Every writer is different, with a unique approach to getting their work on paper. There is no one-size-fits-all method for taking a story from an idea, a “what if” moment, to a finished piece. Each of us has to find our own way.
I’m like everyone else. I can’t write creatively when life is too stressful. But I can always write a blog post, which is how I keep my writing muscles in “fighting form.”
However, I have a few tools in my writer’s toolbox that jar things loose, help me organize my ideas, and help me make a coherent, logical arc out of a story.
When I reach a point in a manuscript where I’ve run out of ideas, I stop forcing it. I’m an indie and my deadlines are self-imposed, so my production timelines aren’t as finite as a writer who is under contract. I begin a different project and come back to the other one when inspiration returns.
Sometimes a project begins well and despite that great beginning, it goes unfinished. This happens when I run out of ideas for that story, which leads to me loosing enthusiasm. I set that project aside and work on something else. Maybe it’s a short story or a poem, but it’s something I can finish. That way, I can relax and enjoy the act of creating something from idea to completion.
As an indie, my goals are for me, not for anyone else. I choose to embrace a Zen writing life.
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One manuscript has sat unfinished for several years for a variety of reasons. The story was stalled at the halfway point and I had only a vague idea of how it must end. This year I managed to write a synopsis of the final half of the story arc and that has become invaluable as an outline. Writing is now moving ahead as I had hoped.
One important thing I have come to accept is this: my work is written for a niche market of those few readers who seek out the kind of work that I do. I write what I want to read, and I am an odd duck when it comes to literature.
Despite how much I love the stories that fall out of my head, my work doesn’t appeal to readers of action adventure. My stories are internal. The characters and the arc of their personal journeys are the central elements of their stories. While I love the action and the setting, those elements are only the frame within which the characters live and grow.
In the old days, I didn’t understand that. I marketed it to the wrong audience. Readers of action and adventure aren’t interested in slower-paced work. Even worse, I rushed to publish my work when it wasn’t ready.
So, the first hard-earned snippet of wisdom I have to share today is this: Write your stories for yourself and don’t stop trying.
The second piece of wisdom is a little more challenging but is a continuation of the first point: Write something new every day, even if it is only one line. Your aptitude for writing grows in strength and skill when you exercise it daily. This is where blogging comes in for me—it’s my daily exercise. If you only have ten minutes free, use them to write whatever enters your head, stream-of-consciousness.
The third thought is a fun thing: learn the meaning of a new word every day. You don’t have to use every word you know, but it never hurts to learn new things. Authors should have broad vocabularies.
The fourth thing: is don’t sweat the small stuff when you are just laying down the first draft. I know it’s a cliché, but it is also a truism. Let the words fall out of your head, passive phrasing and all, because the important thing is to finish the story.
The fifth thing to remember is this: every author begins as someone who wants to write but feels like an imposter. The authors who succeed in finishing a poem, a short story, or a novel are those who are brave enough to just do it. They find the time to sit down and put their ideas on paper.
Authors must overcome roadblocks in their personal life. Everyone has times of trouble, and they affect our ability to be creative. During the years I was raising my children, I had three failed marriages, worked three part-time jobs as a single mother, and struggled to find time and the energy to write.
Life got better financially once we survived the trickle-down economics experiment of the 1980s, and I found better jobs. In 2003, I met the love of my life but two of my children developed adult-onset epilepsy. We learned to cope with the tribulations of the dreaded “E” word, and we had many good years. And now my husband is in the later stages of Parkinson’s.
This makes life a little too interesting at times. Writing enables me to make sense of the twists and turns of our human experience.
It helps me process life’s complications in a non-threatening way.
I don’t write to win awards, and I don’t earn a lot from it. I have the time to write and not feel guilty about any arbitrary goals I don’t achieve.
The story is the goal; everything else is a bonus.
In real life, nothing is certain. Adversity in life forges strength and if you are a person blessed with empathy, it forges an understanding of other people’s challenges. Having the opportunity to make daily notes in a journal, to write poetry, blog posts, short stories, or novels is a luxury, one I am grateful for.
The first draft of your manuscript is the thinking draft. Don’t worry too much about self-editing when you are laying down what you think might be the story. Just get those thoughts down and enjoy the feeling of writing the story you need to write.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 