Capturing Visions

[MrGooglez]

Hey there. Names Googlez, Mr.Googlez. I'm going to put it bluntly... I need help. Advice, tips, anything. You see, my problem is I have stories, lots and lots of stories. But I can't put them on paper. I can think of and verbally tell these stories no problem, but when I try to WRITE them down... I just can't do it! I've tried before but I can never EVER successfully get them down in the books. And when I DO get Something written its a horrible mess. I don't stay on track, I don't keep pace, the characters don't develop slow or fast enough, the dialog is unnatural and awkward... But only when I try to write it. I have stories in my noggin from YEARS ago that have simply been forgotten, no documentation, and that means no growth for me as a story teller. Without writing them down how am I to get constructive criticism? So I'd like to ask, how on earth do I capture my visions?

[Hamadyne]

The best thing you can do is write. Write anything that comes to mind. Get a journal and have it on you at all times.
Write a description of your characters (personality, clothing they wear, etc). You don't (and shouldn't) dive into actual story until you have everything set down. Flesh out your characters, and your stories will write themselves.

[Smokey]

If you have a problem with writing, see if you can't somehow record yourself, and then use that for writing.

[MrGooglez]

Thanks for the responses! I probably should... That would help with illustration as well. Whenever I get around to picking up the sketch book again

[Malkav]

Something that I've found rather helpful is pulling music clips and images together into folders, writing short descriptions of each "scene" (maybe a sentence at most) so that I don't forget. Over time, I come back to them and associate them with short notepad-style paragraphs, and from there, the story blooms on its own.

The mood to write is also important, though; without the proper emotion, sometimes the words come out cheap and stale, or even nonsensical when compared to what's in your head. I mean my head. Yes, my head is what I meant to say. While getting "in the mood" can be a bit tricky, it's often not too difficult to find ways to work around that, such as inducing a mood to happen faster than it normally would. For me, my little blue pill comes in the form of ear-tantalizing music.

Experiment and try to see what works best for you with a bit of exploration and foreplay, you'll find what makes you tick. That way, you can pull out of this rut and hop back on to doing what you want most.