What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

My characters. All the time. They are doing things, in my mind, all the time.

Worrying that my (fantasy) book's plot is not complicated enough for current tastes. There is only one POV, and the ending does not include ten people with their own agendas and armies coming together on a battlefield.

Trying to maintain my dignity.
While I avoid getting burned beyond recognition.


If I'm reallyreally lucky, I'll even be able to write a little this weekend.

Billycourty said:

I saw a tweet today, that linked to a site about this (sorry don't have the link) but the jist was that you should have quality not quantity beta readers and that they should understand what you want your story to be and how to help you get there, not just have their own opinion.

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That's good advice. Thanks.

Trying to work out how to turn a vague scenario in a multiverse I've outlined into a story!

randi.lee said:

I'm in the middle of querying, which also means that I'm in the middle of being rejected...so I'm doing that whole "Am I good enough?" self-loathing thing I always do when I get a no.That's the only thing occupying my writing mind atm.

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I'm right there with you! I've not queried as much as many suggest, but I've gotten enough rejections (and no feedback) that I'm second-guessing myself on everything...

Is women's fiction too difficult to place?
YA is so popular, should I have made my characters a few years younger and called it YA?
Should I have made it a mystery and cut out all the relationship changes?
Should I have made it a romance...etc.

Sigh. On the positive side, I have a full manuscript out with one agent right now and what I want for Christmas...if I can't get representation...I'd like a critique!

Perhaps you could use an epistolary format and have other people or newspapers or diary entries fill in some gaps about what happens after your MC dies. If this occurs at the beginning of the story, that's a different issue I suppose.

In my story, I have various MCs that are writing in first person perspective through their journals, letters, etc.

Interesting thread. I haven't seen this one for some reason, so I figured I'd jump in here...

I have a somewhat minor character in my book that I intend on turning into a rather major character, and possibly changing it to his POV. I've worked out his backstory and I absolutely love him, but to be honest, I'm scared to write any of it because in my mind, it's perfect, and I know I could never do his character justice with my writing.

But I shall soldier on and hopefully come up with something that works. I've applied for a grant so I can take a month off work and finish the book, so I'm waiting to hear on it. I work seven days a week and between that and taking care of the house (and other assorted issues) I never seem to be able to devote a good chunk of time to the writing.

That's what is on my mind about my writing today... <sigh>

I'm having major writers block and I don't know what to do about it I'm considering shelving my WIP for a few months to see if that helps. I've written about 35k words, out of order, and now I feel like I have a hundred puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together, and trying to make them fit is like pulling teeth. I think I'm plot challenged. I love character development and writing dramatic scenes, but when it comes time to figure out the overall story arch, I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of different angles I could take. I can't sort out a beginning and an end that I like and that make sense given what I've already written. I may have to rethink the whole thing from scratch. Murder your darlings, they say.

Right now, I'm wondering if it will ever be good enough. I have to make decisions about my future soon.

I'm looking at the first draft of a WIP which is the first time I've ever tried to truly pants something. While I finished the first draft, the beginning, middle, and end are so disjointed and don't really flow that I'm wondering what the best way to go about editing it would be. I've not had this experience before, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out in a draft or two.

Wondering if there's enough going on in my fantasy story and if the characters are staying in voice.

I'm near the end of the story and I'm looking at all the loose wires of the plot--so many! so many different kinds!--and knowing I have to connect them all properly so the resulting explosion is both vigorous and satisfying.

This feels somewhat paralyzing.

BethS said:

I'm near the end of the story and I'm looking at all the loose wires of the plot--so many! so many different kinds!--and knowing I have to connect them all properly so the resulting explosion is both vigorous and satisfying.

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Love that analogy.

CrastersBabies said:

Wondering if there's enough going on in my fantasy story and if the characters are staying in voice.

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Same here.

Really keeping an eye out for all mine and agent's submissions. Between the two of us we have about 45 subs out there and most of them have been out for three to five months. I've never seen quite a response lag like this in all my writing life. A number of these subs go way back--six and seven months. Can't figure it. I better start something new before I lose my mind.

tri--red-shifting to go and work on a small outline for a sequel.

I'm kind of a heavy outliner, I've already sort of outlined the resolution (but not the denoument), and I'm still trying to decide if I want to outline the introduction, although I already have a rough general idea in my head.

I remember this thread. But it's still a cool thread, so I'm glad it's back.

Status today: a moment of ridiculous frustration, having written two similar but not identical endings to the same chapter...

...and I can't decide which one works better!!!!

Ok, actually I feel better for screaming about it.

I'm getting closer to the finish line with my first draft, and I keep telling myself, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Also, I'm at a scene which I'm not sure how far I should take it, since it's a smexy scene with two dudes. I have only one other smexy scene (two chicks and one of the dudes in this scene) that I get into detail with earlier in the book, but I'm considering chopping most of that and fade to black since he really doesn't remember much of that drunken night anyway. I may just play with more of the emotions of this scene than the physical stuff, which I heard was better anyway. I guess just write it and then figure it out later. I suck at the smexy.

I have absolutely NO FOCUS and can't concentrate on one project at a time. There are three I feel a screaming need to work on RIGHT NAO, all at the same time, but there are equal pros and cons about which one I need to do.

So I guess I'll just take a shower and go to bed.

I had a great "Aha!" moment about this project at the weekend. All these loose ideas finally tied together and it began to look like this might actually work. Then this week got going. The inspiration-drunk feeling faded away and I realised I'm going to need to do another round of research to make sure I don't present a specific era in the wrong way.

My current thoughts on writing:
1) At this rate, how am I ever going to earn a living at this? Maybe I'm not as good at this as I had hoped.

2) I'm really excited about my current WIP, but what if it doesn't sell? Will I still love it?

3) I've got to figure out how to sell more books BEFORE my transmission fails and i have to start hauling myself and my baby around on the bus.

I wish I had more time to write... I'm excited about this story to the point where I might be obsessed.

What's on my mind??

I'm worried that people will hate my book. Or worse yet...nobody by my family buys it! Ugh!

I'm also worried that I'll never finish what I'm working on. It seems like the plot is drifting.

A lot is on my mind about my writing.I'm terrified that I will never finish my WIPs and that if I do finish them, no one will want to publish them. And if by some miracle, someone does publish them, no one will buy them and then no one will buy anything else I buy either. I'm also afraid that I won't be able to write it well enough to do it justice and maybe I should hire a ghost writer.

On a more positive note, I LOVE my characters. I love the idea and I love the story.