. Discipline isn't fun. It's not like motivation. No flashy smile, no winking, no promises of comfort. But he will always show up, every single time, and will always do his best to help you.Befriend discipline, and recognize motivation for what he really is: a charlatan and a liar. Discipline lives in routine, and by building routine, you befriend Discipline. Write every day, 10 minutes. You can write anything. Absolutely anything. Write about how you don't have motivation to write, if you need to. But do write. Then, after a few days/weeks/months, however long you need, you increase it to 30 minutes. The an hour. Then two.At some point, you will write 5k words every day, and it will be effortless. It might not be fun 5k words every day, but you will be writing them. Just don't ask for motivation. Motivation is garbage. Also, on a side note. Your Muse fucking hates Motivation. I don't know what's happened between them, but it cannot have been good. She's a complete slut for anyone who knows Discipline though. No idea why. Must be some kind of fetish.
>>25190699Because you don't know what the fuck to do in order to finish it. If you had a plan you'd do that.The answer is always skill issue. Either you know how to continue, or you know that it's a dead end and you go to something else.
>>25190699Whenever shit pops into my head I write it down. Usually it's snippets of scenes. Eventually I come up with a structure for a book and arrange the snippets around it.
>>25190699Every day after I wake up, eat breakfast, and take supplements (vitamin D and L theanine) I schedule 4-6 hours (I'm mentally retarded so can't reliably do more than that these days) of work, split up into 25 + 5 minute pomodoro chunks. I work the full period and things get done when they're done, I do not try to schedule completion. It relieves my completion-anxiety and has, without exaggeration, made me like 3-4 times more productive.
>>25191464So for example today:- 1 hour yardwork - 1 hour studying statistics - 1 hour studying history - 2 hours working on a writing project - half an hour cleaning my house - working out (since it's easy for me to get done all in one sitting I leave it as a discrete 'get it done' item)
>>25191466How do you have so much free time time. Are you a NEET?
>>25191469I'm unemployed (not listed in the above is job search shit) but when I had a WFH job I could still get 2-3 hours of intellectual work done with this method.
Do you guys all write? I just came here to find some official material to work with because what I can do by myself is lesser than a network
>>25191410>>25191464Thank you, screen capping these>>25191413Faggot
I just write 100 words a day. I get into a flow, then I have blue balls because I want to write more and have to wait 24 hours to do it.
>>25190699I don't. Claude does it for me.
>>25191410Eloquently said.
Lots of ways to approach this, learning how different writers have found their way can be instructive.John Irving doesn't start until he knows the last line. A lot of my stories came about this way (ending first) and can be an exciting way to subvert your own tendencies. As we know, writing can be a very solitary experience: I'm trying to collab with some friends on stories that hold mutual interest to us both. This might be easier when dealing with a defined product (screenplay), then some freeform fiction.Some writers are miners and thieves (not playgiarists); they observe and absorb from those around them and recognize a good yarn when they hear it. Perhaps like a chef, they have a certain recipe in mind, then go about sourcing the ingredients.I never thought of myself as having any particular 'style' or 'voice', but after 20 years of scribbling, something is bound to emerge (which is exciting!).Delillo talks about his 'idiot babies' haunting him: is half-assed ideas, unfinished projects stalking him until he finds them a home. I can relate to this. All kinds of ideas and concepts that start with flash, only to languish or be replaced by the next one. Sometimes a chance fact or encounter brings me right back to something long buried; now I know what the next chapter will be and I'm back into it.The last few years have been about taking a project all the way to a product. Seek professional advice, re-work and take criticism (do you want it to be better or just stay precious?), and work systematically to improve it, instead of just waiting on the inspiration fairy to take a shit on you.I feel pretty good about where I am, but I made so many ridiculous decisions about how to approach my project (my character gets a copy of Decline... from his dad: guess I have to read all 1500 pages now!!) and set up this whole meta-verse angle that is equal parts 'look at me' genius and completely delusional (especially for a nobody from nowhere).Last thing: something that helped me was taking my MC and just making him a character we meet in the story, instead of following the action through his eyes. The narrator is now a young soldier, instead of a grizzled war correspondent, and that has made it all come together for me. Literary fame and all the art hoes you can eat is a great motivator at the outset, but once you get the wheels moving, the story is worth it for its own sake, let's hope we all get there in our own way.
>>25191410>>25192750"Discipline" doesn't exist. It's just habit. It's all just habit. No different from brushing your teeth in the morning or taking a shower.
>>25190699>I find myself just staring at it blankly for an hour before I open up another tab on my second monitorjust write nigga press the keys on your keyboard
>>25190699I just published two new articles on my substack a few hours ago
can you tell me what you are writing?
>>25193966I'm trying ;-;>>25194017Short answer; Guy meets monster girl, both get scooped up by a shadowy agency and now they have to kill other monsters for the government
>>25190699I do what I want and I am honest about it. I don’t feel like writing because that’s too much work and my book would probably suck. I don’t want to make a game because 3D modeling to the extent that it would look good is beyond me. I am happy playing games and reading books though.
