: Re: Why can't I write something longer than a few pages? I write short stories, a lot of short-shorts. I would say the longest thing I've actually finished writing is "Lord of Snakes", which was

@Deb2945533

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I used to have this problem. Here are some tips that helped me in no particular order:

1. Expect your first draft to be broken and be okay with that.

I would get somewhere around chapter 6, think: "oh, I should have had this other thing happen in chapter 3". I would then go back and rewrite chapter 3 and think: "oh, but I need this in chapter 2 for this to make sense." and the cycle would continue.

Now I just make a note somewhere and keep writing the story as if I had made the changes. It was hard to get my brain to agree to this, but once I did it helped a lot.

2. Figure out the end and work backwards.

I used to come up with a fun idea and just start writing, wandering all over the place without a clear sense of direction. Now I come up with the ending first and work in both directions.

3. Add more try-fail cycles.

Some of my early stories had a problem, the characters would solve the problem and I'd think: "ok, now what?" Now I take the first solution to the problem that comes to my mind, have them try that and let it fail for some reason. Then they get more information and try again, and fail again. (Mary Robinette Kowal calls this the "Yes, but/No, and" method).

If none of these work for you, you might just be a short fiction writer. Rather than curse yourself for that, use it as a strength. Consider writing a series of short stories that all take place in the same world, or try writing several points of view about some event, with each point of view being its own little story within a story.

Hope these things help.

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