What motivates you to write? Where do you find your motivation?

I love writing, and I also really enjoy writing in the fantasy genre. However, especially when I now work full time with two jobs, I find it really hard to motivate myself to write at times. I keep writing bits and bobs, and I am still working on my fantasy novel, but sometimes I think my motivation could be higher. To write even when I don't necessarily feel like it and to make better progress on my novel.

Where do you find you motivation, and what motivates you to keep writing?

Lately, the thing that has motivated me most to write is reading good stories and writing by HW-ers. Another thing that has motivated me to write is watching Doctor Who. Because the storyline and characters are so well-written, it makes me want to attempt (and ultimately fail, but hey, at least I try!) to write something that powerful. XD

I sympathize with having trouble to find the motivation to write. =P My current working solution is to try to spend more time thinking about it in my free time/while falling asleep, etc. in order to keep it in my mind. The hope is that when I'm thinking about it a lot, I won't be able to keep myself back from editing it more. Excitement about the story helps with motivation, at least for me...

I second the Doctor Who point. A good episode of Doctor Who puts me into a creative frame of mind. Or maybe I just write Doctor Who riffs.

Between college, interning for my church, leading a ministry, and getting ready to move, I have had very little time and even less motivation to write. Ordinarily I just force myself to write and the motivation comes as I get into the story, but a couple of my friends at the college are super interested in my writing and that gets me into a creative mood... Although I usually am procrastinating on assignments in order to get the time to chat with said friends...

Godspeed in finding your motivation, though!

Listening to exciting music (or Lindsey Stirling) gets me in the mood. Or watching a really good movie. (It's a Wonderful Life inspired me to write my climax today...Yay for Mr. Potter being devious...) but another thing that inspires me is a really epic photograph. A waterfall, sunrise, mountains, ruined castles, whatever.
Another thing that helps is when I create my writing lair on my bed...sit in a huge nest of blankets, stare out window, write, repeat.

I adhere to the philosophy that is: If you don't like to write what you're writing, there's a very good chance that your readers won't like to read it.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you won't be un-motivated sometimes.... But the general idea of that philosophy pointed me towards my solution for getting motivated again.

And that is – Change something. If I'm not excited about writing the scene I'm on, then I change something about the scene. If I'm not excited about continuing the book, I change something about the book. For instance, I got a little down at one point during NaNo and didn't really have as much of a desire to work on it as I did before. My solution was to change the entire aesthetics from a realistic sci-fi style to a more steam punk-ish idea. It worked – I loved the new way everything looked and got excited again. And the change made the book better, especially considering some later developments of the plot and of the series.

Sometimes it's just something as little as changing a name spelling, or an entire name, or giving someone an interesting sweater; or it might be something bigger, like adding a character, or adding an entire 'nother MC and storyline to your original one (yes, I did that once 0.0), or setting the story in India instead of Chicago.

But anyway, that's how I stay motivated. It's great fun.

I'm gonna try that, Mistress Rwebhu! Good ideas!

What motivates me....well, when I get encouraging words that people need to hear what I have to say. I have a passion for writing as well. As of right now motivation, I lack. I have wrote some this week, but there are circumstances that come up that hinder me. So I need the more discipline to sit down and just do it. I enjoy it and it helps me wind down after a long day, also to visit a world that I create is sooooo amazing and I can be who I want to be, control the situations and the outcomes, the characters and the struggles and victories that they have. Yes writing, it is a gift to have and it needs to be used to bring glory to the Lord, which I am sure ya'll know that.



Heather

Since full time writing isn't an option for me and I've decided to put my novel on somewhat of a hold, what motivates me in writing is inspiration and purpose. In writing blog posts, I must be inspired. Sometimes I can sit down and write an entire blog post in one stint because I've been struck by an idea I simply must pin down. I make time for inspiration that won't be ignored, and I make every effort to capture it as soon as possible. These points of inspiration are often bred out of circumstances, trials, or situations I've found myself in, or even if I'd like to encourage someone I know. Inspiration comes from nearly every aspect of life. It just has to be big enough to capture my attention.

Purpose comes in with my fictional writing. If I hear of a writing competition, the opportunity creates purpose: I can write something for a competition and hope to win (I have a very competitive spirit in the right contexts). So if I'm given a deadline and/or theme, then comes my inspiration, and I can generally come up with something I'm pleased with to contribute.

