How do I motivate myself to write?

I’ve had several book ideas over the past 4-5 years. I’ve written chapters for one, developed my characters and outlined essentially the whole thing.

Then I just… don’t write it.

I think the fear of it being terrible stops me from even trying, which I know is incredibly dumb.

I should just write, see where that takes me. But I just come up with these ideas and outlines and don’t even share my writing anywhere they just sit in my notes for ages. How does one get over that fear and just doooo it?

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Ynotisay · M

It's kind of basic but you just have to do it. Writing is about discipline. If you have a general outline it'll be easier to fill in the blanks. A whole lot of writers approach it like any job. You set a time frame and you write. At first maybe just an hour a day. Keep what works and dump what doesn't. Which might be all of it. And that's fine. But waiting for inspiration doesn't serve the nuts and bolts of writing. As far as the fear you might be more focused on the result and not the act. I don't know what genre you're writing in but unless it's educational, which is all about serving an audience, you may want to focus on serving the characters and story. You can't reach an audience without that in place first. Good luck.