Unable to stick with a project :(

I know this isn't a new issue haha, but I find myself in love with, or, in more accurate terms, obsessed with my new writing projects. I get the idea, I develop and strengthen it, hit a roadblock or two, struggle with said roadblocks, and then inevitably have a new idea. From there, I can either continue my current project or begin building a new one. As much as I would love to stick with a project and finish it, I always seem to lose interest and passion for it.

Does this sound like an issue with self-discipline? Or since this is a creative writing project meant to bring me joy, is it normal to quit if it no longer brings me joy? I think completing a project, despite my passion (or lack thereof) for it by the time of its completion, would be a major accomplishment and confidence booster.

Any thoughts or tips? Thanks 33

 

It doesn't sound so much like quitting as generating lots of ideas for future projects. When a project runs into a snag, it depends on what the snag is—if it needs some finageling in order to become viable, then you're not quitting. You're putting it away to let it simmer for a while. Sometimes when you do that the idea will hit you after a while for how to fix it. I mean, if there's a huge problem in early development there's no point in continuing unless you can solve the problem somehow, right?

It's actually not a bad idea to have several projects going in various stages of development, so if you hit a snag on one or lose interest in it you can switch to another one. Then come back to the first one if you peter out on the second one.

But it sounds like you're just talking about the very early development stage. At that point you're not losing much if you abandon ship. You didn't have much time and effort invested in it yet.

 

I think it's common to drop something and instead pick up a new thing that has more appeal, not just in writing but in anything. I have multiple projects that I cycle through depending on my moods, I lose interest in them all the time. And let me say, writing isn't always gonna be about joy. Sometimes (in my experience, a good amount of times) I'll write even though I hate every word I'm putting out. It's just about processing the garbage out of your system. But if you really want to finish something, you're gonna have to stick with it and keep going despite a roadblock or two. A finished story, no matter how long, comes with many roadblocks. You just gotta hunker down and go for it. Fix it up later if you hate it, or never look at it again. And if you have a lot of ideas that make up their own stories, maybe see if any of them could work together, try and mix them into one, maybe you'll get a more fleshed out story that way.

 

Well, there's pleasure and there's joy. Pleasure is experienced when the project is going well. When the project is going poorly, however, we can usually say goodbye to our positive feelings for a bit.

But just like virtually any other pursuit, true lasting joy comes from seeing the endeavor/commitment through to the end and accomplishing something. If you strictly write for pleasure, then by all means drop every project as soon as it stops providing that. The real joy comes through finishing things, though, and man does it feel good.

What's probably the case is your plotting skills are underdeveloped and this will stay a pattern unless you break it. If you fight through these hard parts, however, your plotting skills will improve and these problems will seem easier to solve in the future.

 

This is the same as the difference between infatuation, which can last a few months and is extremely intense and irrational, opposed to love, which can last a lifetime, is less intense, and much more subtle. Infatuation is the kind of thing many people become addicted to, and they end up having a series of brief relationships, leaving when the infatuation phase is over and the thrill is gone (to use BB King's words).

It's also like the difference between addictive behaviors, which are focused on the short-term thrill—a dopamine rush that lasts maybe a few minutes each time but leaves you empty and just wanting more—and a resilient and lasting enjoyment found in hobbies or projects that don't give such a short-term burst of pleasure, but a much more sustained (if less powerful) satisfaction.

 

Um, spam?! Spam, spam, eggs, bacon, sausage, and spam. Not only spam, but dangerous spam too!

Hippophile, are you a pantser or a planner? I used to pants it when I was writing, and your problem sounds familiar for when I used to do that.

If you're happy to pants your story (or if you're just writing for fun), by all means, ignore what I'm about to say.

If you'd like try changing your approach to planning, I'd advise you to look into two tools that helped me when I was starting out: beat sheets and outlines.

I'll try not to lecture or go too long about this, so I'll give you a brief overview:

An outline takes your initial idea and develops it further. You write a few brief character sketches for your protagonist, your antagonist, your supporting characters (good or bad), minor characters etc. You also write scene summaries - very brief - with details of how each chapter should go, i.e.:

1. what is your hero trying to achieve?
2. what's stopping him?
3. what does he feel about that?
4. what are his options?
5. what does he think?
6. what does he decide -- and where does his decision take him? (Hopefully to another thing that he's trying to achieve, which is the start of your next chapter!)

A beat sheet, on the other hand, takes all the above scene summaries and develops them further. This is where you write each chapter in greater detail - it's like your draft version 0.

Here's a book that explains all this much better than I can: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. The "Save the Cat" method isn't about writing a great book, but more about efficiently writing a sellable one. This method started by explaining how to write screenplays, but the "writes a novel" spin-off works fine too. It explains, in great detail and with examples, the "beats" that go into writing a novel, and how to construct a character arc around them.

