flagging motivation - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T12:18:03Zhttp://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/flagging-motivation?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A212288&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI read this quote when I'm di…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-12:537324:Comment:2323212010-04-12T12:49:01.897Zdoug andersonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/douganderson
I read this quote when I'm discouraged about motivation: One must be pitiless about this matter of “mood.” In a sense the writing will create the mood. If art is, as I believe it to be, a genuinely transcendental function – a means by which we rise out of limited, parochial states of mind – then it should not matter very much what states of mind or emotion we are in. Generally, I’ve found this to be true: I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my…
I read this quote when I'm discouraged about motivation: One must be pitiless about this matter of “mood.” In a sense the writing will create the mood. If art is, as I believe it to be, a genuinely transcendental function – a means by which we rise out of limited, parochial states of mind – then it should not matter very much what states of mind or emotion we are in. Generally, I’ve found this to be true: I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes…and somehow the activity of writing changes everything. Or appears to do so. Joyce said of the underlying structure of Ulysses – the Odyssean parallel and parody – that he really didn’t care whether it was plausable, so long as it served as a bridge to get his “soldiers” across. Once they were across, what does it matter if the bridge collapses? One might say the same thing about the use of one’s self as a means for the writing to get written. Once the soldiers are across the stream…<br />
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Joyce Carol Oates<br />
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Another is a quote from Paul Taylor, the Choreographer: "Inspiration is for amateurs. All you need is a deadline."<br />
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Of course, I'm not always able to live by these. Sometimes I'm just tired. Great topic for us other 'fla…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-12:537324:Comment:2323082010-04-12T11:01:07.428ZGaile Hugheshttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/GaileHughes
Great topic for us other 'flagging floppers' !! Diaglogue !! I need heaps more, I'm reading the latest Lee Child's Reacher book, seems you need a spate of dialogue in each chapter, (Yeah I know that's a given) as us Aussies would say 'flaming hell'... I have a great flare for story telling, not much for character chatting.....Great topic Minerva, for me I play SCRABBLE online, maybe there is a word, just one word that will set the next chain reaction off.... maybe.
Great topic for us other 'flagging floppers' !! Diaglogue !! I need heaps more, I'm reading the latest Lee Child's Reacher book, seems you need a spate of dialogue in each chapter, (Yeah I know that's a given) as us Aussies would say 'flaming hell'... I have a great flare for story telling, not much for character chatting.....Great topic Minerva, for me I play SCRABBLE online, maybe there is a word, just one word that will set the next chain reaction off.... maybe. I like you already, Jessica.…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-03-03:537324:Comment:2288732010-03-03T14:22:04.926ZI. J. Parkerhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
I like you already, Jessica. :)
I like you already, Jessica. :) You know what I do when I'm n…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-03-03:537324:Comment:2288002010-03-03T04:35:01.732ZJessicahttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Jessica
You know what I do when I'm not motivated? I grab a bag of popcorn, a can of coke, hop on the computer and log onto THIS site. I run through the forums and read what all these amazing writers have to say. Then I realise that they're published and I'm not. And since I want them to like me, I figure I should probably get published too, so I fit in! That's really all the motivation I need.
You know what I do when I'm not motivated? I grab a bag of popcorn, a can of coke, hop on the computer and log onto THIS site. I run through the forums and read what all these amazing writers have to say. Then I realise that they're published and I'm not. And since I want them to like me, I figure I should probably get published too, so I fit in! That's really all the motivation I need. My memoir took seven years. A…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-02-27:537324:Comment:2284372010-02-27T01:31:41.164Zdoug andersonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/douganderson
My memoir took seven years. A book of poems takes me about 10. My novel is about two years old now and I feel reasonably confident that I will have a full draft by this summer. I have no major plot holes yet, but the more crime fiction I read, the easier it seems for me to solve plot problems. As writers, we have complete freedom of imagination.
My memoir took seven years. A book of poems takes me about 10. My novel is about two years old now and I feel reasonably confident that I will have a full draft by this summer. I have no major plot holes yet, but the more crime fiction I read, the easier it seems for me to solve plot problems. As writers, we have complete freedom of imagination. A year is nothing. My new boo…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-02-27:537324:Comment:2284342010-02-27T01:11:13.302ZKeith thomsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Keiththomson
A year is nothing. My new book took four years. My graduate school professor's took six, though it is 600 pages long. Mine is only 330. So she's the speedy one.
