Writing Chat Room

I have had the most difficult time writing anything that is not a role-play. I think I'm just so busy with finishing up end of the year stuff and worrying about my evals that I can't bring myself to write anything decent. I hate when life sucks the creativity out of me!

I haven't written anything in way, way, way too long. It's sad, really. There's a new story I want to start/kind of started, but I'm in the process of moving across the country so it's hard to get anything productive done writing-wise, because I have all these real-world things to do, packing and address changes and changing banks and quitting a job and it's very stressful, and writing helps with that, and I know exactly what I want to write and where I want to go with it and everything, but translating my thoughts into a story I actually like is pretty much impossible right now! Wish me luck in a couple weeks, guys, hopefully I'll be able to start writing then!

I'm struggling to find time to write anything. When I'm not writing I have the motivation, I have ideas and momentum to follow through with the rest of chapter eight of When Night Falls but when I actually have the time to sit down and write I can't find the motivation and I procrastinate. Like now, my boyfriend is watching the baby while we wait on pizza and he's letting me play on the computer but Im doing Mibba Bingo and browsing Facebook and 9GAG instead of writing.
I'm hoping I can write once my friend moves into my apartment complex later this month and on the three day trip my boyfriend and I are taking with his grandparents and the baby. We have a 5 hour ride and Im hoping I can use half of that time to at least finish chapter eight which is almost done. Oh my god, Im so close to finishing it I can taste it.

@ Qhuinn
Well I hope you can get it done! :D

I find distractions that are just life to be a problem for me too >.< I hope you can get your story written, because personally it's just an achievement to me that I can get it done even though I have all these other things around me demanding my attention and time. Is it the same way for you? :3

My mom just went through a major surgery so she's in my apartment with my for the next week, and has been for two weeks now. I love her, love her a lot, but I like being alone. *le sigh*

@ doofiqua
I always feel this deep sense of accomplishment when I finish a chapter or a story. Its been over a year since I finished my last story and I've been writing this one for five years. I miss the days of my youth where I could fi fish a full length story in three months [strike]granted they sucked[/strike].

I noticed that though. Before my boyfriend moved in I wrote more now that he's there I don't write as much. And now with a baby its harder. I hope your mom is recovering well and that she's well enough to leave your apartment on time.

I'm currently working on a dramatic teenage summer, girl gang against girl gang fic + a candidly rated NC-17 *hella trigger warning bc there's going to be a graphic rape scene* fic where no characters express emotions verbally except once. It's going to be maybe 10 chapters long, but I really want to do this. I want to push myself and write things I'm not used to.

It's been ages that I wrote anything, and even longer that I wrote something that was more than a few hundred words long. I had ideas, but I never though how to start. Beginnings are always so hard for me to write.

I'm slowly going through all of my stories and deleting them all (I'll still have the story pages up for awhile. I have a question for everyone here. If/when some of you guys decide to rewrite a story, do you prefer to rewrite the whole story from scratch or do you just go back and edit the story while adding and taking out a few things?

@ Princess of Unicorns
Personally, I like to go through the old story and see what (if anything) I can salvage, even if that's just a few lines of dialogue. I've done extensive rewrites in that fashion. Basically I just read the old work, make notes of what I want to change, and then get to the re-write version. I don't believe I've ever rewritten a whole story just from scratch, at least not since I was a child (as a kid I used to lose whole drafts of stories and be forced to rewrite from scratch, needless to say I stopped doing that!)

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Okay, guys, I need some help. I'm trying to come up with a name for the hospital that my character Dr. Samuels (from the story The Impossible Children) works at. The story is set in New York City (or at least his parts are set there.)
I'm okay with using a real hospital if anyone from the NYC area wants to help me come up with one that would make sense (PM me about it if that's the case because I have a lot of questions!), but I was thinking about just making up a fake hospital name because that seems easier. I'm having trouble coming up with a good and realistic sounding name though! Anyone have any ideas?

@ This.Useless.Heart.
I strongly recommend making up your own hospital because if you use one form real life you will need the address for it a rough idea of the layout and possibly even the staff. As for the name I recommend something related to medicine or angels, or even based around the medical school the founding staff attended (as most hospitals are named in that fashion). Perhaps something like Saint Cathryn's (I'm assuming it's a children's hospital) children's hospital.

@ Fantasy Writer Hina
Well if you want to completely overhaul the story then yes start over from the very beginning. If you wanted to add just a little more or expand on whats there then keep what you have and try to casually add it in while notifying your readers about the extra content.
Since it sounds like you just wanna start from scratch I recommend keeping the core characters and key plot points in but wipe clean everything else and try a different approach to writing the story.

@ Fantasy Writer Hina
Hope that helps.

@ starfallfantasy
Thanks for the tip. I was sort of leaning toward the making up a fictional hospital thing for reasons similar to those. It's actually not a children's hospital, though I can understand where you came to that conclusion. (The titular "children" are unborn children.)
I was thinking of going with a name or an institution name or something like that, although it's not a Catholic hospital or anything so I might avoid "St. Name" kind of name. I'm thinking maybe something like Last Name Medical Center or something like that (only with an actual last name obviously lol)

Somebody needs to kill my plot bunnies! They're a menace and have way too many story ideas...