Here's an example, so you can see how this works: How to Outline Your Novel with Save the Cat. I used both outlines and beat sheets to write 8 novels so far, and I'm currently writing my ninth. They've been a great help.

As I said before, of course, you might not need all this - especially if you're writing for fun. If so, please feel free to ignore me. But I hope this helps you.

 

Since @Rath Darkblade mentioned plotting, I agree. However, I go about it differently and I am sure you would as well. I was a pantser who recently converted to partial plotter. Anyway, I find I have a story I am writing on paper and another one in my head. So, I work on both at once. I make notes for the one in my head and write chapters of the current work, knowing I am going to get to project B.

I like to use the Universal Plot Outline (loosely as it doesn't work for villains. I had to modify it.) https://www.novel-software.com/novel-outline-template/ (The PDF is down at the bottom and the site has some other useful things about outlining. But if you would like any help, please reach out to me. I would be happy to assist.

Also, a few other things you can do is make a music playlist for your current work and listen to it. It really helps gather inspiration for a work. You can also make character moodboards and drawings. Just remember to write, rather than world/character build.

The other thing is not to worry about things being perfect first draft. I am on draft 8 for a work right now and I still have changes to make. Let the story go where it wants, but also try and map out where you are going.

Another thing you can do to keep from jumping projects, give yourself a real-life deadline. I made one for my story and it's going all right. I am a few months behind, but I am writing.

 

I've had this issue across all my creative pursuits. To some extent, I still do. The allure of a shiny new idea is hard to resist. Some kind of magpie effect. Xoic makes a typically insightful observation about infatuation vs love, which resonates with me.

On my own path, I've found a few answers in the broad subject of innovation.

Namely, creativity is a core human faculty; in a sense, every thought is an act of creation. We constantly generate ideas, and it's exciting when one of them appears like a key to unlock some problem we've been grappling with. If we're content to remain dreamers — thinkers rather than doers — then we need venture no further. But if we want to bring our ideas to life, that's a different matter.

Successful innovation, as seen pervasively in the world, highlights the difference between creativity and productivity. Having an idea is one thing; acting on it, nurturing it, and seeing it diffuse into the world is another. This requires processes beyond the initial spark to bring the idea to fruition and set it loose among the pigeons. Here, it can be helpful to consider two types of thinking: divergent and convergent. Most of us exist somewhere on the spectrum between these two modes.

Divergent thinking is where we have an open-ended problem that allows for thousands of potential solutions. As writers, I think this is often where we begin: A blank page — a problem with endless possibilities. The solution is for us to fill it with anything we want. It doesn't get much more open-ended than this.

But once you choose a direction — say, you start a story about the amusing shenanigans of a well-meaning little dragon named Ember — the situation becomes less open-ended. Purely divergent thinking will no longer suffice. To move forward, we must use convergent thinking, which involves narrowing options and striving for a unified, well-defined solution. Ultimately, your story must become a coherent, complete piece — unless you're content for it to meander forever, like a long-running TV soap opera.

As 'creatives', I think we often resist convergent thinking because it feels less creative. It pulls us out of the kaleidoscopic dreamworld of imagination and entangles us in mundane logic and reason, making concrete decisions that limit our possibilities. However, this doesn't mean turning away from imagination entirely. Instead, there's a back-and-forth, a dynamic interplay throughout the creative process. The initial idea is just the beginning; completing the project requires a stream of subsequent ideas, progressively more focused as we converge on the final article.

Speaking of converging on the final article, I realise I'm rambling in highfalutin fashion, likely due to an extreme dose of caffeine this AM. But if you're curious, a quick search for 'convergent thinking techniques' will light the way. Be warned, though: as a creative, you may find them uncomfortably methodical and possibly antithetical to how we perhaps like to think of creativity. But creativity alone isn't enough. It takes more than this to bring the ethereal fruit of our imagination into the real world.

Good questions!

I realise this is an old thread now resurrected, and you might not be around to see responses. However, if you're still having this issue, it could be worth making an effort to be more disciplined — just to see what happens.

I remember coming to a realisation some time ago that every time I started a project and failed to complete it, I was reinforcing that pattern — just teaching myself never to finish anything. Breaking this cycle perhaps requires some grit and determination to push through to the later stages of the creative process.

There, you may find it helpful to gain exposure and experience with these later stages of the process. By doing so, you can familiarise yourself with what completion looks and feels like, you can understand the specific challenges that tend to arise during the later phases, and you can begin to develop ways to deal with them. Then, as you become more comfortable with that part of the process, you may start to enjoy it more.

Bon voyage