Trouble with writing stories?

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When I said that, I mean that I orignally posted this, I wasn't thinking of it as autism related. My original intention was to see if other people had the problems that I posted, which I have. But now I realize that it is autism-related. My apologies if my post seemed vague, and I hope I cleared this up.

I think so, I'll let you know if I ever finish enough of one.

Actually, I think that with a little bit of research you will find that it is more writer related than autism related. There is just too much material out there about this kind of thing for it to all be from aspies.

Something which helped me was when a friend and neighbor who is a retired special ed teacher gave me a book/workbook titled The Artist's Way, by a Julia Cameron (who appears to be not related to film director James Cameron) The exercises in it have made a difference for me.

Something which those exercises can't do a whole lot about is several neurological and endocrine diseases which interfere with my ability to write, draw, make models, even drive a car.

But, hey, I do what I can when I can, and look for things which will help me some way, somehow.

I tend to skip around a lot when I write stories. I have big gaps that I never end up filling in because I don't know how I should get from one point to another, or because I have some idea of what happens between two points but not enough detail to actually write it down. Different parts come to me at different times, not even in order. I also have trouble switching from one character to another - I'm good at getting into the mindset of one character, once I've got them established, but not so good at, say, switching between characters as they're having a conversation. I've found that I can get into it a lot better if I write it in first person from one character's perspective, but that format doesn't always work well due to a particular story's nature. I don't bother with outlines or anything, I just let the story go where it will - I start writing before I have enough of an idea for a real outline. I just start writing and see where it ends up going. Sometimes a story ends up being completely different from the original notion I had, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I have three stories I'm presently working on that eventually sort of merge, and I've been working on them all for at least a year or two (the first one I started in high school), and I've never gotten over 100 pages written of anything (I was very excited to get over 50 with one of them ).

I find I deal with this a lot. One partial solution so far has been to write down every little episode that comes to mind in as much detail that comes at the moment. I can worry about stringing them together later.




Personally when I'm hoping all over the place it also tends to be from character to character. My current project is intended to be limited third person, so this works.

Might it be easier to use third-person omniscient? Or does the PoV style not matter for when you experience this?



Outlines are very handy if your goal is to finish writing a story. If the goal is just to write for the sake of writing they're not nearly as useful.

That said, I'm hardly one to talk. The novel I claim to be working on developed out of ideas that I came up with when I was 15-19. I'll still end up fat, old and dead before it's done.

I try to write everything down as I think of it too, but oftentimes it's when I'm out and about, for example walking my dog, and my mind doesn't have anything better to do than wander, so I don't have paper or a computer handy, and it isn't convenient to stop and write it down even if I did bring a little notebook or something (although maybe I should just in case I think of something I just have to write down).

I find that the story flows a lot better for me if I write in first-person. I've tried changing a story from first to third person after I realized first wasn't going to work out for that one, and it just didn't translate well - I lost much of the natural feel and flow the first-person version had. I can't switch from one character to another very readily - I can get completely into the mindset of one character, but then it'll take a while for me to switch to another and be able to write them well, too. When I do third person, it's usually somewhat omniscient, but focusing on one main character - not entirely restricted to that character's point of view, but focusing on it.

I'm writing purely for my own enjoyment - it doesn't really matter if I ever finish a story or not. I started writing because I'll come up with ideas that just won't leave me alone until I get them on paper. I kind of feel like my stories can always be improved on, like even if I had the entire story down, I could keep making it better - I don't really like the idea of a story being at a point where I can't go back and edit or improve on it. That and my lack of self-confidence (and presence of self-consciousness) are why I don't really want to ever publish anything. But I feel more like I'm kind of a conduit for the stories - like I can shape them, but am not actually creating the basis myself, and they only come to me one bit at a time. I really struggled with trying to write outlines when I had to do it in school.

Ever consider getting a tape recorder (erm, whatever the modern equivalent of that is...)? I don't have one but I've considered it, since you can basically just spit your flow of consciousness into it and even if it's not clear it will prompt memories of what you were considering.



I plan on using 3rd limited, so as you bounce between people often the same events are being portrayed from another perspective. I'm really needing to be mindful of how people of different backgrounds would perceive some things in very different ways, I tend to smear their minds together when I try to write too many people at once - I guess basically what you describe, or at least similar. Some are easier to switch between than others, but that might just mean they're too one-dimensional.



Definitely since our goals are different some of my perspective won't be relevant (and explains where I just don't/can't your perspective). I enjoy writing, but to some extent this is a matter of wanting to demonstrate to myself I can plan and undertake a large scale project, and this is cheaper and less physically demanding than say building a custom car (if I can write a novel, I can do that too, but that's the next one, I just gotta finish the novel and find a not-rusted out Chevy Vega).

Mostly the outline exists to give me a general idea of how all the plotlines/arcs interact. It's easy to write out two ideas that work but then find out they don't meet where they're supposed to. I'm unlikely to ever publish this as I finish it. I might, but much like you I'm quite self-conscious about sharing a project like this with too many others.

