: Re: Can't write, can plan I can plan all sorts of specific aspects in a novel such as characters, locations, and the plot in general, but I struggle to actually write it the way it is in my

@Hamm6328258

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If you are using clay to make a sculpture, would you stop after two minutes because the brown heap in front of you doesn't resemble the Rodinesque masterpiece you envisioned?

Most people understand intuitively that making a sculpture involves a period where your work doesn't look anything like the thing you want to end up with. That's just the nature of clay.

Well, that's the nature of words as well. But somehow, most people (myself included), have the idea that words have to be perfect as soon as they hit the page. Maybe school have something to do with it, or maybe the act of writing words down gives us humans the notion that the words are immutable.

Two remedies that work for me (sometimes):

Write fast, without looking back, and without correcting spelling. This is the equivalent of throwing clay at the armature (your outline). You need this to have something to work with. Many writers have a problem leaving spelling errors uncorrected, but editing text that may not make it to the final draft, is a waste of time.
Find other stories that have descriptions of characters or settings that you like, and steal them. This would be the equivalent of taking a dolls head you find inspiring, and put it on top of your heap of clay. It gets you started, and you shape the rest of the body around it. In later revisions, you will probably makes changes to the head and face, to make it fit better with your own sculpture (this is where the doll face metaphor looses its power). At this point, it is no longer plagiarism, since you have made it your own.

Don't get it right, get it written. The mess is part of the process (rhyme intended).

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