What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

[Silver-Midnight]

I honestly think it will be a bit before I can write again. I'm just busy this week. Ugh.

[JustinlDew]

Considered selfpublish for all of two seconds. That is one scary place.

[katci13]

Editing is exhausting work.

[sarawrites]

I just had a mini epiphany about the planning of my novel. I'm working through the Snowflake Method and it's been very helpful so far. But I was starting to get stuck. A bit of moving things around and bending the "rules" and I'm off to the races! Everything from here on out is going to be drastically helpful and will get me well on my way.

And I've spent the last two days writing an adorable scene between my MC and her LI. It's "schmoopy" as I so lovingly call it.

So, feeling pretty good!

[WriteMinded]

Originally Posted by sarawrites

I just had a mini epiphany about the planning of my novel.

That's what I need. An epiphany. A plot epiphany. Just a minor one. Please, God.

And that's what's on my mind. The only thing on my mind.

It's painful in there.

[Silver-Midnight]

Originally Posted by sarawrites

I just had a mini epiphany about the planning of my novel. I'm working through the Snowflake Method and it's been very helpful so far. But I was starting to get stuck. A bit of moving things around and bending the "rules" and I'm off to the races! Everything from here on out is going to be drastically helpful and will get me well on my way.

And I've spent the last two days writing an adorable scene between my MC and her LI. It's "schmoopy" as I so lovingly call it.

So, feeling pretty good!

Yay!!

@WriteMinded: You'll get there, you will.

[mstratton]

I'm new to the forum, and I've got a lot on my mind so I thought this would be a good place to jump in.

I finished my memoir, and I've sent out queries, synopsis, chapters, etc...I've received three rejections so far. One is still out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and searching for more agencies that desire memoirists.

I've started two fiction novels. Now that the memoir is in its final stages, I'd like to go back working on those. One is a YA (realistic fiction novel) set in Hurricane Utah. The characters are rural Mormons grappling with real world problems like death, drugs, and finances.

The other is about a firefighter who reaches the end of his rope one day.

So, yeah, that's about it.

[Quentin Nokov]

I've been somewhat disappointed because I've been writing for so long, but don't have anything publishable yet. My one novel is going on 5 years of work. I love the adventure of writing, but it would be nice to have a published book in my hands. Hopefully in another 5 years I'll have something published.

[sarawrites]

Of course the feeling pretty good didn't last long...

Maybe I've been reading too much AW, but now I'm terrified that my plot is broken, that my character motivations aren't consistent enough (my MC's change throughout the story), that the arcs of action aren't actiony enough.

I don't know. It's just a lot of self doubt, heaped on my shoulders right now.

[Tepelus]

Originally Posted by sarawrites

Of course the feeling pretty good didn't last long...

Maybe I've been reading too much AW, but now I'm terrified that my plot is broken, that my character motivations aren't consistent enough (my MC's change throughout the story), that the arcs of action aren't actiony enough.

I don't know. It's just a lot of self doubt, heaped on my shoulders right now.

Everyone goes through the self doubt stage. Remember you're not alone.

[Atalanta]

Originally Posted by WriteMinded

That's what I need. An epiphany. A plot epiphany.

Try playing with your ideas in a format different from what you're used to, i.e., if you're a keyboard writer, pick up a pen; if you write longhand, try a keyboard; or use index cards, or a drawing pad.

I'd been stuck on the climax of my plot for freakin' weeks, and just sat down one day with a pen and a stack of lined paper and started writing out headers: "This is what my antagonist knows," "These are my antagonist's goals," "These are things I want to happen," "This is what he might say," etc.

I scratched out nine pages of scribbly notes, marred by ellipses and question marks, and the margins all filled with asterisks. But it wasn't until the next day that the magic happened: I read through all those notes, opened my novel file, and BAM! I suddenly knew exactly what was supposed to happen.

It's like sneak-attacking your muse: go in through a different gate, and they won't even know you're there until it's too late. Good luck! And remember: we've all been there; we understand the frustration and agony.

[Silver-Midnight]

Originally Posted by sarawrites

Of course the feeling pretty good didn't last long...

Maybe I've been reading too much AW, but now I'm terrified that my plot is broken, that my character motivations aren't consistent enough (my MC's change throughout the story), that the arcs of action aren't actiony enough.

I don't know. It's just a lot of self doubt, heaped on my shoulders right now.

Write it anyway. Ignore those voices. That's what I have to tell myself. I'm really trying it now.

Originally Posted by Tepelus

Everyone goes through the self doubt stage. Remember you're not alone.

Ditto.

[JustinlDew]

Have I mentioned I hate editing?

[Sam Argent]

Query letter part 4. I'm cherry picking parts of the earlier versions and making a megazord. I hope all the plot bunnies attacking me right now stick around when I'm finished.