An outline and notes are both a godsend and a massive distraction. I love world-building and find I'm lost doing that instead of thinking of storylines... and when I think of storylines they're always sideplots and never move the main few plots forward. That said, they do allow to keep things consistent, as well as at times they cause stories to 'write parts all by themselves'; an example I had two (child) characters living rough and I didn't want to write a sad ending for them, I already as a major plot point had someone in the area, who was already for other reasons decided to be a relative of one of the two kids, problem solved.

I don't have a tape recorder or anything either. I think I'd probably do better just jotting down a few quick notes to remind myself, but that's something to consider if that ends up being too inconvenient.

Maybe my stories are just too simple to really need an outline. They tend to mostly just follow one line of events, without a bunch of stuff to keep track of. I can't keep track of all the things I'd need to create my own entire world - the world I mostly use is pretty similar to this one. It would probably be a lot easier if I made notes and stuff, but that's really not the way I'm used to writing. Might be worth a try, though - it'd probably be fun once I got the hang of it. I'm really not very good at any part of writing besides coming up with ideas, which is part of why I don't want to let anyone else read what I've written - I know I'm bad . Only some parts of any of my stories are even halfway decent - it would be so much better if I could just come up with the right words, but that's really not my strong suit. I don't want to put other people in the awkward position of either having to tell me how terrible it is, or lie and say it isn't that bad. I read enough to know that yeah, it is. But it's still fun, and I think the good parts are really good, so I keep doing it. It also feels good to look back at earlier drafts of my stories and see just how much all the little (and sometimes not-so-little) changes added up to make it better. I guess that's a good thing about perseverating on things - I have a tendency to keep thinking about and improving on things, even if it's just one scene at a time.

I like that approach, and it's good to not be too harsh on yourself. If they were only ever written to be simple, no need to worry they are, and if they're well written and interesting that's more important than having 500 named characters and dozens of plot arcs.

One approach I've tried to adopt is to basically write a skeleton or frame of the story and then try to flesh it out piece by piece. Sometimes dialogue will just be represented by a placeholder, or entire chunks will be summarized with the intention to flesh them out later, but the long term goal is to always be adding to and improving those pieces.

Eventually the 'frame' should get the 'sub-assemblies' (the chunks I mentioned earlier) added to it where appropriate and if the story is really complex you might end up merging multiple frames because each arc was too dense to deal with all together (although if that's the case maybe you need to NOT merge them since it will be too dense and busy to keep track of).

I can't really say that's how I write though, but it's the goal I'm working towards.

That's something like what I do, I think, except not starting out with a complete skeleton. I think I start out with an idea of the shape, and then try to add the skeleton - but then sometimes I'll realize the skeleton itself isn't quite right, or is missing a piece, or something. I write the main plot points as best I can and add "flesh" as I find it - and the connective tissue is often the hardest part for me to get. I put stuff in as placeholders, or just leave gaps to remind myself that I need something else there but I don't know what (which is why it works best for me to write on a computer instead of paper). I sometimes write parts of scenes that aren't very good just to remind myself of the general idea I had for that bit, and then leave a gap where it isn't finished - that works best to remind myself that something needs more work, because the blank space will catch my attention.

Like you describe, I don't start with a complete skeleton, even if I intended too I'm too distractible to actually complete step 1 before trying to start steps 2 and 3.

I use to write stories a lot throughout elementary school and high school. I stopped once I got to college. I have so many stories that are unfinished. Sometimes I try to go back and rewrite them or continue them, but I always end up having writer's block. It has always been a dream of mine to have my stories published. But, I don't know...the notebooks are in a box somewhere catching dust.

Plot is my downfall. I can't seem to come up with an actual storyline. Sometimes I have a concept for an SF story, but I'm unable to develop it. Other times, I have several distinctive characters, a detailed setting, random scenes, lengthy chunks of dialogue showing how my characters interact... but can't think of a plot to tie them together.

The few plots I do come up with are so painfully weak or derivative I can't bear to write them. I've wondered if that's because the overall plot isn't actually my favourite aspect of most novels. I get immersed in the language, the atmosphere, the characters, the setting, the ideas... I'm another LotR fan, and also love "Gormenghast" and "Tristram Shandy," two books which consist mainly of random digressions.

Ya know, since my sci-fi story is now a few hundred pages it would probably be smart to make an index of which scenes are in which chapters.
They do; and in some ways that's a really cool thing. It is a pleasant surprise when you write something then think, that's different from what I expected to write that person doing, but, ya know, it fits.

If I may make a suggestion - - let your Id take the driver's seat, and just write randomly (but with a general idea in mind, for the sake of direction). You might find something of interest in the carnage afterward.

Speaking of "the carnage afterwards," has anyone here ever tried NaNoWriMo or other speed-writing challenges? Was it worth it?

One of my favourite webcomic writers basically learned to write narrative prose in public: he put up chapters of a rambling make-it-up-as-you-go-along novel on his website. Early installments were very badly written, and he left it unfinished once he'd grown out of it. But he learned enough from the process to script the aforementioned webcomic and also do well-crafted short stories.