A little update on my manuscript: I didn’t finish on time. The last couple of days I put a lot of pressure on myself to finish by my deadline and that’s all I could think about and struggled with the next words. Coming off a vacation would hopefully leave me ready to finish the last 18K words.
Maybe it’s good to start small. But for some of us, we decided that we would start with a large manuscript.
Once you finally realize what you’ve done, you’ve already told so many people that you’re working on a novel. You probably feel kind stuck right now.
And to be honest, I’m right there with you. The words used to flow from my fingertips, but my wondering mind makes it difficult; I keep thinking of ways to make it better/ edit before I even finish the book.
I never want to give up on it; Torque is my first novel I wrote when I was younger and finished it. I wrote it out of being inspired by (albeit, I am a bit embarrassed to admit this) Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight.”
And I feel as though if I take a step back that I won’t come back to it. But I am going to push these feelings aside to keep writing it. I’ll do my best to balance it with another manuscript but I’m going to finish Torque.
I think I’ve rambled on for a bit, but I wanted to explore ways for writers to keep going or take a step back without feeling they are abandoning their manuscript.
For fun
I guess the obvious would be to reread what you have, but don’t make any edits. Realize what you fell in love with when you first started writing. If you start to make edits, it’s possible to become critical of what’s there. There is such as thing as over editing.
But don’t over #edit….if you feel like you should stop, stop. Step away for a few weeks and come back. #writerslife #amediting
— Alyssa Flynn (@WordsbyFlynn) April 21, 2017
Fill in the blanks
Write specific scenes — whether you plan to fit it in your manuscript or not. This will keep the brain moving and could add more depth to character. If you are adding the scene to your book, hopefully it will excite you to get to fill in the blanks. A writing prompt is also a good way.
Plan or pants?
If you’ve planned things out with an outline — forget it. It may restrict the writing by sticking with the plan. If there is no plan, create one. Your novel may need some direction — it doesn’t have to be detailed, just mention three important actions you want to happen. ( Three is a good number because there is less of a chance to make the outline too complex or overwhelming.)
Like Nike’s tagline: Just Do It
Put that butt in that chair, or favorite writing spot and just write. Push through the feelings you may have, no matter how rough those sentences, hell, even chapters, are. Don’t give up.
Step back and reflect
As mentioned in a previous post, Making the most of your time, hop into another project. It may be time to step back completely. It doesn’t make you a failure. Even if you don’t hop into another project, use that time to reflect on another.
And if any one of those people you’ve told about your novel asks you how it’s going, say it’s fine. Sometimes keeping it to yourself can lessen the pressure of a large manuscript.
Keep writing!
P.S., if you’re not already, follow me on either of my Twitter accounts and Instagram.
Sometimes in order to get in the mood to write, I like to turn on my music. I use it to focus and block out the background noise. I usually listen to my playlist that I made for my fanfiction more than the ones I’ve made for Torque or my works.
The music sets the mood for the scene I am going to write, whether it be for my fanfiction or writings. There are times when I get so obsessed with finding the right song for an “epic” scene, that I would spend at least a hour looking for the song. Sometimes, it takes longer to find it, which makes it harder to write.
There are some authors that create playlists for books – something that they listened to while writing. The only author I can think of that has done it is Stephanie Meyer for Twilight. I remember when I was into Twilight, I would go on the website and listen to music. I think she used to express the feelings of her characters throughout the book, but I don’t remember what it was specifically for.
I think ever since then I started creating playlists for my characters or just for the entire work. I find it fun, but I feel like it does more harm than good. Like I said above, it’s distracting; next thing you know you’re searching for the right song(s) for three hours and it’s past midnight. (Haha, me.) I think I spend so much time trying to find the right music is because it makes writing a little less lonely.
I’m sure this is something that I will continue while I’m writing.
Do any of you use music to help with writing, or nah? Let me know in the comments below. If you want a link to one of my playlists, let me know!
Until Sunday, Ciao!
XO Arisa
Recent Posts:
I’ve come to realize why it’s hard to write, and why it may be hard for others to write. The expectancy of x amount of pages for chapter or book.
When someone expects a certain amount or as a writer, you pressure yourself to get the amount you want or need, it can take the fun out of writing. It can make your writing area into a stressful environment. Which is not very productive.
It’s all some writers, like myself, can think about when writing. It started to make me feel unmotivated when I tried and write Torque.
Continue reading
Over the summer I had the pleasure of reading for fun. It’s has become increasingly hard to enjoy what I pick up and not close it because I have to do homework. I would never be completely immersed in what I was reading for that simple factor. And it sucks.
But when there is free time, take it and remind yourself why you wanted to write. I’m going to do a little more reading before I start to write. I would suggest something that is not in the genre you’re writing because ideas from the book a could magically make its way into what you’re writing. That’s no good when trying to make your work original as possible.
It’s hard to write what you want when you have projects and homework to do. Hopefully, as the school year goes on I will read for fun before I write.
NANOWRIMO is coming up pretty soon. Every time November rolls around I say I’m going to do it, but school wants to get in the way. I will do my best and I hope to start posting short stories then with summaries of other things I’m working on. Like my novel series, Torque.
Well, until next time, pick up a book. Or books.
Let me know if this is something you do before writing or you do something else to mentally prepare yourself.
XO Arisa
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
–Eleanor Roosevelt
Since I am going to college for journalism, specifically magazine journalism, writing has been a love-hate relationship. I know that it’s a different style but it has been difficult for me to master. I made it a goal of mine to work for a publishing company, become an editor of a magazine and one day own my own magazine.
If you’ve ever had a journalism course or went to j-school, they probably told you the ABCs of journalism. The ABCs stand for accuracy, brevity and clarity. I think that as I was learning the ABCs and other rules, I began to slowly lose my touch and (I dare say it) my love for writing.
When I came to school I knew I wanted to journalism ( and to also please my parents because an English degree wouldn’t suffice.) And I’ve always loved magazines; features, ads, horoscopes, photographs – basically the entire package of a magazine. As I am wrapped up my reporting class I realized that I don’t like the newspaper aspect of print journalism. Maybe it was just the class. (It was the class.)
I refuse to give up on something, just because of this factor. The other factor is that I am not sure what I was doing well in the class. For all I know, every story and brief I wrote could be classified as: meh or okay.
As someone who generally writes creative fiction better than non-fiction, fact filled work, it’s hard. Lately, I’ve been trying to “label” myself as a storyteller, as I am telling someone else’s story with facts. We will see how this holds up when I take my feature writing course in the fall. I will keep pushing forward to do better in my journalistic writing, eventually I’ll get it.
xo Arisa
-PS. I will be updating the site soon and it will showcase my published works, designs and projects.
Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.
-Wayne Dyer
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
-Aristotle Onassis
Whoa! It’s seriously been months since I have updated my blog. Second semester took me by storm, tossed me in the ocean with nothing and I had to learn to swim. I’m swimming now, but I was definitely drowning for a bit. Not going to lie. Since I can’t update as often as I want to, I will post some motivational quotes.
I have so many plans that I want to execute when I am not swamped with school work. Here is the list.