[WKlein]

Converted my .doc to .epub to read through on my Nook, and I'm finding that exercise incredibly useful. When I'm reading my story like I would any other book, the things that I want to change seem to jump out at me, whereas on the computer screen they've been prone to blend in too well.

[MakanJuu]

Just started a straight rewrite of the first chapter of the book, shortening the first scene, replacing the second and switching the order. Only, now I'm worrying if I'm using too much cursing, even if it's honestly normal speech for a middle-low class rural person from the Midwest United States, and also worrying if my writing is being too simplistic right now, even though I'm trying to capture the main character's panic at the moment. Guess I'll find out when I go to SYW after I'm done. I will say that I've written more today than I have all month (2100 words so far) and I'm almost done with the scene.

Maybe I can take a bit more time to live with it & think it over before I post again...

[sarawrites]

Thanks Tepelus and Silver-Midnight! I'm starting to feel a bit better now.

I left my debit card at a restaurant in Chicago--which I live an hour outside of--after having dinner with a friend, so had to haul butt back in to pick it up today. My lovely mother drove and I took my netbook and got a lot further along in my planning. Drastically further.

Hooray!

[Papaya]

I'm thinking that peaches sure are a big deal in Stonewall, Texas. That's not going to be enough to write an area page on though....

[dchisholm125]

Originally Posted by MakanJuu

Just started a straight rewrite of the first chapter of the book, shortening the first scene, replacing the second and switching the order. Only, now I'm worrying if I'm using too much cursing, even if it's honestly normal speech for a middle-low class rural person from the Midwest United States, and also worrying if my writing is being too simplistic right now, even though I'm trying to capture the main character's panic at the moment. Guess I'll find out when I go to SYW after I'm done. I will say that I've written more today than I have all month (2100 words so far) and I'm almost done with the scene.

Maybe I can take a bit more time to live with it & think it over before I post again...

It depends on the POV. If it's first person and your character isn't exactly the most elloquent speaker then who gives a f**k right? I mean if he's an a$$h013 and he curses $h1t every five seconds cause he's a friggin' angry Sonofab1tch that's just your character's personality.

I'll admit though, curses sometimes take away from the rhythm of the scene if they're out of place. However, if they fit logically with the mood it can be used to emphasize rather than just seem like overdramatics or getting carried away

[MakanJuu]

Originally Posted by dchisholm125

It depends on the POV. If it's first person and your character isn't exactly the most elloquent speaker then who gives a f**k right? I mean if he's an a$$h013 and he curses $h1t every five seconds cause he's a friggin' angry Sonofab1tch that's just your character's personality.

I'll admit though, curses sometimes take away from the rhythm of the scene if they're out of place. However, if they fit logically with the mood it can be used to emphasize rather than just seem like overdramatics or getting carried away

Just finished maybe half an hour ago!

Anyway, it's an action scene involving a girl trying to run away from home in the middle of the night, as her physically abusive father, verbally abusive stepmother and their angry attack dog all get involved in a quick chase.

And, despite my fear that I was being too simplistic with my words, it ended up being longer than the chapter was originally, when it was just an archeological dig, then a car ride. And I'm not done, yet! I already have ideas for the rewrite (This may end up having to be two chapters, now, and then I have to revise what's currently the second chapter to accommodate the changes in the first.

I was worried the swearing might be offensive, but I've honestly heard people talk like that and, well... if anything, I suppose it'll help people identify with the character more and want her to escape, then they'll be more hooked in when things start going badly again. I'm just glad I fianlly have my hook!

[triceretops]

Still trying to come up with an apocalypse-type disaster on an alien planet that only an earthing scientist could solve. Problem is, both technologies are the same, having FTL travel and other things. This has been the worst plot problem I've ever had--hoping I didn't paint myself into a corner at about four chapters into it.

tri

[Silver-Midnight]

Well, I got some more writing done today. Not much. But that's better than nothing. i finished out my first chapter. It's not as long as my usual chapters but I don't think this story is going to be that long but I don't entirely know yet. Things in it are moving kind of fast. (I kind of fear that they're moving too fast. )

[JustinlDew]

bouncing between essay writing, QLH, and a steampunk outline. Fun, fun, fun.

[enesthi]

Managed to get through the first 10 chapters of draft 2 proofreading, but there's a lot of chapters (they're rather arbitrary at this point). This shiny new story keeps lurking off in one corner of my mind trying to get my attention too. I wrote down the basic premise to appease it for a while but gotta get through this proofread before it comes back.

I always wanted to write a mystery, though... (looses focus again)

[Raison]

I'm stressing over condensing, yet I haven't even completed the first draft. When I began writing, I was afraid I wouldn't have enough material to even have a decent-size book, but now I know it will be too long. I've been editing a good bit as I go along, but I know I'm going to have a huge task ahead of me to not only edit but also to condense. I'm not looking forward to that part at all.