Writing Tips #4

I have an extraordinary difficulty writing anything more than a few thousand words.  I've only ever finished one longer story, and it is terrible.  The premise is bad, the writing is bad, everything about it is bad.  So I can't do anything with that.  I've certainly tried many times to get that first novel written, but I always get stuck at around 10-15,000 words.  Part of the problem is that the ideas thus far haven't been great, but my last novel attempt had a great premise.  A little vague, but there was something there.  But once again, I had gotten myself stuck.  The problem was that I was only ever writing these stories in a mostly conversational manner.  The stories were being told almost entirely through dialogue, which occurred simply because I like writing dialogue, and I'm pretty good at it.

So, what the advice here?  Today's little writing tip is to go outside of your comfort zone when you're writing.  Don't always write in the style that you like, because you end up not learning anything, the story ends up not going anywhere, and you might lose a promising idea because your writing bias got in the way.  Also, don't be afraid to completely start over on an idea in a different fashion.  I'm doing that right now, and so far the story is looking good.  We'll see how it works out.

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