Why Writers Don't Finish (And How They Do)

Most writers kick off a story with an unreasonable amount of confidence.

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Your idea is solid, the opening scenes kills, and you're 100% certain that, against all odds, you've skipped the hard part. You even start to see the ending down the road and think, oh, this one’s different. This one’s actually going to work!

Then it happens: the story slowly drifts into that too-familiar place where projects go to die.

We've all been there. A folder full of drafts with optimistic file names, half-filled notebooks, drafts that end mid-scene with giant question mark hanging over every single one. And there you are, left wondering what possessed you to write in the first place. Worst of all, writing itself starts to feel like a chore.

When writers say they’ve lost motivation, what they usually mean is that they’ve lost direction. And once direction goes out the window, momentum doesn’t just hang around out of loyalty.

If you're like most, this typically hits right around the "muddy middle" - the dreaded Act Two. That place where everyone knows the stakes are supposed to rise while your protagonist makes choices that get progressively harder, resulting in a story that deepens as it expands. That's what all the experts say, anyway.

So what do you do? That little devil on your shoulder suggests a new story idea is the cure, so off you go down that blessed road. For a while, you feel alive alive again, the juice is back, until - surprise, surprise - you're right back where you started, looking for another winning idea you hope will light the fire again. Been there, done that. I like to call it my "creative wheel of death."

The Trick to Sticking With It

Motivation isn’t something generated out of thin air. It isn't contingent on an emergency call from your muse, whoever or whatever that is. It’s the result of progress. But how do you make progress when absolutely nothing seems to be working?

Here's the trick: if a story has stalled, the next logical step isn't to drive yourself nuts by pushing harder or throwing up the white flag and walking away. It’s resetting your brain and getting back in the game.

Wonderful, Paul, great advice. And how do you do that, exactly?

The Three-Question Trick

Instead of burdening yourself with having to fix the whole story, just look at the scene you're in right now and answer these questions:

My protagonist wants...

But the biggest obstacle blocking them is...

So the next thing they can try is...

Sounds too basic to be true, right? But go ahead, try it. Seriously. Once those story questions get answered, that scene often stops being such a jerk. Even if it takes a while to figure it all out, at a minimum, you've zeroed in what matters and where the action and dialogue need to go next.

The Five-Turning Point Trick

If that doesn't work, try this: Write down five turning points that would logically connect your beginning to your ending. (This works for individual scenes as well as for the overall story.)

Don't worry about being clever or original. Save that for your rewrite. Your goal is just to create a cause-and-effect sequence of events that makes your audience say, "Yup, that makes sense."

For example:

1. Zach wants something, so he makes a plan and puts it in motion.

2. But it fails because X gets in his way. (Damn it!)

3. Zach is tempted to give up, when something or someone gives him hope. (Meanwhile, the stakes become increasingly personal and precarious.)

4. So he devises a new plan and tries again. (Note: This time, he's forced to dig deeper, trying something he lacked previous insight or courage for.)

5. It works! (Only now he's facing a bigger challenge.)

And...repeat.

You Can (and Will) Finish

It's tempting to think that finishing is the personality trait or divine domain of a select few who happen to be wired that way, while the rest of us are doomed to perpetually open but never close. Truth is, "getting it done" is more mundane than that.

Finishers are not necessarily smarter, more talented, or more creative than you. They've just learned how to trick their brain when needed, and refuse to let emotion get in the way.

When they get stuck, they don't take it as "proof" of failure. They pause and return to the big picture, reminding themselves what their story is and why they care about it. They don’t wait for a burst of inspiration to unlock them. They reflect with intelligence, dig in, and keep things moving, even if it's just a single line. Sure, that isn't sexy, but it works.

Besides, what's the alternative?

So instead of trying to put out every fire raging in your story or throwing in the towel for the seventeenth time, grab a coffee (or whatever it is you drink), try the tricks above, and proceed. If it helps, move to a scene you where the fruit is hanging a little lower. Before you know it, you'll have written something, which is better than having written nothing.

And with that will come the greatest gift of all: real confidence that you can - and will - finish this.