Where the hell is this story going? Could somebody please tell me?
When I started, I thought the story would tell itself, reveal itself to me if I just kept writing dutifully enough. But no. I’m seriously in trouble here.
I have no ideas whatsoever, and writing is like walking in the piles of snow gathering on the sidewalks outside. If I want to write my thousand words, it’s just incredible shit, and what’s the point in that? At this point, I’m not sure anymore which is more important: to write well, or just to write.
I know it’s important to keep on writing and not just sit around and wait for an inspiration, but on the other hand it’s kind of frustrating to write something, that you know you are going to have to edit a lot, or even to change completely. If you write the whole book “wrong” (to an ending you don’t want for example) it’s quite a lot of work to start editing from the start.
Any words of advice?
keskiviikko 15. helmikuuta 2012
tiistai 7. helmikuuta 2012
Dreams for a writer
About a month ago, I finally started to write a book. Not just a story line, a plot, an idea or a beginning of a story, but an actual book, probably for the first time in my life. Oh, I’ve started to write a book a million times before, but I don’t think I ever really believed that I could finish it. Maybe I had a plot, but I just couldn’t put any meat around that skeleton, or then I just wrote, but couldn’t figure out a plausible plot. I had a lot of fun coming up with different worlds and characters, thinking what they would say and how they would act, but when it came time to actually sit down and write, I just couldn’t do it.
Then, a month ago, I made a decision. I would write a thousand words every day, save the occasional free day to vent my mind. My boyfriend gave me an idea for a story, and I just started to write. Even though the idea originally was to write something every day just to get used to the practice and hone my writing, I think that somewhere in the back of my head I knew from the beginning that this time I would do it for real. I would start to write a book, and I wouldn’t stop before I’d finished it.
Now that I’m past my first 25 000 words, I’m really starting to feel the pressure. Even though I feel my writing is complete shit, and no amount of editing could make that right, I can’t just drop the project and walk away. I have to finish it. No matter how crappy the story turns out to be, I need to finish it. Finish it, just finish it! (as someone once said).
The problem is, I have no idea how. From the start, I’ve been following the advice of my favorite author, Stephen King, and I’ve been writing without a plot. I had an idea, a scenario, and I started to develop it, wondering what would happen, how it would turn out, so even I haven’t been able to tell what’s going to happen in the next two pages (around 1000 words). I’ve been figuring things out while I go along. But now I’ve really hit a road block. In the beginning there was a sub plot that was easy to develop, but now I’ve come to the point where I actually have to start deciding the big lines, and that scares me.
So, I started to write a blog. Partly to share my worries and problems and ideas with my fellow writers, partly in anticipation of the future. If I ever really do finish my book (and I’ll be damned if I won’t!) and decide to publish it (a big gulp!), I’m going to need a marketing channel. And even though this blog might not get a million readers, or any at all, it’s as good a start as any.
Then, a month ago, I made a decision. I would write a thousand words every day, save the occasional free day to vent my mind. My boyfriend gave me an idea for a story, and I just started to write. Even though the idea originally was to write something every day just to get used to the practice and hone my writing, I think that somewhere in the back of my head I knew from the beginning that this time I would do it for real. I would start to write a book, and I wouldn’t stop before I’d finished it.
Now that I’m past my first 25 000 words, I’m really starting to feel the pressure. Even though I feel my writing is complete shit, and no amount of editing could make that right, I can’t just drop the project and walk away. I have to finish it. No matter how crappy the story turns out to be, I need to finish it. Finish it, just finish it! (as someone once said).
The problem is, I have no idea how. From the start, I’ve been following the advice of my favorite author, Stephen King, and I’ve been writing without a plot. I had an idea, a scenario, and I started to develop it, wondering what would happen, how it would turn out, so even I haven’t been able to tell what’s going to happen in the next two pages (around 1000 words). I’ve been figuring things out while I go along. But now I’ve really hit a road block. In the beginning there was a sub plot that was easy to develop, but now I’ve come to the point where I actually have to start deciding the big lines, and that scares me.
So, I started to write a blog. Partly to share my worries and problems and ideas with my fellow writers, partly in anticipation of the future. If I ever really do finish my book (and I’ll be damned if I won’t!) and decide to publish it (a big gulp!), I’m going to need a marketing channel. And even though this blog might not get a million readers, or any at all, it’s as good a start as any.
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