Hello, could you give me some writing advice? I have this thing that I see my stories as movies in my head, so very clearly before I actually write them. My process is that I daydream, outline and develop the story, but when I get to the end, the story feels done, like I have already experienced it, and writing it feels only like damaging it/making it different. What should I try differently to actually write and finish something?
Hey anon,
This is definitely something I experience, and can feel challenging.
In my own personal instance, I have two types of stories; ones where writing it feels like a necessary step in the process (the thing you seem to want), and the ones where I have the exact experience you describe above. In the second case, I've discovered that I'm a lot happier leaving them in daydreaming mode. It lets me explore all the angles of a story while leaving it fluid.
But since saying "I don't actually write those stories" isn't super helpful to your question, I have some other things you may be interested in trying.
1) experiment with flash fiction
When I write flash fiction (and I genuinely have no idea what others do), I start off with a few words, a vibe I'm going for, and maybe a character or two. The next 700 words or so are things that I write in the moment, they flow out of me until I feel like the story's reached a conclusion. At that point I may go back and edit (or I may not, I do these for fun, so it depends on how I'm feeling). The idea here is that the story doesn't feel done since I've written it, because the story doesn't exist until I've written it.
2) you may be a discovery writer or "plantser"
A "plantser" is someone who plans some parts of their stories, but leaves other parts unexplored until they're in the thick of it. It's the middle ground between a "pantser" which is about just making it up as you go with minimal planning, and a "planner" which is about planning everything about the story beforehand. A discovery writer is someone who falls somewhere on the pantser-plantser end of the range. See what happens if you spend less time developing a story and jump into it sooner, when there are still some gaps to solve. It may make the story feel more dynamic when you write it.
3) try out different types of stories
If you primarily write fanfic, try your hand at original stories. If you generally write original work, see what it's like writing fanfic. I personally find I run into your problem a lot more with fanfic, but not with original work, so it's possible that could be your problem as well (or vice versa). They're similar enough mediums, but are different enough that it might react differently with your thought process.
Happy writing!
