Barging in

[insignia]

Greetings! I'm new here, and I have trouble writing. I bet you've never heard that one before! Getting ideas is no problem; they keep ambushing me where I least expect them. (No, brain, I don't need a wacky Princess Tutu/Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover adventure comedy about human sacrifice right now.) It's sitting myself down and concentrating on one project long enough to get it written.

Right now my main focus is--or would be, if I focused--a Western/Horror AU fic for Princess Tutu. Clearly this is the best idea in the history of thinking, and my story will be fantastic. I even know how it will end! I have a sequel half-planned! I just keep... not finishing the first chapter.

So I decided to join this community and complain a bit. I think I can do this if I stop waffling. Thank you for listening.

Comments

[dhae_knight_1]

Do you know what's going to happen in the first chapter? Have you figured out just how your characters end up at your ending? Do you know your story question(the thing your ending answers)?

I've found that plotting goes a long way to keep me on track; mostly because my nebulous ideas centers around either a setting (oh, hey, what the world needs is clearly a crossover/fusion beween White Collar and Criminal Minds) or a point along the way (Hotch meets with Gibbs, nuclear explosion at 11). Fitting those into a story framework helps. Somewhat. I suck at finishing stories. ;-)

[insignia]

I have a pretty clear idea what'll happen in the first few chapters, an overview of how the situation progresses, and a few specific events and conversations that need to happen along the way. The main issues with chapter one are things like deciding exactly where to begin, and whether a few characters will meet the first evening or not until the next day. Mostly stuff that's best solved by just writing it down to see how it looks. I just keep distracting myself because I have an irrational fear of making decisions :D

[linaewen]

Sometimes complaining, or being with other people who are also having trouble getting past that same old chapter, really is very encouraging. And before you know it, you find yourself concentrating and finishing instead of waffling!

I'm in the same boat at the moment, actually. I had all day to work on a short fic that could have been done in one go if I'd concentrated. But here I am, bed time and nothing accomplished except a bit of research, sigh! ;-)

Anyway, welcome to you! You are among friends here who know how you feel -- hopefully you'll find some help that will push you along towards finishing, or comfort you when that's not quite working.

[insignia]

Thanks for the welcome :D I do hope that having more people to talk to, and seeing what others struggle with, will help keep me on the right track.
And research is totally an accomplishment... right? >_>

[ty_writes]

I understand. My brain is hopping between 6 ideas right now. And yeah, having someone to complain to really helps. I've found that others can usually give your muse a little nudge.

[insignia]

Hah, I have about half a dozen big ideas too, in three different fandoms :D It's hard getting my brain to think about one thing at a time.

[sylvaine]

I would totally read that Princess Tutu/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover.

What's helping me at the moment is just building up a habit of writing for whatever story I'm working on every day, even if it's only one sentence. And, if you're really stuck, you can just not!fic/outline the rest of the first chapter and move on to the next bit and then come back to it when you're feeling in the mood to tackle the difficult part!

Also, hiii! :D

[insignia]

Hi! I'll probably end up writing that fic eventually, because the ideas are too stupid to leave me alone :D

Yeah, it can really help sometimes to accept that one sentence counts as progress; that way sitting down to write doesn't seem like a huge undertaking. And sometimes that one sentence leads to another! (Or to the realisation that nothing fits together and you have to start over, but that is also progress.) :D