We are half-way through the challenge. It’s been interesting to see which kinds of posts generate the most feedback. In order to tailor the rest of the month to your needs, I need you to respond to these two questions:
WHAT KIND OF “LIFE OF A WRITER” TOPICS TO YOU WANT ME TO DISCUSS?
WHAT KIND OF WRITING CRAFT ISSUES DO YOU WANT ME TO TACKLE?
Today’s Quote
“You’re writing, you’re coasting, and you’re thinking, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever written, and it’s coming so easily, and these characters are so great.’ You put it aside for whatever reason, and you open it up a week later and the characters have turned to cardboard and the book has completely fallen apart. That’s the moment of truth for every writer: Can I go on from here and make this book into something? I think it separates the writers from the nonwriters. And I think it’s the reason a lot of people have that unfinished manuscript around the house, that albatross.”
Jacqueline Woodson
Today’s Prompt: Whose diary (of the people you know) would you like to read? (For the purposes of this prompt, you obviously have to pretend that everyone you know writes in a secret diary every day.)
After you have chosen your person, write a diary entry from her/his POV about an event that you were at. The trick here is to take information that you already have (about the event itself) but filter it through the perception of someone else.)
Scribble… scribble… scribble…
I especially love these fresh approaches to really understanding characters.
Excellent topics!
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Being unpublished, I have some issues with keeping my writing a priority.
How do I “justify” time spent on work that may never see print?
I know the answer but can’t seem to apply it to ME.
A quote from Jacqueline Woodson…I love her! Such strength and power in her words, too. PLEASE give us info on how to overcome the obstacles in getting published. How do I find an agent without being published? How do I get published without having an agent? The evil cycle continues!
Having hit the halfway point and written every day, I can definitely relate to Woodson’s quote and the two previous questions. I like that I’ve maintained the habbit of writing, but the last two days I’ve done it with the same enthusiasm as my middle child grudgingly eating his broccoli. I look at what I’ve written and think What’s the point? None of this pays the bills. So my bill paying work comes first. That, and my kids still expect clean clothes to appear in their drawers. And maybe all of this writing is about as good as the American Idol contestants who don’t get the tickets to Hollywood and all the judges are snickering on camera. Wow! I’m just full of positive energy today!
So I guess my question is, how do you ignore the self-doubt and just keep going? After your first draft is written, how do you break down the editing process into manageable pieces?
Thanks for the inspiration this month! My problem isn’t so much getting started as it is finishing, which leads to my questions:
Did you ever have trouble finishing your stories? How did you overcome this?
How do you know when to stop working on a project that isn’t coming together? (I have a hard time distinguishing between a project that’s not working and the usual despair I feel in the middle of a manuscript.)
I bombed yesterday–called in a mental health day, but I’m back at it now.
Craft topics:
Best how-to write non-fiction books.
How to deal with rejection/”pass” letters.
Networking tips.
Should dialogue come easier with more character development? Though I know my characters better than I did when I started writing, sometimes I can’t hear their true words. What are your thoughts and experience with this?
I write and write and write and have tons of bits and pieces for a story. I keep them in one bulging folder. The next thing I know I have forty or fifty pages of a story, scraps of paper with notes, dialog, scenes I love, but none of it in order. How do you sort this all out and go from point A to B to C? Should I make an outline? Should I cut it in pieces and glue it in somewhat logical order and then fill in the gaps? Because I keep avoiding this and just keep writing more and more to add to the pile.
Thanks for today’s fun prompt and the excellent quote.
How much preparation do you do before writing? Research, character profiles, outlining, making a large pot of tea, etc.? I’m sure it varies with each project, but do you have a particular process for each book before you actually begin writing?