AboutSusan Rand Expertise Questions about writing in general, creativity (how to make your writing totally YOU - unique as you are); how to make it stand out from the competition; how to spark your creative juices; how to make it flow; how to make your characters seem like real people; how to control emotion in the reader and much more! Please no homework questions.
Experience I have been writing and teaching writing for several decades. I have written 5 books and several short stories. Over the years I have read and studied many books on "how to write." I can correct spelling and usage mistakes, and I know punctuation.
Education/Credentials BA in the Humanities, with an emphasis on Written Communication, 1982
Expert: Susan Rand Date: 11/23/2006 Subject: More like a chore
Question Hello. I am 17-years-old and in grade 12. I have been an avid writer since I was in grade 6. Since then I have written a series of novels based on the characters my brother and I created when we were younger. Come grade 8, I began another series which soon flourished. I then recently began to realise that some of my plot-lines and main ideas were a little...well...childish so, using advice from other people, I fixed them and began to rewrite my series'. However, for the past few years I have not been as quite into it as I used to be. In grade 9 I could write (well...type) for four hours straight, losing track of the time, and not being plagued by writer's block. However, now, I rarely write anymore and it's not just because of the homework load. I love my characters very much and they are all quite complex, I know where I want them to end up at the end of books, however, I just can't seem to write it. I go to write down and I have writer's block, or I just don't really feel like writing anymore. It kinda seems more like a chore than a hobby now and that upsets me as I have put so much time into these stories and I've had some of these characters since I was eight. Please, do you have any suggestions as to how I can 'get back in the groove' again? Thank you so much for your time,
Felicia
Answer Hello Felicia:
Please forgive me for being late with this, but I did not get notification of your question from the site and it appears they just posted it today.
This has happened to so many writers, and they write asking if I can help. All I can do is offer my opinions, which are:
1. There is a good possibility that you have simply grown out of this game.
2. Perhaps you're missing the stimulation that was once given you by your brother. It is so much easier when you have a collaborator, but that has its problems also!
3. Instead of just having fun with it, you are now trying to "make something" - a novel? - out of it. There may be someting about that transfer that you subconsciously distrust, or perhaps the material is just fighting you.
I would suggest you bundle up all this material, put it away somewhere safe, and turn your talent to other things. Try some new characters and situations. Try writing some paragraphs about your life now. You can always start by asking yourself: "What are my convictions regarding (abortion, boy and girl relationships, living with an alcoholic partner, for example)." Try some short essays around your convictions. One or two of these may suggest an idea for a short story or even a stage play. Explore, investigate, search the web for free help and ideas. Join a few forums (worddistillery.com is my favorite) and critique the work of others. Stretch yourself until you start having fun with writing again. You are just starting out, you have a long writing life ahead of you. One day you may come back to your "game" or you may not. If not, just put it down as several years of good practice.
I hope this helps. If it does, a nice rating would be greatly appreciated. I am proud of my high score over 850 questions.
