Lack of Enthusiasm

Writing, like any hobby or job, comes with it's own list of woes. While writing block is one of them, there are others. One I have recently discovered is lack of enthusiasm.

While it is easy to start off a writing project with the idea fresh in your mind. Your resolve to finish a project decreases as time goes on.

At the moment my enthusiasm for my current project can compare to a golden retrievers enthusiasm for a game. It's really high right now. But I have started out this way before but all of those project have fallen to crumble.

What did I do wrong?

I question I have often begged the sentences staring back at me. But as I've thought more about it, the answer became more and more clear. For me, it was how I edited my writing. I would edit as I wrote, and as I kept coming back to the same sentences and paragraphs time and time again my enthusiasm for finishing dwindled. The discouragement of bad writing kept me from going anywhere.

But I have edited my ways instead of my writing. I'm one of those people that need to simply write the book then edit it.

"First Person" writing

The first time I ever even heard of "first person" writing was when I read Suzanne Collins book The Hunger Games. It inspired me to look at how I write and how to approach a character. Because you will never get the same perspective of a character when it comes from the character itself. But what exactly is writing in "first person"? To explain I will show you an example of both "first person" and "third person" writing. I would include "second person" but it's pretty much impossible to write in. The two examples:

Third Person

This kind of writing is the most common in books. It looks at the characters from an outside view as if you are looking into the story. The main character is referred to as (he, his, her, she, it, and they) outside of when characters are talking with each other. And it looks like this:

"Carefully, Aidan untied the lace around the first scroll. As he unrolled it specks of parchment fell to the bed. He caught his breath, fearing the scrolls might be so ancient and brittle that they would crumble to dust if opened.
(taken from "The Door Within" by Wayne Thomas Batson.)

First Person

This kind of writing is not as common but just as fun. First person, sort of, allows you to dwell in the main characters body throughout the book. It takes a look at the problems and situations in the books from the main characters perspective, and looks something like this:

"My dearest friend decided to arrive at the exact moment I was swallowing my sugar cookies down the wrong tube.
COUGH!
"OH, dear, oh dear, dear me. Are you alright?" This was the question my friend decided to insult me with. For anyone who is on her three thousand dollar couch and coughing up numerous amounts of cookie is most likely not, all right! But for the sake of my dignity I put on a smile and swept the cookie mush onto my carpet (the one from India).
(taken from "Nothing of Consequences" by yours truly and my friend, Libby. This short story is not finished)

Both of these styles are so fun to write. And I encourage you to try both of them out.

Any comments or questions? I'd LOVE to hear them