Can't finish stories

[Guest LiveAndLearn]

Does anybody else feel like they can start stories and they go really well but after a few chapters you kind of lose inspiration and move on to something else? I mean I feel like such a hypocrit because I hate when others do that but I would rather start something well and not finish then have a dissapointing ending. What do you think?

[Mistress Quickly]

Does anybody else feel like they can start stories and they go really well but after a few chapters you kind of lose inspiration and move on to something else? I mean I feel like such a hypocrit because I hate when others do that but I would rather start something well and not finish then have a dissapointing ending. What do you think?

Oh dear. I can certainly sympathise with this. Mine's more of a case of taking on too many ideas and totally overloading myself. I have a story on this forum that quite a few people are reading, and are waiting for the next instalment, but I'm having such trouble with inspiration that I don't know when I'm going to be able to get back to it. I am going to continue it, but I'm struggling like mad at the moment. It's terrible, isn't it? I also get annoyed when authors start an excellent story but then proceed to drift off, yet I am such a horrible perpetrator of it myself. I guess all one can do is just try to be self-disciplined; tell yourself, right, I'm going to give this a good go, and just make yourself do it. Sit down and damn well write. Since I'm planning on making a career out of writing, I've certainly got to start practising that ethos myself.

[KawaiiKitty]

Well, it's not entirely often that I have this problem because really by the time I get around to putting pen to paper I've replayed the story in my head so many times that I have it practically memorised.

Sometimes I do have an idea that I get too eager to write down before it's ready to be born and that's when I can run into problems. And why I almost NEVER post stories before I have finished writing them. I'm sure my writing is not so spectacular that people cannot wait for the next bit, though, so I don't need to worry about disappointing readers!

Because if I feel like I "have to" post the next bit I end up just making words instead of feeling and seeing the story. And I don't like just "making words"...I always feel it's REALLY obvious when I've hit a chapter when I'm just writing for the sake of writing and I'm not really feeling it.

And the funny thing is...I do writing for a living and almost never suffer from writers block when it comes to my own characters. I don't know why that is...

[Quite Contrary]

I can totally sympathize with this. I write creatively as something I want to do long term but when it comes to short stories or fetish stuff sometimes the idea just goes away. I, like KawaiiKitty, tend to have whole scenes or chapters written inside my head before I ever actually write them down. I definately have the same problem with the whole writing the idea down too early and it gets stuck thingy. I feel for you guys. I definately have the same problem and I hate it.

[Cloud Dancing]

Im awful at forcing myself to finished what was at the beginning a very promising peice. Sometimes i find it helps to think about it like, " I owe the story to finish it or it never has an end" which makes me feel guilty. I get so sucked in that i forget to do the important things like connect scenes togethor But never mind, imagination is a wonderful thing, no matter how unorganised it is.

[Pilgrim]

I had an opposite problem once: I didn't write it down quickly enough. I had a whole series going right up to the last chapter and then whoosh, all inspiration gone. I still haven't finished it >_>

[tma]

I do this. I'm getting better at finishing things. I tend to go where the inspiration takes me and then sometimes I feel like I've written myself into a corner of something.

There is something that I am frantically working at (for another group) that I had to let go for a bit though- because try as I might to beat it out it wasn't coming out right. Driving me nuts! It was flowing and rolling and I feel like a total loser- like I shouldn't have posted the story till it was done if I didn't have an end.

But... *inhales calmly* it WILL come. that is what I tell myself. I keep writing down ideas and the inspiration will strike, the muse will be coaxed into talking about that particular tale, and life will be good. At least that is the plan.

[Sneesee]

This happens way more to me than actually finishing things. And then I get an idea for something else, and whatever I was working on gets put to the side in favor of something new. Yes, happens way too much. And as far as stories for this forum, I have decided not to post anything unless it's finished, just because I know how people feel when it lingers and there's never an ending. As for any of my other projects, well, they can't go anywhere until they are finished either. So, right now, not much is getting done at all.