Meep, i've been getting a lot of story ideas lately -- even while cleaning and stuff. I've been reading this steampunk anthology (a collection of short stories) and I got an idea for a story concerning fairies now...

I'm currently writing a lot of One Direction/5 Seconds of Summer things, and I really want to write K-Pop things. I have an idea for a Markson, so I'm going to start brain storming for it.

Oh. My. God. Just worldbuilding *dies*

I have all these ideas for a fantasy epic and they've been floating around in my head for about three years. I drew a map and everything. I feel like I'm way too far ahead to just turn back but I'm getting so frustrated with waiting for inspiration and more of the plot to fall into place. I just don't know what to do anymore and I like cant write because of this issue and I don't feel like I could do anything with the fantasy thing until more of it falls into place, if that makes sense. Ugh. This is so infuriating!!!! :'(

Warning: Rant after this point.
And oh my gosh I hate people. They're just so damn nosy. I'm a closeted writer, lets just say that. I have a plastic box under my bed and I constantly say that its just old tests or basketball plays. Every single time I sit down and wrote something I get freaking interrogated on what I'm doing. If it isn't obvious enough by the face that the TVs off, and I have a mug of tea in one hand, a pen in the other, and a notebook on my lap, I'm obviously writing something! What are you writing? Why cant you actually do something productive? Why did you just walk away from me? Can I see it? So many freaking questions. I don't mind if a close friend stumbles upon a notebook or my above noted drawing of a map for a stir and asks about it, but so many other people (mom, step dad, teachers, 30% of friends/peers) act like touching a pen to paper is a bad thing. I don't get why its any of the business! I get that in some cases its my parents, and they care for me and stuff, but I don't know. It's just frustrating and its making me want to give up the damned hobby! I don't truly want it to come to that, though, as I'm an analytical person and this is literally my only creative outlet. More than just that, though, I think that there's a beauty in using words to make something so much bigger. I just love it. But there's always people getting in my way of seemingly everything that I actually like. And that sucks because I did actually start to think of just burning everything that I've ever done and just being done with it.

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@ Moonlight Fairy Hina
Steampunk AND fae? My god, that sounds amazing. I cannot wait to read that :)

@ Up in the Air.
Yeesss!! I listed the plot bunny in the plot bunny thread, too (in case anyone wanted to use the plot too), but it's basically gonna be a girl getting/finding a wind up fairy doll, made by her dad, and it turns out to be a real fairy, only the doll comes alive when the girl is alone. It was slightly inspired by the Pinocchio fairy-tale as well.

And don't worry about the curious people being curious about your writing, it happens to all of us. I had my grandparents be extremely curious about what I wrote. I show them the more "childish" poems I write and that satisfies them. (Be careful about writing anything that's deemed a little too mature for you. I got into heaps of trouble for even writing out someone cussing or people kissing).

If you're having trouble with world building, maybe you can write a few scenes that take place in some parts of the world you have so far? It's also good for character building too.

@ Up in the Air

I find it helps to push through those "blocked moments" by trying to write whatever comes easiest at the time--don't worry about if it is actually any good or if it in sequential order, or if it will even fit into the story in the end. Just put words on the page until something usable DOES come out!

I am personally a big fan of world building. I have maps and charts and lists and sketches all over the place! It can be hard sometimes, though, feeling like I have to have every little detail hammered out in order to make it work. But I read an article recently that talked about focusing on a few main characteristics to build a foundation, and the rest of the details will either not even matter because they won't come up, or they'll pop up as you write. For me, I focus on geography (the map stuff); the economy--what would these people live like, rich/poor, what do they do for a living, and how does it effect their culture and values; how does this effect, in turn, my story and my character? how does it drive them or motivate them into the story and the climax? Does it make sense in the geographical setting? i.e. mountainous terrain would put more stock in hard work, but the character may be considered lazy, so she/he leaves to find a place in the world. The family probably wouldn't be rich, so it would make sense that she/he may come from more humble roots. This would come into play on his/her adventure, maybe coming across richer communities by the sea, different cultures. Etc.

I have often fallen in the rut of "waiting for inspiration". All the articles and books I've read, however, all say to try to write something every day--even if it sucks or it has nothing to do with the actual book project. Getting words flowing onto a page will help in itself. You can always throw it out or go back and edit it!

I really hope this helps you a little. Don't worry about being good or waiting for inspiration! Just write! The rest will come out eventually! This principal has helped me so much with my writing!

For tips on world building, try this article.

I have a story (strength of the world) that is a werewolf story and I'm trying to think of ideas for what to do for the wedding/mating ceremony, there is going to be a wedding but it's a bit different, I have no idea on how to get it different from a normal wedding like what I should add in.

I want to add something like a ritual maybe but I have no idea what one could be I've tried looking stuff up for ideas but nothing good seems to come up.

Does anyone think they can help me by giving me some idea or suggestions?
Thanks in advance foREVerTegan :)