But these concepts aren't really much help for people who mean to finish big projects in good time though.

Ooh yes, recently what's motivated me to write is other people wanting to read my work. But I think reading more Fantasy has fueled my desire to write even more.



I moan a lot about not having the time to write. Life has just been crazy recently, and when my head is frazzled after a days work, I don't always feel like I have the concentration to write. But I could definitely lose myself in my imagination.

Yes, I definitely have found that friends showing interest in my work has made me motivated to making time to write.



I actually find that watching a movie can put me off - as in it demotivates me rather than the other way around. It's different with reading I've found though! Yes, I remember when I was younger having the time to stare out of the window and then write. You're making me feel homesick for the past!

The crazy thing is that at the moment in my book I am writing an exciting scene. I keep thinking if I don't finish writing it (I'm midway into it), I will forget what I was writing and lose the flow. But I haven't yet had the time to get back to it. I'll probably have to re-write the scene now, grr!

What motivates me? Escape.

Writing lets one leave their situation in reality and live-however temporarily-in a world where things can go better, or at least you can control how they go. Pitiful coping mechanism, I know.

Another thing-for my poems at least-is to avoid a blow up at the worng people. When I'm angry, scared, sad, hurt, or emotional in general, I'll write a poem so I don't let everything out at someone and regret it later. Thus why my poems are dark...

My stories? I write-besides to escape-to hope that maybe someone will read it and it will touch their lives. Even one person.

No, I totally do this as well, Charlotte! I always called it 'escaping into my other world'. It definitely still helps me even now to be able to escape. Like you, I don't only do it for that reason, but I do find that if I'm in a situation that I am finding hard to bear, writing really helps.

That's actually surprisingly reassuring....

I do it too, sometimes. Some people say it's a bad thing... and I guess it would be if you do it too much. But I think it's a good way of resting. You can't avoid the 'real world' constantly, but often a break from it is a good thing....

Unfortunately you can't avoid it constantly....

Between dreaming and stories, I'd be content.

Maybe that's why God gave us writer's block: so we'd have to do something else!

Heyy, that's a thought.... * grimaces a bit and laughs * That might be right.

Yeah.....Isn't that just lovely....

https://habitrpg.com/

You know all those different "motivation" sites with to-do lists? This one actually works. And it is AWESOME. I've kept my New Year's resolution to journal daily with the help of this site, making it my most successful New Year's resolution in my life. I'm not entirely sure why turning your life into an RPG works so well, but it does. [If anyone joins and wants a party, PM me.]

Lemony Snicket's pep talk for NaNoWriMo 2010. Read it. Now.


I want to write small bright things. Books that aren't all perfect, books that aren't famous, books that aren't incredible or amazing or movie-deal-attracting...but books that have bits, passages, characters, themes that are good, that will resonate with someone, somewhere. I want to write the kind of book that you stumble across, read, enjoy, and then forget...but it keeps popping up in your head and you keep remembering bits and pieces of it, and you realize eventually, "You know what, that was actually quite a good little book!" The kind of book that gets inside you, you know?

Anyways, reading that pep talk always inspires me to write, because my main struggle with remaining motivated is because of my perfectionism...and this pep talk reminds me that my story doesn't have to be perfect. "Unlike most things that most people make, your novel will not be perfect. It may well be considerably less than one-fourth perfect." It just has to have those small bright things. It needs to speak to someone.

And besides, that pep talk is just so funny.


Yeah, sometimes I read a good book and I'm really inspired to write...and sometimes I read a bad book and I'm inspired to write, too, because I think, "I could certainly do better than this, right? And so if people like this, then they would certainly like my writing!" But then other times I read a really great book and I feel rather demotivated, because I think I could never write anything nearly so incredible. That pep talk usually fixes that, though.


Yes! Me too, for sure! Really, having anybody show interest in my work makes me want to write. So just think how helpful all you HWers are being.

And, great advice, Mistress Rwebhu. I have a fear of changing anything I've already worked on, so I need to always remember this...

HRPG really helps.

Sometimes it's music, sometimes it's a certain picture, sometimes it's just a thought I have to focus on, but usually, I need to draw my mind into the essence and feel of what I'm trying to say or I can't get the words out.

More than anything though, Abi's constant nagging helps.

Hehehe. Now stop posting on threads and go write, miss. =_=