Sticking with it

Mollisol

Subterranean Rose
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  1. Looking for partners
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6 - 10 PM, Eastern Standard Time
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
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  4. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Magical girl, action, science fiction
Hey all,

I'm wondering how I can maintain motivation and interest in my ideas. I've noticed, over the few years I've been RPing, I can hold onto excitement for a project I start for about a month (plus a week or two for the time it takes to set it up). I find my interest waning when I actually have to do a plot for the idea - as opposed to just making a setting and characters, which is something I can burn the candle at both ends for and enjoy burning it. After about a month of play, I always find some newer, shinier idea that I want to create and focus on, and I wonder where the excitement I had for the first idea went.

So far, my fix for this has been to RP with partners who share my "short attention span", but I'd really love a way to maintain my motivation so I can open myself up to more extensive ideas with a wider range of partners.

How do I stick with a project long-term? Also, how do I maintain interest in a project after I've set it up, while I'm actually plotting? (Is there a way to minimize stress while plotting?)
 
I have this problem to some extent as well so I'm curious what other people will say, but one thing that helps a bit in my experience is having one major project and several smaller projects running concurrently. Whenever I start to feel burnout on the larger thing, I'll take a short break and go work on one or more of the smaller things instead.
 
Maintaining motivation, reducing stress, and keeping interested boil down to one thing in my experience: maybe two.

Communication is the biggest key. Hype your partners and be hyped by them. Talk about your plots beyond just planning, and just dick around with them—write mini-fics, ask questions, make headcanons together...

That sort of stuff helps a LOT.

Second thing, is to cultivate your skill in writing even when it sucks. Sometimes, to get something to a part you're eager for, you have to power through something boring or unpleasant. Sometimes these can be skipped over, or sometimes you just gotta knuckle down. Again, communication will help here.
 
Maintaining motivation, reducing stress, and keeping interested boil down to one thing in my experience: maybe two.

Communication is the biggest key. Hype your partners and be hyped by them. Talk about your plots beyond just planning, and just dick around with them—write mini-fics, ask questions, make headcanons together...

That sort of stuff helps a LOT.

Second thing, is to cultivate your skill in writing even when it sucks. Sometimes, to get something to a part you're eager for, you have to power through something boring or unpleasant. Sometimes these can be skipped over, or sometimes you just gotta knuckle down. Again, communication will help here.
That's really useful! Thank you for your reply! It makes sense that you and your partner can both help each others' motivations and use those "just dicking around with them" mini-projects to keep the spark alive. (And of course, some of it would be just powering through the tough spots.)
 
That's really useful! Thank you for your reply! It makes sense that you and your partner can both help each others' motivations and use those "just dicking around with them" mini-projects to keep the spark alive. (And of course, some of it would be just powering through the tough spots.)
Yep. I've had a lot of luck with it!
 
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