I Do No. 1 And No. 5 A Lot. The Problem I Have Is That I Can't Force The Ideas, But Then I Feel Bad About

I do no. 1 and no. 5 a lot. The problem I have is that I can't force the ideas, but then I feel bad about not working on them...

how to go from daydream to draft:

begin by daydreaming as you normally do, or just after you've finished doing so. write down every thought you have. one after another. do not reread. do not stop for spelling mistakes. just dump out every thought. this is called stream of consciousness writing. you can do this for every scene you need a first draft for.

struggling to draft the scene? try to daydream about it. start thinking about how it would look, feel, what the characters would say, act it out in your head and then write out the stream of your thoughts as they arrive.

by now you have a few scene dumps. you may be tempted to go back and edit. do not do this expect for obvious spelling mistakes. do not read closely and start thinking "i need to rework this sentence." that is for later. now you're in the zone. draft more scenes. or work out what the next scene needs to be, scaffold it with a few comments. this will be the inspiration for your next deliberate thought stream that you will write out. repeat this process until you have the whole draft.

now that you have a draft or part of a draft you get to do this very fun thing called revise until you're happy. sweep through your draft with specific goals each time. one sweep to fix spelling/grammar. another for character voice. another for plot. repeat until you're happy with it.

leave it alone. just leave it for a bit. at least a few hours or days or even weeks. forget it exists. this will allow you come back with fresh eyes. then you can do your revisions with an eagle eye. now you may realize you need to add/remove scenes. you know how to get the first version down. close your eyes and daydream at your desk if that's what takes!

remember that fiction writing is persuasive writing. you are trying to persuade the reader to care about what happens next, the character's, the world, the feelings. as you're revising, consider whether you are persuaded. is the feeling/thoughts you wanted to provoke being felt by you when you read it? when working with beta readers, be sure to communicate what you're trying to convey so they can tell you if you've been successful or not.

this got a bit beyond getting the first draft done. hope you found it helpful.

bonus tip: check the spellings of names and places and other nouns that are not typically used, like the name of a magic tool!

I give myself what I want. It's why I write them, to change the story and to bring to life what goes on in my mind. Even if it's trash and nobody wants it, at least it's MY trash, and all that matters if I want it.

Don't you think you owe it to readers to give them what they want?

No? What an odd take. Read my fic or don't.

Thanks imma use dis

How to avoid character inconsistency in your writing

Set your character boundaries:

What's the background?

What's your character's backstory?

What are their traits, and how do they portray them?

Know what keeps your characters motivated. (Are they reaching their goal?)

You can avoid quick shifting of scenes. Let your readers absorb the setting of the scene.

Ensure that their actions and decisions align with their development and growth.

Tip 1: Start your chapter with a scene or dialogue that comes back at the end, which helps maintain consistency.

Tip 2: Throughout the chapter avoid the fast pacing of the story, rather let the characters express themselves so that it's clear for the readers.

Consider how your characters react to situations that are hard to convey. (Do they feel nervous? Scared? Fearless?)

Dialogue writing is crucial in explaining your character's personality while writing a story.

This process requires lots of re-reading and writing, fixing character holes and rewriting character arcs.

It only ever hits me when I've created a full world a storyline... and then I'm staring at a blank page trying to start.

I thought I was writing in my early teens. My mom clocked me as a writer at 7-8. She tends to not remember stuff, but apparently, she remembers that lol

”oh so how did you get into writing?-“ no, writing got into me. Actually it infiltrated my brain, starting with the slow takeover of my room with books to the extremely fast claiming of my notes app and now there’s no way to stop it and no way for me to stop.

Literally me

Me when I finally sit down to write:

*high pitched electrical whine*