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/lit/ - Literature

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758858 No.758858 [Reply] [Original]

sup /lit/. question for all you writer-types: how do you stay focused? whenever i write, it seems as though i begin with a clear goal but then lose track of it midway through. how do you maintain themes and shit like that in your writing? do you? majority of the difficulty i have in writing is translating my thoughts fully to paper; most of the time i'm thinking too rapidly and skip steps that would make whatever i'm writing richer and deeper, more thoughtful. so: how do you do it?

>> No.758981

>>758858

Bump for interest.

>> No.758988

I whrite for short fragments about 10-15 kb. Also you can associate your text (what u need write) with music composition or something alse and when u back too writings u can fast remember what u think and what u want.

>> No.758994

>>758981
I second this, I can never stay committed to anything.

>> No.759001

I write poetry. I am generally struck by the idea for a poem somewhere out in my life and I go and sit down and write. Then I go out and live life some more and come up with ideas to improve poems/write new ones.

>> No.759009

>>759001
I find poetry very easy to write. Free verse is a joke and apart from villianelles most of it is pretty straight forward.

>> No.759034

Keep going back. You don't have to worry about working your themes in every chapter the first time through, you can go back and add important imagery, edit things to make it more thematically coherent, etc.

Also, before you start writing, have a decent idea of the main plot points. Know how it's going to start and end, but more importantly how it's going to get from the start to the end. Have a flexible ending in case those intermediary steps don't work out as you originally expected.

>> No.759065

Outline. I know it feels like a high school essay assignment, but try sketching out a plot synopsis for yourself, however rough it may be. In fact, don't worry about polish on your first run-through. Write what's taking your attention, as fast as you can without it being fanfic-terrible. A shitty full draft is better than two immaculate pages, and any writer who claims not to edit is full of shit.

Even Faulkner.

>> No.759116

(a) don't write with a theme in mind. if your story is good, the theme will emerge in its own time.
(b) writing is rewriting. it's important to just sit down and get as much of your thoughts on paper at first. worry about perfecting it later.

>>759034
>>759065

i would say that your mileage may vary on the usefulness of planning and plotting. for every good, successful writer that plans out their stories, there is another that writes by the seat of their pants and lets the story unfold in front of them as they write. plotting is not helpful for everyone.

>> No.759123

>>759116

Yeah, they're called beatniks.

Some people can just flow... but I usually start with a theme in mind, and planning plot points to make the theme work is important.