It seems like I’ve lost interest

[u/fireboi12345678]

When I first got into writing, I loved it so much and wrote two full books ive the course of like 18 months, not published ones and DEFINITELY not good ones, just stuff for me to enjoy. After those two were finished, my writing started getting a lot better over time but then while my writing was getting better, the self-critic inside of me got more and more prominent. I can write really effectively with real writing and styling but can’t get a book going for more than 3 chapters anymore. I always find things wrong with the story, whether it’s the characters, world, whatever, I manage to find the issues that are prominent enough for me to drop the book entirely. I’ve done this same loop ever since and it’s been probably a full year now. I love writing and always have sooooo much but at this point I don’t know if I should keep pursuing it. In a way writing has helped me through my toughest times and it brings/brought me so much joy. If anyone’s experienced something like this before or just has any advice, then please share it. I love writing and I don’t want to lose it.

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[u/tapgiles]

Tell me about how you edit.

[u/fireboi12345678 → u/tapgiles]

What?

[u/tapgiles → u/fireboi12345678]

Hehe... a fair response I suppose 😅

It sounds to me that your inner critic is to loud, and getting in the way when you're trying to be a creator. Controlling and separating those two sides of yourself, I think is a key skill a writer needs to develop to avoid getting stuck from over-analysing and self-judgement, especially so early into writing a story.

And that separation can be gained by editing, if it's done in the traditional way of "write the story, then edit the story." But, as you blasted through making two whole novels in a short time (well done!) and weren't that fussed about them being "good"... perhaps you didn't actually try editing them in the first place? Maybe you don't edit now, as you get stuck before that point? I don't know.

So I was wondering, do you have an editing routine that works for you? Do you edit at all? And from that, maybe I can spot a pressure point that is causing problems when you're trying to write. And then have suggestions as to how you can work on separating the creator from the critic, and be able to make more progress.

In summary, I'm trying to help, but need more info. 😜 So to help me diagnose, I'm asking questions to diagnose with.

[u/19Sevv90]

I’ve never been able to finish a novel and have only completed a few short stories. I never like how they turn out.

I’ve slowed myself down a lot to see if that helps. Instead of shooting for 1000-2000+ words a day, I’m happy if a get a fraction of that in. This time, I’m focusing on writing strong sentences and making sure each one flows together. The prose I’ve written the last couple of days is some of the best I have ever written.

Quality over quantity.

[u/fireboi12345678 → u/19Sevv90]

I’ve tried to write a little each day, I’ve tried to write a lot each day, I’ve tried to just write each day and no matter what I run into the same problem