So I'll write it, and then I'll find out that I actually wrote something that is utterly useless. You can't use it in the story and it doesn't fit. So I just throw it away. I've done that countless times.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I write a story as if it were a letter to someone and essentially, that's what you do.
Find the story you want to tell. If you don't want to write it, find somebody to write it.
You can't write just anything. Your story needs structure.
If the story wasn't overly long, I'd type it out. And I'd carry it around with me for a week and jot notes on it, and then I'd throw it away and do another one.
I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.
I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.
Anything you write, even if you have to start over, is valuable. I let the story write itself through the characters.
I wasted a lot of years working on my writing and very grandly saying, 'And now... My Novel!,' which would soon be reduced to a short story, then to a paragraph.
This is not necessarily the answer people want, but ultimately, I think writing is an amoral process. Your ultimate responsibility is to the truth of the story you're trying to tell.
Writing is an extremely rewarding and humbling process, and I've learned to go with it, that even if it feels absolutely impossible, I will find a way to tell the next story.