having issues starting

[Velvetmeds]

hi people

a few days ago i had an ideia about a story for a book and started writing.. on the first 2 days i wrote about 2500 words which were basically a 1st draft of the prologue.

after 2 days of being too busy and kinda away from home, i was about to review the chapter and improve it... and here is my first problem. i hated all of it. what seemed like good ideas and good writing when i wrote it, now feels like utter garbage. i erased all of it and am gonna start again.

but this seems to be a big problem with my writing; when i write it feels okay, when i read it again it looks terrible, amateurish and childish. i also seem to write much better in english than in portuguese (my native language), but i have to write in portuguese if i want to get it published...obviously.

i'm a bit worried that i might just not "have it". i read a lot, and still don't write good enough.

[wlz]

Maybe you need to find your voice...? On the other hand, welcome to the world of rewrites. I never agree with abandoning a work for such reasons as you describe above... KEEP GOING!

[wlz]

...and stop doubting. If you really want to write and find there's nothing else on this blasted planet that you can put your hand to then JUST KEEP WRITING!

[applepie]

First rule of writing, and one I very rarely take to heart, write everything first and then go back to edit. Editing in the middle of a work seems to be a surefire way to ensure that it will never be finished. I've 150 pages of a novel that I was very happy with, then I started to edit it to try and rewrite a thread that didn't unravel the way I wanted. No I have a 150 pages on my computer that I don't even look at any more. I just lost it right in the middle of everything... Hopefully I'll go back to one of these days, but I'll likely rewrite the entire thing and it will never be what was originally conceived.

Good luck in picking up the pieces and starting again. It is very difficult, and sometimes just starting from scratch again and pushing through it again is the best way.

[Dinkleberry2010]

As far as revising and editing goes, what works best for me is to write the whole thing out, and then go back and do the revising/editing. Some writers prefer to revise/edit as they go along. I say do whatever works best for you.

[heroman]

Keeep Going.

[keilj]

hi people

a few days ago i had an ideia about a story for a book and started writing.. on the first 2 days i wrote about 2500 words which were basically a 1st draft of the prologue.

after 2 days of being too busy and kinda away from home, i was about to review the chapter and improve it... and here is my first problem. i hated all of it. what seemed like good ideas and good writing when i wrote it, now feels like utter garbage. i erased all of it and am gonna start again.

but this seems to be a big problem with my writing; when i write it feels okay, when i read it again it looks terrible, amateurish and childish. i also seem to write much better in english than in portuguese (my native language), but i have to write in portuguese if i want to get it published...obviously.

i'm a bit worried that i might just not "have it". i read a lot, and still don't write good enough.

I do this quite a bit (start, look back at it, find it to be rubbish)


my humble advice: 1 - don't erase or delete anything. Keep it even if you never look at it again. You may go back and pluck a sentence from it, or an idea from it

2 - don't quit. Start over and write it again. Sometimes you might have to start over a couple times - but odds are you will write something that you like if you keep trying

3 - as others have suggested, it might be better to wait to edit or re-read until you are done. Looking back at stuff as you are still writing will provably be a big time-waster. Plus, once you are done or close to being done, then editing or replacing a paragraph or section does not delete your whole story

[Veva]

Hi, this sometimes happens to me as well. I believe that the core of the problem is the fact that somewhere utterly hidden in my writing is a vast lack of confidence... How good is your own self-esteem?

[MSDGreen]

First rule of writing, and one I very rarely take to heart, write everything first and then go back to edit. Editing in the middle of a work seems to be a surefire way to ensure that it will never be finished. I've 150 pages of a novel that I was very happy with, then I started to edit it to try and rewrite a thread that didn't unravel the way I wanted. No I have a 150 pages on my computer that I don't even look at any more. I just lost it right in the middle of everything... Hopefully I'll go back to one of these days, but I'll likely rewrite the entire thing and it will never be what was originally conceived.

Good luck in picking up the pieces and starting again. It is very difficult, and sometimes just starting from scratch again and pushing through it again is the best way.

This seems like good advice. I often putter out after trying to edit what I have SO FAR. I'll take your advice to heart and see if I can finally push through that re-write. I'll send ya some love if I am successful.

[WingedWolf]

I would say one simple and important rule to follow is to make sure you're not forcing anything. You should let the story flow naturally and the details will come to you.

Don't feel forced to do anything. If you feel more comfortable writing in English, write in English. If you feel more comfortable with Portugues, write in Portugues. Why do you feel that you need to write in Portugues to be published? People read books in English too. And you can always write in English and then translate or have someone else translate for you.

This also brings up another question. Why are you worried so much about publishing when you are still setting the story up. That should come later.

If you stifle yourself you won't tell the story from your heart. And likewise, if you free your creativity, the story will flow out of you in a more perfect way than you could have imagined or planned.

[Mariner]

You're not going to improve unless you work out the "amateurish" kinks. You've got to work through the writing you don't like. You need to edit, edit, edit. Build off the writing you don't like and cut the things you don't. Recognize your strength and work on your weakness. Just keep writing!

[xtianfriborg13]

Have you tried having other people read your work? I think you should do that to gather opinions, in that way, maybe you can decide whether or not you should continue writing about it.

Also, don't just delete your work, you might need the in the future, you never know.