It's Easier in My Head

Does anyone else have trouble getting their stories from their head onto the paper (or computer screen)?

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I gave up writing a while back, but I've found myself "writing" stories in my head.
For example; Tonight as I was walking home alone I started a story, like I was reading it out loud in my head, and I really liked it.

As I got home I opened up Word 'cause I wanted to write it down and I just couldn't.

I had forgotten the sentences, and even though I still remembered what the story was about, I got stuck after just two sentences 'cause I couldn't remember what happened next.

I feel like I should walk around with a notebook all the time, though at the same time, it feels like all the words disappear when I'm supposed to write it down.

That happens to me all the time, especially with dialogue.
Like, I'll hear the characters speaking in my head, but hours later when I'm on the computer it's gone.

You can try to always keep a notebook with you, or type it into your cell phone.

Ugh, that ALWAYS happens to me. Normally I come up with it when I'm trying to sleep, and even when I try to write it down it sounds like crap. I hate that feeling.

I wish there was a little robot that scribbled down my thoughts. :tehe:

I feel like that all the time. I will start day dreaming and suddenly I see this story just written out in my head. But once I get a pen and paper out I can not find the words to write it out or it sounds completely juvenile. It is quite annoying when you think about it considering it sounded so awesome.

This happens to me all the time. I get ideas in the randomest of times and I can never find the words to write it down.

It's like, I have an idea, but once I find myself a pen and paper, I automatically can't think of the words to say.

this happens to me constantly. it's one reason i stopped writing for so long. i actually do carry a notebook in my purse a lot though, so that i can jot down the primary themes, sentences, etc. sometimes if i'm desperate to hold on to the idea in my head, i'll write it in my cell phone and text it to myself.

This happens to me all of the time!

It's like, I can see everything perfectly... but, when I try to find the words, it's impossible.

This happens to me almost every night, I'll sit in bed and just
write in my head.

But when I try to write it down, I can't remember all of it, I can't get it out
correctly. I'll try countless times but it never comes out how I pictured in my head.

Oh, I understand exactly what you mean. It's infuriating, isn't it? Because you just know the brilliance is inside you, you can feel the brilliance, hear the words in your head, but when you try to translate them on the page, they turn out broken and maimed.

One thing I've found helpful is to make a habit of writing on a regular basis, whether I'm inspired or not. It sucks sometimes, but when I keep at it, those little ideas start popping out from the nooks and crannies of my mind and I'm finally able to get them onto the page. But yeah, I think I speak for all of us when I say I feel your pain.

An alternative solution is to record yourself talking about it. It feels weird at first to record yourself, but after a while one gets used to it. I tend to get a little paranoid of other people hearing me, though, so I don't use this method much.

This is why I haven't written a word in three years. D:

I tend to get an idea that sounds really good in my head, but when it comes to writing it, it doesn't sound as good. I don't write it in the way it should sound and I eventually give up with the idea.

i agree with chutney prophet-- writing even when you're not really inspired and don't particularly want to does help. back when i wrote some of my best stuff, it was because i wrote constantly about anything. i never let myself draw a blank.

for some reason though, i stopped doing that and now i haven't written anything decent in a year and a half. just reading this thread is inspiring me to start writing again though, whether i like it or not. :D

I always have about a million stories in my head, it's either when I'm sitting in class or driving. Sometimes I can write the story thoughts in a notebook during a class, but when I'm driving, it's a no go and by the time I get home and am able to sit down at a computer, it's gone that or it just doesn't come out the way I wanted it. It's so annoing, because I do love to write, I just get stuck half the time because the words just don't seem to flow right.

It happens all the time. :cheese:
I'll have this scene, or an entire story all thought out in my head but when I go to write it....gah. I have no motivation to do it because it takes forever.

This happens to me constantly. I'm a very visual person, so I see the whole story playing and re-playing in my head like a movie and I get so flustered and anxious to write it all down as fast as it plays out in my head.

Frustrating is the least powerful word for it. :grr:

That happens to me all the time.
What I try to do is repeat the good sentences over and over to myself until I get a chances to write them down. That's usually how I end up getting scenes cemented in my head. I'll literally have whole paragraphs of my stories memorized. :XD

I hate how it's never as good in black and white, though. It always sounds better in your head.

lydiajudith:

This happens to me almost every night, I'll sit in bed and just
write in my head.

That's what I do.
Plus during school.
That's why I get writer's block during the summer, I don't have seven hours a day to plan out what's happening in the next chapter. :XD

This happens to me all the fucking time. I usually write stories in my head and think of story ideas when I have no way to write it down.
My way to try and remember what I'm mind-writing is to go over the sentences, try to memorize them. :] My newest story 'Grow Up' was written like that, in my head, in the middle of a soccer field.

That's how I am now. It really really sucks cause I wanna' get it out but just explaining it doesn't give what's in my head justice.

That happens to me CONSTANTLY, I'll be doing the simplest thing and I'll start like, writing these awesome details for a story in my mind. But once I try to write it down, the words seem to lack the flare they had when I thought about them.