INTP writing challenges

[Caterell]

Hello.
I have just joined this site. If I am posting in the wrong spot, please let me know. :)

Well. For as long as I can remember, I have aspired to be a writer. Not just to write anything, but a full length novel, and to have it published. I am quite good at coming up with ideas but when it comes to writing them... I live it all inside my head and lose interest before I write. It's like I write it in my head, where it does very little good as far as furthering my publishing wishes, and then can't force myself to write it again on paper - it's already written up there, why do it all again? If I try to write without any planning, I start to panic - oh no, there'll be plot holes everywhere!

Obviously, this is just one problem to do with INTP writing - the ability to come up with ideas in one's head, with no actual wish to write them down.

What other problems are there, and has anyone found solutions? Also, maybe people know some positive, good points? I mean, being an INTP has to help with something when it comes to writing!

Thanks very much, Kath

[aelan]

Probably simplistic, but just start writing and keep writing. The threads in the head clarify themselves over time, and once you stop overthinking, stories do tell themselves. Good luck.

[jewels]

For me, the thing that has helped me the most with fulfilling what I want to do, completing it start to finish, has been my website. It's like a project for my projects. So my thoughts? I'm totally the type that will do as you say, i need to have everything written out exactly first, layed out to the t. the follow through is little to none, but when i made this project for my projects, i felt so complete in being able to finish the things that I've started and to have multiple projects happening at the same time. So, what might work, and just a suggestion, is maybe to start something like that and write down that you're starting a novel as one project. Then for each chapter you complete, or whatever criteria you want to use, you can put it on the website. The website then becomes this giant list of all the things that you've done and for some reason it has totally inspired me to complete so many things. Hope this helps.

[LastRailway]

Maybe if you kept it short? Start with short, three or four page stories, try and force yourself not to expand more than that, try to write the full story and, when you're done, if you feel adding stuff, do that, but only after you've written the whole story.

[broken]

Keep a notebook and pencil handy and write down anything that interests you--anything. If you collect enough tidbits, you can piece them together, fill in holes, bend a few ideas/concepts and force it all into something you can work with. Sure, you'll be "literally" rewriting in the long-run, but putting abstract ideas down in some concrete form is a huge step in the desired direction.

[carbon cold]

Obviously, this is just one problem to do with INTP writing - the ability to come up with ideas in one's head, with no actual wish to write them down.

What's obvious about it?



What other problems are there, and has anyone found solutions? Also, maybe people know some positive, good points? I mean, being an INTP has to help with something when it comes to writing!

Thanks very much, Kath

Um. Writing isn't hard for me, it hasn't been for many years. I mean, I have varying levels of low and high energy where I might perform better in certain circumstances, but overall, the words themselves are not a problem. Language is by far the easiest system for me to manipulate. Tones and flow and the beat of my own voice carries well enough.

Motivation can be occasionally difficult, though I don't ever actually not write. If I don't write, it means I have no idea. I'm more prone to hating all of the ideas I come up with than anything else.

[Resonance]

My biggest problem with writing is picking a direction to go. In high school I even handed in a short story with multiple endings because I couldn't decide on just one. The teacher thought it was creative, which was a relief.

So, my advice would be... be decisive. You can always go back and edit it later if things really get hairy, but you won't want to because it's too much effort, so it'll force you to keep going :)

[MetallicJackal]

Hello.
I have just joined this site. If I am posting in the wrong spot, please let me know. :)

Well. For as long as I can remember, I have aspired to be a writer. Not just to write anything, but a full length novel, and to have it published. I am quite good at coming up with ideas but when it comes to writing them... I live it all inside my head and lose interest before I write. It's like I write it in my head, where it does very little good as far as furthering my publishing wishes, and then can't force myself to write it again on paper - it's already written up there, why do it all again? If I try to write without any planning, I start to panic - oh no, there'll be plot holes everywhere!

Obviously, this is just one problem to do with INTP writing - the ability to come up with ideas in one's head, with no actual wish to write them down.

What other problems are there, and has anyone found solutions? Also, maybe people know some positive, good points? I mean, being an INTP has to help with something when it comes to writing!

Thanks very much, Kath

Hmm. But you see, there's a difference between living inside your head, and immortalizing your ideas in jet-printer ink. The phenomena that you've just described is being imaginative. Sad thing is, there's millions of people who share that quality out there in the world, so you're not particularly special. At least, not until you make the cross-over by giving your brilliant ideas some sort of form.

I'm of the opinion that you can't call yourself a 'writer' or an 'artist' or a 'director' until you physically practise your craft.

You need to test your mettle, my friend. And that means that hell or high water, you put those words down on a page. You say you're aspiring to be a writer. To me that says you're dedicated to this goal, that you will stop at nothing to get there. Why don't you use that as your motivation? Make the connection that the events you see in your head haven't happened until they make some purchase in reality. That you're not really a "writer" until you've actually written something.

I can't really give any advice on how to get your ideas out of your head. Either you do it (become a writer) or you don't (stay a day dreamer). It's entirely the way you choose to look at this.

I'm an INTP and I'm a writer. Granted, it takes me about twice as long to write a story because I'm often juggling twenty different projects at once to stave off my boredom, but now that I think about it, the only thing that gets me to finish a story is just deciding that I'm going to, no matter how much my attention insists on wandering elsewhere. I've just accepted the fact that even if I'm not initially happy with how the story turns out, I can always go back several months later to edit it all to my liking.

There's no "right' way to go about doing it. Just start. Let yourself get uncomfortable about plot holes and poor characterization, and write it anyway. There's a whole other step to the writing process that takes about twice as much time as the writing itself. It's called editing.

Good luck.

[Rrrach]

I know how you feel, I have a million stories in my head and always plan to write them down but I'm bored of the idea before I even touch pen to paper. The only way I've ever gotten anything finished is to write a list of events in the plot, of characters and their traits, etc. and just force myself to work through the list. I just keep thinking "This is the first draft, it doesn't matter if I don't like it, I'll look over it and edit when I'm finished".

I spend half of my time procrastinating, so the lists and the idea of finishing gets me back on track.

Good luck and I'm sure you'll find a way that being INTP helps with writing.

[luxdormiens]

I will say something that might not answer your topic completely:

Just write. Even if your writing doesn't capture the eloquent words that you created vaguely in your head, because practicing writing will do most to help move closer to your goal of getting Athena sprung from your head.

To me, it is like painting or drawing, where the artist at first might feel frustrated that what great image he or she had in their Brain cannot be perfectly replicated stroke for stroke on paper.

Or like programming, where what you had envisioned would be a great algorithm turns out to need several fudges and hacks or unbeautified revisions.

Ultimately, your goal is creating a volition to put it down on paper (or screen). I know that when thinking, one doesn't want to lose the golden chain and follow it down, and that is why it is a multi-tasking challenge to embrace--to learn to follow that chain before it dims in a sad way and write it down simultaneously.