A year is nothing. My new book took four years. My graduate school professor's took six, though it is 600 pages long. Mine is only 330. So she's the speedy one. I've been writing for a long…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-02-25:537324:Comment:2281242010-02-25T00:57:34.954Zdoug andersonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/douganderson
I've been writing for a long time. I'm terribly undisciplined. I'll start several projects at once, put one down, pick up another. I got tired of writing my novel so I stopped and wrote two short stories and sent them out. I returned to my novel yesterday refreshed. Also, sometimes it helps to talk to someone, anyone, to get back on track. I'm not talking about whining or psychoanalysis. I talked to my agent yesterday and her just sounding interested in my novel put me back on track. Fatigue is…
I've been writing for a long time. I'm terribly undisciplined. I'll start several projects at once, put one down, pick up another. I got tired of writing my novel so I stopped and wrote two short stories and sent them out. I returned to my novel yesterday refreshed. Also, sometimes it helps to talk to someone, anyone, to get back on track. I'm not talking about whining or psychoanalysis. I talked to my agent yesterday and her just sounding interested in my novel put me back on track. Fatigue is a fact. Depression can hit for no reason at all. If all it took to write a novel was to write one page a day, we'd have one done every year. Sometimes you just need a break, a massage, a trip, or something physical. Where did I hear this: "Move a muscle, change a thought." Oh man that is so true. I too…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-09-04:537324:Comment:2125942009-09-04T16:25:37.810ZminervaKhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/minervakoenig
Oh man that is so true. I took a week off from The Book early on, and then couldn't get back into the swing for almost a month. It sucked.
Oh man that is so true. I took a week off from The Book early on, and then couldn't get back into the swing for almost a month. It sucked. The others are right - we all…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-09-01:537324:Comment:2123242009-09-01T19:12:43.631ZJohn Desjarlaishttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JohnDesjarlais
The others are right - we all feel this. It's like the marathon runner hitting what they call 'the wall.' They wonder why they ever started the run, think about quitting, hurt like heck - but keep running. I remember Ernest Hemingway saying 'A half finished book is no book at all; finish it.' On cold mornings, when I don't feel like writing, my wife just calls out 'Ernie,' and I think of that quote. -- Write the jacket copy as you imagine it will be. That motivates me, and helps me to focus the…
The others are right - we all feel this. It's like the marathon runner hitting what they call 'the wall.' They wonder why they ever started the run, think about quitting, hurt like heck - but keep running. I remember Ernest Hemingway saying 'A half finished book is no book at all; finish it.' On cold mornings, when I don't feel like writing, my wife just calls out 'Ernie,' and I think of that quote. -- Write the jacket copy as you imagine it will be. That motivates me, and helps me to focus the story, too. You could take a couple days off and produce the video trailer for the book as another way of envisioning it completed. I've done this with my WIP - PIP? - "VIPER" (it's on YouTube now). Taking a break is a good idea as long as you use some time way to simmer ideas or allow them to arise (then jot them down somewhere). Just remember the old saying: If you leave your art for one day, she will leave you for three.<br />
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John<br />
<a href="http://www.johndesjarlais.com">http://www.johndesjarlais.com</a> Well, it appears that complai…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-09-01:537324:Comment:2122882009-09-01T17:35:09.971ZminervaKhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/minervakoenig
Well, it appears that complaining is the cure. Shortly after I posted this, I closed the gaping hole in my novel. It's now a full, readable, complete story, and I am once again stoked! Champagne all around!<br />
<br />
MK<br />
<a href="http://www.minervakoenig.com">www.minervakoenig.com</a>
Well, it appears that complaining is the cure. Shortly after I posted this, I closed the gaping hole in my novel. It's now a full, readable, complete story, and I am once again stoked! Champagne all around!<br />
<br />
MK<br />
<a href="http://www.minervakoenig.com">www.minervakoenig.com</a>