I've gotten a little ways by writing the scenes that are the most vivid in my mind, separate from the rest of the narrative - that makes it fun, and the segue passages are a little easier to fill in
That's a good approach I think. The toughest writing is often the getting-going bit. Why not make it easier by diving in to what you're excited about? That way, you build up momentum to fill in the gaps later.
I'm currently editing my work at the moment, I find it difficult to motivate myself, especially after work, when the I feel too tired, i beat myself up saying I should be getting on with it, and then the "I'll do it tomorrow" steps in. And I feel I've wasted that time. But I have been cracking on with it more over the past few days.
Fake deadlines. I told myself that, considering I'm writing a romance/horror book, is HAS to be published on Valentine's Day. So I'm forcing myself to get it ready by then.
I do, that's why I don't write every day if I don't want to, but there does come a point where you have to get it done I think. Better some imperfect writing on the page than perfect writing in your head.
The reason why I want to write and publish, is to be able to share my imagination with others. I’d like to meet those people who think it’s cool too. I’d like to talk about other cool stories and ideas that they have also.
Great stuff mate. I went to my subscriptions to find some inspiration and this was right there. And on top of that you literally even talked to me directly in this. That was cool. The ever present to do list is a great thing to have in view, mine are always behind the front cover of a notebook. “Why does this matter” is a good mantra to keep front of mind. Keeping it personal is by far the best way to keep it real, and the realness always comes off the page, when it’s really from the heart. That would be a good one “how can I make this come from my heart.” I think m y unwritten above the screen mantra is “what does the character want right now”.
That's a really useful thing to have in the front of your mind I think. Character motivation, or lack of it, really stands out to readers. They don't always know what it is, but something just feels off in the story's momentum if they don't have that. Feels like a great thing to remind ourselves of :)
Hey man! Im pretty new to the idea of wanting to write but a couple of days ago it just popped into my head and i never really managed to start, cause i really have no ideas that are good, but ill try to bring one to paper and see how it goes, thanks for the vid!
Agree with these, especially the motivation to write. I sometimes do have to force myself but a lot of the time it happens because I need to be writing!
I'm going to throw out my opinion on the motivation problem. Obviously it goes without saying that this is just my personal opinion and your mileage may vary, but in my personal experience this comes down to 2 sorts of problems. Firstly, burnout due to forcing yourself to keep to some sort of schedule when you're tired. In that case what I typically do is set a timer for just five minutes (something that seems manageable) and force myself to write for that period of time. Write anything. If you write a bad sentence or paragraph, then at least you have a better idea of the direction you're trying to go (since that wasn't it). I might just get a single sentence or a paragraph. When the timer is up, I re-evaluate on whether I want to continue or not. Progress is progress regardless of whether it's a tsunami or it's drip fed. The second issue, I find, is that you're stuck on a particular part of your story and aren't sure how to proceed. In that case, I think the problem is that people tend to think of the writing process as linear. I have to write scene 2 following scene 1, that sort of thing. When I get stuck on a particular part, I just write some exposition like "And something happens here" and pick up from where I know I want the scene to end (Or the next major plot point). Nothing says that you have to write everything in order. It's perfectly fine to jump around and come back to fix things later on when you've had a chance to mull it over - especially in the first draft.
Good tips there or sure. The nonlinear thing especially feels like it wouldn't occur to newer writers, but could be exactly what they need to get out of a rut. The five minute timer approach sounds like a smart idea as well. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
These are great answers!! Love to watch your videos before I start writing. I'm working on a multi-POV story right now (starting it) but I've realized in planning that it's going to be a bit difficult to outline/plot the whole thing...the characters are VERY interconnected, so it's becoming much more complex than "this scene covers X part of X character's story" It has to advance most of them, at once - which is exciting but tricky to write !!
