just do a diary. piers anthony fans used to look forward more to his authors notes than his books (almost) which was pretty much a little story of what was happening with his life. Keep a diary and reread and see about rewriting more interesting bits into an amusing little story.
A poet friend once advised me: “it’s not your guts, don’t make it precious to you, just write what comes, it’s not identity or possession, mine it later for good bits”.
Write garbage for a few minutes when you start. Plan on throwing that away. Warm up. Stretch the brain then put it to work. It’s low risk.
Stephen King has stated multiple times in his musings (especially when speaking about the dark tower saga) about the importance of just writing. Not liking/loving/etc just doing a lot of it. Just write.
80% of the bullshit you come up with when you’re not having a flash of inspiration is still good enough to fill the gaps over. You just want to make sure it’s thematically consistent with the core idea you had. And also have a solid editor
“Don’t wait for the muse. As I’ve said, he’s a hardheaded guy who’s not susceptible to a lot of creative fluttering. This isn’t the Ouija board or the spirit-world we’re talking about here, but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine 'til noon. or seven 'til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he’ll start showing up.” ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Inspiration and motivation can be fleeting in all aspects of life, and so discipline can be more reliable.
Some progress is better than no progress.
Why do you need to force yourself? Is there a deadline?
Normally I never force myself.
Just like when you feel like not doing anything else, you just get going and sometimes just starting anyway pays off and you get into a good flow
Are we talking fiction or non-fiction? Obligated writing (school, work) or voluntary writing (journaling, fun)? Getting over a hump (dealing with writer’s block) or getting started in the first place?
It’s really hard to give advice without knowing the context of the problem.
When I was younger there was a hot new book called The Artist’s Way. I never finished it, I don’t even know if I would recommend it, but one of the practices it recommends is morning pages, and morning pages helped me.
What you do is you get a pen and a notebook, and write three pages every morning. If you miss a morning, wait til next morning and write three pages. It doesn’t have to be good or even sensical. A lot of my early morning pages were line after line of “I don’t want to do this, this is bullshit, I’m just kiiiiiiiilllllllling trees and wasting space this is dumb”. Eventually I got bored of writing that stuff and started writing other things, but it took a long time.
The trick is you gotta do it every day, even on days you don’t want to. No one but you can make you write so if you don’t do it, you won’t do it.
I’m a professional writer and this is the way. You’ve just got to force yourself to write. Even if it’s nonsense. Even if you don’t want to. Especially if you don’t want to.
People ask what the difference is between a professional writer and an amateur. Some might say it’s getting paid, but that’s not true - plenty of professional writers don’t get paid. The difference is discipline. When you’re a professional writer you need to be able to turn it on every single day, even when there’s not an ounce of inspiration in your body.
A lot of it is repetition, and showing up every day with a quota to fill. The other part is not overthinking everything and letting your ideas flow freely.
I just got into a habit. I listen to the same few playlists, sit with my coffee in the same chair, keep distractions away from me (out of arm’s reach) and I write. It was hard to keep up for a while at first, but now it’s not so hard even on ‘off days’. Usually, I just turn those into revision days. I also take breaks so I don’t burn out, toooooooo hard.
Try recording yourself talking about the subject out loud in private. Like, in a car. I use a program called audacity to make a transcript, then I take parts I like to write. I find it’s easier to talk about things than write when experiencing block.
Set a timer. Sit. Write bullshit until timer yells.
The secret seems to lie in not giving a shit what you write.
Just write anything. Eventually you start to have ideas of how to build on what you started. The real trick is understanding that a first draft is supposed to be bad. Don’t worry about doing it right. Do it first. Then clean it up later.
You just do it. I’ve written 2 novels and half way through my 3rd. You just crack on and develop the ideas you have as you go. It’s a long process with plenty of rewriting and editing, but you end up with something intricate that you have crafted.
