Story Writing Challenges

Story Writing Challenges    Disciplined Writing:The benefits of working within organized time-frames are many, including increased output and improved quality. A regulated lifestyle, as much as possible, is the ideal. It is all too easy to become distracted and incontrovertibly conditioned to an unregulated lifestyle.
     Disciplined writing is the obstacle that beats most people. If we are unable to dedicate a percentage of our time to regular writing practice we will get nowhere. All other writing challenges are secondary. Without discipline we are not even on the path.

     Non-Completion: The result of a lack of discipline. Writing, like study, should include time-frames for completion of work. Ongoing projects should be organized in order of priority. Overnight success in any field is very rare. An artist in the limelight is usually the result of many years of stoic effort while learning the craft.
     There is no point kidding ourselves that we are hatching story ideas by watching TV or going to a nightclub, although life experience is the raw material that many writers work with. Writers need a healthy balance of creativity and activity.
     Initially, short story writing may be the answer, as we get into the habit of completion. In longer works it is advisable to finish the first draft before re-writing any of it. This will enhance the structural perspective as well as encouraging completion of the work.

    Fear of Failure: The great majority of capable writers, artists, musicians, athletes, actors, scholars, philosophers, etc, remain relatively unknown. We need to separate the idea of being unknown from that of being unfulfilled, and to relish those moments of illumination, or satori, when we are in ‘the zone’.
     To satisfy an audience may be the long term goal, however, satisfying oneself also, by enjoying the artistic journey, is also essential. We need to realise that failure is in not trying at all, rather than not achieving the loftiest of goals. The fault lies in our habitual expectation that we should not fail. It also pays to have a good heart encased in an iron vault, for every one good thing said about our work, we may recieve twenty negative comments.

     Self Belief: Closely linked to the other challenges. Every aptitude we have discovered has been between birth and now. We should never limit ourselves in thinking there is not more for us to become. Ideas are easy enough. Disciplined work is within our capacity. Completion is a realistic goal.
     Most stumbling blocks are mental rather than physical or intellectual. As described in the Bhagavad-gita, “for those who have conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends, but for one who has failed to do so, the mind will be the greatest enemy.

     The senses act upon the dictates of the mind. We need to discriminate priorities by intelligence, thereby controlling the mind’s flickering nature, and channeling it into regulated practice. We also need to associate with like-minded people who can help us improve to the best of our ability. It is much easier to remain fixed and determined when recieving encouragement.

     Not only do we need to trust our own intuition, we also need to trust our ability in giving the story a life of its own. Trust yourself to tell the story as you see it. After the first twenty pages the story should be moving us along, propelled by its own energy.
     By literary alchemy, a fiction writers effort will transform into a vehicle capable of taking both story and writer on a journey to destinations unknown, beyond the realm of rigid discipline and structural framework. In time, the story will not only grow legs, but wings, ready to embark on a journey as an emissary of the writing portfolio.