Hello, writers!
We are happy to be back to blogging after some time away in November and December. Blogging is a creative work, same as writing stories, and sometimes we need to pull away to recharge.
A few highlights from my break:
Focused writing time: I’m on deadline for the first book in a contemporary series being written with several other authors (including Jill!) so I spent a lot of my not-blogging time focused on writing and editing.
Getting our new moderators set up on the Go Teen Writers Community Facebook group: If you’re not a member of this group and you’d like to be, apply here, and then email me (Stephanie(at)StephanieMorrill.com) to let me know you applied to expedite your approval process. (We love our non-teen writers, but this group is designed for writers ages 21 and under.) We really appreciate Rebecca Woodie, Annie Twitchell, Maddy Wilson, Raevyn Oswald, and Hannah White investing time in making our community great! And we appreciate Bethany Baldwin continuing on as a moderator!
Celebrated the birth of my niece: We made a trek out to Colorado to visit the newest member of our family, and it was lovely. There’s not much better than holding a newborn baby who you don’t have to get up with in the middle of the night. I won’t share pictures out of respect for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s wishes, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. She’s cute. She’s little. She sleeps a lot.
Lastly, this series—The Beginning Writer’s Guide To Finishing A Novel—is an idea that rose up in me during the break. Many of us want to finish novels, but it’s a hard thing to do. My goal with these posts is to help you identify problem areas and hopefully push onto The End. Maybe even through edits!
As the series goes on, if you have obstacles with finishing your novels that you’d like me to address, please leave a comment or email me! (Again, Stephanie(at)StephanieMorrill.com)
Today, we’re going to talk about how crucial it is to make space for your writing:
The Beginning Writer’s Guide To Finishing A Novel: Making Space
I’m a sophomore in high school, and I have The Best Book Idea Ever.
I write snippets in Geometry when I should be listening. I write in the evenings after homework is done. (Maybe sometimes before…) For several weeks, I obsessively rewrite the first couple of chapters—This time I’ll start when my main character is about to move! This chapter rewrite will be perfect!—and then my interest in the story slowly fades. I never get past chapter three.
I’m twenty, working part time, and newly married. I finish a manuscript I’ve been working on for several months, and I proudly put it away for six weeks before I attempt to edit it, just like Stephen King advises in On Writing.
I’ve never edited a book before, and I’m antsy to get to it, especially after reading a fantastic novel in my same genre. So I pull my book out after only a week or two, and I eagerly begin to read. Quickly, I spot all the ways my novel falls short. Voice. A plot. A character who changes. I close out of the document that day and never open it again.
If you’re like most writers, you don’t need help feeling excited about your story idea. Not in the beginning, anyway. There’s a part of writing a story that comes easy to you, that feels like pure fun. For me, it’s always been story beginnings. For you, it might be creating characters, outlining a series, or worldbuilding majestic fantasy landscapes.
Whatever it is for you, it’s the part you don’t need help with. Yes, you’ll evolve and grow in that aspect of the craft too, but you don’t need instructions on how to get that piece of the novel done. You’re already snatching every second you can find to work on it.
But what happens when it’s time to move beyond that part? Or when you notice some problems with your idea or what you’ve written? How do you keep going after that initial spark of passion fades?
Starting is easy. Finishing is hard.
You know this already.
You feel more excited about goals on day one than you do on day one hundred. And it’s no different with creative work. Energy and enthusiasm for your novel are high early on, and they fade long before the completion of a first draft. Forget about those emotions sustaining you through edits, submitting to agents, or marketing the finished product. You have to develop something deeper, more substantial, to get your story that far.
It’s a little like the emotions you experience when you first starting dating someone versus what you need to create a long term healthy, happy marriage. That early energy for the other person is fun, easy, and exciting. But fun, easy, and exciting can’t be the bedrock of a marriage, nor can it be what you count on to get to The End of your novel.
Make Space For Writing
The first way I know to combat the waning enthusiasm when the sheen wears off a new idea is to have a place and a time to write.
This importance of this step is easy to overlook because when we first start a new project, our idea consumes our thoughts. We snag every second we can to work.
When that fades, what saves me every time is my routine.
“I’m going to work on my book when I have time,” isn’t nearly as powerful as, “I’m going to work on my book every weekend morning at my favorite coffeehouse from 8am to 10am.”
With a statement like that, not only have you declared that you want to work on your book, you’ve also thought through what that will actually look like. You can put that on your calendar whereas “when I have time” doesn’t plug into a timeslot very well.
