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      CommentAuthorJabrosky
    • CommentTimeOct 19th 2009
     

    Have you ever stopped working on a story because you gradually lost interest in its premise? This is a huge problem for me. Often I come up with a world or story idea and get all excited about it, but over time my enthusiasm sizzles and I abandon the project.

    If you do suffer this problem, how do you cope with it?

  1.  
    I write down the idea, all of its in's and out's and then leave it in my idea notebook. Although sometimes you need to make your muse work, but if it is completely gone, forcing your way through a story just isn't going to work. Take notes on your brain and let it go until you get the motivation and drive to write. Unless you have a short story DUE in a few days, in which case tough beans and start setting muse traps.
  2.  

    I usually rewatch whatever gave me the ideas in the first place. Case in point, I’ve only got one chapter left in my first draft and I don’t want to write it, so I’ve watched the first ten or so episodes of Rurouni Kenshin. Hopefully that’s enough to get the inertia rolling again.

    If you don’t have any equivalent for your story, I have no idea what to do, except to force yourself to keep writing until it becomes interesting to you again.

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      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 19th 2009
     

    I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten excited about or came up with an idea (usually generated by something I’m reading or watching) only to loose interest when I stop reading/watching whatever gave me the idea. I have 18+ files on my computer that are just points about a concept/setting.

  3.  
    Yeah right, like that's the only reason >.>
  4.  

    I have a feeling Emill’s trying to be sarcastic, but I’m confused.

    I have experienced a loss of muse before, but it’s only been in fanfiction, so I just kind of haven’t finished them yet without feeling too bereft. Sorry I can’t be of more help

  5.  

    Often I come up with a world or story idea and get all excited about it, but over time my enthusiasm sizzles and I abandon the project.

    That happens to me all the time! Then I get another idea, and I keep working on the one that doesn’t interest me anymore, so by the time I get around to the new one, my enthusiasm has died down there too.

    I usually go with the “force the muse to work” method though.

  6.  

    That’s happened to me a lot, but with my current idea, it’s stuck for more than a year now, with considerable evolution, so now I think it’s worth keeping. :D

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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2009
     

    This happens all the time to me. I suppose one point of view would simply be to abandon it and say “Oh well, if it wasn’t interesting enough to keep my attention, it probably wasn’t very good.” But sometimes leaving it alone for a week or two (or month or two… or year or two…) and then returning can help you get into writing it again.

  7.  

    Lesson: don’t throw it away, no matter how crappy it is.

  8.  

    “Oh well, if it wasn’t interesting enough to keep my attention, it probably wasn’t very good.”

    It’s not that really. For me, it’s more that I’ve thought about it so much that when I get around to writing the part I’ve been thinking about, I’m sort of tired of it, and I can’t get the awesomeness in my head to translate to the paper.

  9.  

    Wow. I hope that doesn’t happen to me. I’m probably going to spend a few years on figuring out what’s going on with my plot and worldbuilding and research and stuff. Before I write a single chapter. I’d rather have a few (edited) novels under my belt already so I don’t totally suck when I write this.

  10.  

    Well, that’s the main reason that I don’t do pre-writing. It sucks the fun out of it for me. I also haven’t written anything that required a lot of research. I do let ideas marinate for a while in my head before I write them though. It’s just too much marination that kind of kills them, but I think that time away from the story makes it interesting again for me.

  11.  

    I do let ideas marinate for a while in my head before I write them

    Yes, this is exactly what I do. (So I guess I don’t really ‘pre-write’ in the technical sense.) I just think a whole lot about things on my own time for a long period. Weird little things in life that occur infrequently spark new ideas, and my story gradually grows on its own.

    I think it’s kind of like growing a tree. It’s a very ‘organic’ process, if you get what I mean.

  12.  

    Yes, organic is a good word. I also sort of get into the mindset of the main character and think about things from his/her perspective. I do this when I’m walking through the halls at school, which causes my face to contort into weird expressions, so people probably think that’s something is wrong with me.

    I never actually write things down before I start the story. I just think about them.

  13.  

    Mine’s still on vacation. I need it back ;_;