I find that I am easily inspired by music, artwork, and lots of times by other stories I read elsewhere.

My problem lies in expressing my ideas. My stories play like movies in my head, and I find it hard to translate the pictures into words.

Does anyone else have this problem? Or any other problems when it comes to inspiration/expression? What do you find helps with it?

OHHHHH we were just talking about this in chat. I have issues with he middle, i have an end and a beginning but the chain of events that connect these two get me because the other two are so vivid in my mind.

I have the exact same problem sometimes! For that though, I found an incredibly direct outline helps. Like:

Kagome does this,
Then she does this,
She meets this person, and they say this that influences her,
And then she goes on to do this,
And the evil guy shows up here,

And so on. It kind of helps, if you have the words to fully write out those little plot occurrences. The outline really helps to keep track of important landmarks in the fic, and helps me not to forget different ideas I have!

As incredibly bizarre as this may sound, I find acting things out really helps when I get stuck.

This helps in a couple ways:

1) It gives me a firmer mental image of what it is I'm thinking about. It also (usually) helps me figure out if what I'm thinking is complete hogwash.

2) It helps make the dialogue smoother. If the dialogue you're thinking about sounds odd, you'll generally notice as soon as you speak it. Plus, it helps fill in the gaps in dialogue by attempting to create a natural flow to the 'conversation'.

3) It generally helps smooth out kinks.

... It sounds absolutely loony, but I'd swear by it. I also find that stopping if you're stuck, taking a break and coming back later helps a great deal. Though don't let yourself get distracted by the internets (or before you know it, it'll be 2am and you'll have absolutely nothing done ).

I've also found that writing something completely nonsensical or unrelated really helps get things going. Try writing a letter as a character, or a drabble, or participating in one of the numerous challenge contests that are out there. Prompts can really get you exploring creative ideas that you might not have even considered otherwise. Plus they're loads of fun! Sometimes things like that can really get your creative juices going. It's oftentimes (for me anyway) easier to write once you've got started.

You can also try just writing a very rough draft (no editing, and very little back-spacing, much like NaNoWriMo). Set yourself a word count, or time limit, and just write a little bit each day (doesn't matter if it's not your best work). Once you've got it all out on paper, you can go back and clean it up, and turn it into something presentable. This has the added benefit of allowing you to look at the story as a whole before you post it, so you won't wind up accidentally painting yourself into a corner.

Hopefully there's something here that you'll find useful! Not everything works for everyone, but writing, like most things, is a skill, so the more you do it, the better you'll get. So if all else fails: just keep going! Every time you write, you get a little bit more experience, and believe me, it adds up!

Good luck.

Wowsa! Thank you Nefret! That's excellent advice, and I will definitely try acting it out. Not only will it annoy my brothers to hear me talking to myself, but it will also, I think, be incredibly entertaining personally!

It's loads of fun. Except, I can't write on the bus anymore, because I start talking to myself .

But it's such a great way to work things out! And kudos for annoying brothers. Mine is far too used to my oddities now that almost nothing phases him.

I hope it helps! (If nothing else, it's good for a laugh ).

I also just checked out NaNoWriMo! I joined. -bashful- The month of November is like... build up to finals for college classes, but I am still going to try when it comes around again!

And maybe I will try it before then, too. Just a little thing on my own.

Ohgoodness, it's SO addictive. I warn you now.

It's so good though, because, really, all you need are 1667 words per day, and that's do-able. And the high you get off of the sense of accomplishment when you finish is totally worth it. I found the best way to do it was by marking down my goal words per day on the calendar, and filling in how many I actually wrote each day so I could see how ahead/woefully behind I was. Fantastic motivator.

'Course every novel I've churned out for NaNo is still sitting on my desktop, but it's quite possibly the most inspiring writing exercise I've ever participated in. And, who knows, maybe one day I'll edit the stuff I've written for it and find something salvageable from it.

The best part of the actual NaNo though, when it comes around, are the forums.

I had fun just filling out the author info!

Haha, I rock. I have a very addictive personality, so I can imagine what will happen once I try it once(officially). Sucks that it's only once a year, though. They should do it more! Like... for June, which is between semesters.

Good idea on the calender! How many years have you participated in NaNo?

I do wish it ran more than once a year. Although -- they do put so much effort into it, and it costs a great deal. There is Script Frenzy in July though.

I've done it for the last three years. It's definitely addictive .

I saw script frenzy! I am actually an aspiring movie maker, so that was super exciting to me. Here's hoping I am able to participate!

July is a good month at least, no school!

And holy wow! Three years. Did you make the 50k goal each time?

I only made it to 50k within November last year (though the story itself wasn't finished). I finished the first story I started, but not until mid-December, and I didn't have NEARLY enough time (as I was in school) to do any work on my second year's NaNo, even though I liked the plot best.

The trick really seems to be setting attainable writing goals (something I did poorly up until last year), and forcing yourself to stick to them (something I did equally poorly ).

I think it, like most things, take perseverance, and a great deal of poking around to see what works best for you.

That's cool!
Now I want November to come sooner. I had a plot idea last night as I was trying to fall asleep, which led to waking up completely to wander around the house writing it down.

The one from last year, did you finish it yet? If not, are you going to?

-sigh- time to go to work.

I probably won't finish it -- I've just got too many other things on the go.

NaNo turns me into a coffee addict. It's hilarious, because I tend to avoid the stuff the rest of the year, and then spend the month of November chattering like a chipmunk and twitching uncontrollably. XD

Have fun at work!

hey... would you please explain to me what teh two of you are talking about please?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is an annual writing competition that runs every November.

The goal is to complete a 50,000 word novella in a month. There are no prizes awarded (the goal is quanitity not quality), and all the "winners" (ie. anyone who completes 50,000 words) receive banners. The idea is to get started writing -- even if it's not good, and come back and edit later.

It's actually surprisingly effective, because when you're on a time limit with a huge goal like that, your story goes in surprising directions. Sometimes good (in which case you edit and keep), sometimes bad (in which case you sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened ) but always fun.

Check out the website if you're curious.