Picking a routine you can stick to is more important than weighing yourself down with ideas like “real writers write everyday” or all the various writing challenges that exist. (To be clear, I’m not knocking either of these ideas, just saying they’re tools meant to help you, not to weigh you down with false ideas of failure or success.)
Over the last 15 years my routines have evolved:
When I worked full-time: I’ll get up an hour before work and write.
When I worked part-time: On my days off, I’ll write from 8am to lunch.
When I had the luxury of not working and not having children: When Ben leaves for work, I’ll start writing. I’ll stop when he gets home.
And currently: When my kids are at school or I have childcare, I’ll write for the first half of my scheduled time. (The other half is devoted to other writing responsibilities, like social media, managing GoTeenWriters.com, paying bills, etc.)
Taking my routine seriously has not only multiplied my words, but it’s also led those around me to respect my writing time. Because they see me respecting my writing time. Yes, it can feel awkward to pass up invitations because of writing—even after you cross into writing professionally—but I’ve learned that I can’t wait for others to prioritize my time, identify what matters to me, or give me permission to create. Those are my responsibilities.
Another bonus to setting boundaries on your writing time? You can feel complete freedom to say YES to invitations that fall outside of those boundaries. Or you can watch Netflix guilt-free because there won’t be a voice whispering that you should really be writing. Or if there is, you can say to it, “No, I shouldn’t. I write on my lunch break every day. I’m free to do other things right now.”
So, if you want to finish your novel, this is where I would start: Identify your butt-in-chair, fingers-on-keyboard time.
To the writer who says, “But I want to write when I feel inspired,” I say, “Yeah, me too. I’ve learned sitting in my chair, opening my manuscript, and getting to work is a great way to encourage inspiration along.”
I can’t promise inspiration will show her face every time you’re faithful to your writing schedule, but I can promise that more times than not, starting will be the hardest thing you do.
Do you have a dedicated time and place that you write?
Read the next post in this series: Actually Write
One time I know I get to write is every Friday (School is only four days a week for me) from 8am until 3:15 when I get ready to leave. I still try to snag whatever time I have at night or on Saturdays. And some weeks, like when I did NaNo, I wrote every day as much as I could. Or when I have a really exciting short story to work on.
Nice.
I wish I had better writing habits. I tend to save all my writing until just before I go to bed, which means I’m usually up pretty late. However, I’ve noticed that sleep is kind of important, so I’m hoping to carve out time to write when the sun is actually shining as opposed to when it’s mere hours from rising again.
Em, we will talk some about habits during this series, so hopefully that will help! I’m glad you recognize sleep is important 🙂
Macey, that’s wonderful that you have an established routine like that! That will serve you well 🙂
This series came at the perfect time, as I my New Year’s resolution was to finally finish my book.
I recently went through a phase where I lacked enthusiasm for my book, but managed to get through it. Part of it was determination to see this book through to the end, so I just kept pushing, even though I felt like I was just doing it to get it done. Part of it came from reading fiction that entertained me and craft-of-writing books that inspired me so that I actually wanted to create something, and I channeled that creative energy into my book. Eventually I got to a really fun, interesting scene that reconnected me to the story. So yay! 🙂
Yay! It’s hard to push through, and sometimes setting a book aside is the right call. We’ll talk about that more in a later post!
This came at the perfect time! (New Year’s Resolution: Finish book + Start Edits) I’m so close to finishing through the end of my first draft. It’s a bit of a struggle sometimes to push all of the impending edits out of my mind so I can just write. I also know how much I need a routine so I’ll actually write something. Right now it constitutes of turning on music, putting in my headphones and tuning out my siblings and family so I can work! ?
I hear you. Tuning out siblings/family is helpful for concentrating.
Aster, yes it can be tough to push onto the end when you know how much work is waiting for you afterward. I hope this series is helpful for you as you accomplish your goal!
Yay, I’m happy to see you back! I’m not currently working on drafting anything, but this post has given me a much-needed push to set aside a specific time and work to FINISH EDITING like I’ve been planning to do for…a much longer time than I care to admit. So thanks for that!
Oh, good! Yeah, we all know that finishing the first draft isn’t really finishing a book. But it’s hard to push through edits! I hope this series helps.
I do pretty well carving out time to write. I do best in smaller sessions or sprints.
I have a harder time though keeping enthusiasm for my ideas. I think i dismiss them as no good too quickly. Im trying to give them more time to nuture and develop.
I think it’s really normal to lose enthusiasm along the way like that, Tonya. Hopefully this series can help!
It’s nice to see the return of the “wordsmith sisters,” I look forward to reading more of your posts in 2020.
The wordsmith sisters! I love it!