Thanks Nicole :) I've found multi-POV so much fun, but it's also the hardest book I've attempted. Syncing up all the plot stuff and character arc stuff while making it (hopefully) entertaining (and a bunch of other stuff as you said) has been a massive challenge. Outlining is where I struggle most, and with multi-POV it basically multiplies how hard it is! I tried to do one character's whole book as a base, then weave in another and another, but it felt like I was constantly tying up and untying knots in the story.
Dostoevsky’s, “The Idiot” was a book I used to read, did read several times. His sincerity, innocence, comforted me on a deep level; I think I was also comforted by seeing how misunderstood he was, that he didn’t let it stop him from being who he was… At least that’s what I’m left with now - I haven’t re-read it in this millennium. Maybe it might be useful to read it again now?
Sounds like there's some good lessons to be learned from it and that you connected with it. 'This millenium' makes it seem like so much longer ago than 23 years, but that's plenty long!
i often find myself thinking "that chapter (from the same manuscript) I wrote five months ago was genius, now i struggle to write even a paragraph". How do you cope with that anxiety of not being able to feel proud of your writing, or even to feel like a worse writer than your past self? I struggle with it the most, especially when I see it throughout the same project. I can't understand why my first chapters were so good but six chapters in i feel almost... lost in my way of writing, you know?
I know you're asking Kieren but as someone who just recently got out of a 3 year writers slump after failing to query my novel, i found giving myself permission to suck and then editing that sucky thing into something presentable freed me from the self-judgement and made me realize that despite my worst fears I had improved as a writer because I was willing to internalize tips that I hadn't been ready to internalize with my older work cause I was too attached to how it was. With regards to later chapters being worse than your first, I had this feeling a week ago and came to the conclusion that it was natural, I'd internalized chapter 1 for months before I put fingers to keyboard, in comparison chapters six (in my case all my chapters past 3) had not had as much time to flourish yet, but I have faith they'll get there eventually. Sorry for the rambling but good luck, hope this maybe helped.
I know exactly what you mean, and it's not a nice feeling. I tend to go up and down fairly rapidly. Within days I can go from being miserable about my book, to thinking I've written something I'm actually proud of and back and forth. The same passages can feel both ways to me, too. You aren't a worse writer than your past self was, though, and nor am I. I think it's a bit of a staircase. You go up a little and make noticeable progress with storytelling or productivity, then you plateau a bit and that starts to feel 'normal'. Then because you're no longer in that state of advanced productivity and progression, it feels like you're going down. In reality, you're not going down, you might be simply staying level just now, but you're still at the highest step you've been on. You'll take another step when you get to it. Also, this isn't very helpful or inspirational, but writing is bloody hard! We never give ourselves credit for just getting it done, and that's a lot of the experience of writing, especially a novel.
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Yeah, I'm an ENFJ. The extroverted cousin to INFJ I wondered if you were an INFJ or INTJ. I was leaning more INFJ, but it's a system better for typing yourself than just some guy on the internet like myself haha
I'm also an architect. That test really gave me insights into myself (and how I think) when I did it (years ago now). I think I'm very much an architect. The notes on friendship, for example, helped me better understand that I'm not actually antisocial, just a certain, very analytical type of introverted. Great tip for finding motivation in all areas, including writing. @@KierenWestwoodWriting
Absolutely! I feel the same. It may no be hugely scientific etc, but it helped me understand that some of what I thought were weaknesses in myself, weren't what I thought. That introversion being one of them. I thought being an introvert meant being shy and avoiding social interaction, when it really doesn't mean that.
@@KierenWestwoodWriting if you read and write a lot and live life, we are always growing , and you’re young haha I’m just saying man if your thing you will keep getting better I just believe that
The way I think of it is you don’t have to write every day but if you expect to complete something like a novel , you will have to fight resistance at some point
In the past people used to say, a writer has at a least to be 40 years old, because before that, wtf does he know about life. I do not say, that this is right, but that's the nice thing about writing, you can do this , accumulating experience , for a long time, without peaking, but just changing.
