Writing a novel isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s work. And that’s exactly as it should be.
Every story starts with the shimmer of an idea. Close enough that you can see its potential, and far enough from realization that you have to chase it down. A will-o’-the-wisp you’ll only capture if you put pen to the page and tell its story.
The journey itself is a treacherous adventure, both externally and internally. Time in your writing cave will be necessary, wielding tools you’re still trying to master, cutting down doubt and fear, creating worlds and characters, solving problems and sorting plot holes, and through it all you’ll have to exercise soul-baring honesty.
Oh, you’ll wrap truth in all sorts of fictional trappings, but if you’re going to give your reader a hero worth following, it will require you to tell the truth about all sorts of things. Things you’ve learned, things you’ve watched others learn, things you know nothing about, and things you’re currently wrestling with.
That’s what I wanted to talk about today. Writing, not what you know, but what you desperately need to understand. Writing because you learn best when you watch others do it first. Writing because you know what you’re supposed to believe, but can’t quite see through the obstacles and opposition to get there with any conviction.
That’s where I often find myself. And so I create characters, and I give them problems I can’t solve, and together we fight our way to the end. To the answers we both need. I wonder if I’m the only one? Do you write to understand? Do you write to see more clearly your place in the world, the things you value, the things you hate, and the logical conclusions to the presuppositions you carry through this life?
The idea for the WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED duology came to me as Frozen meets Ice Road Truckers, but while the worldbuilding required a lot of time, it was developing a cast of characters who genuinely wrestled with their roles and the expectations laid on their shoulders that was the most intimate work I did. The most soul searching.
Coming into the story, I felt silenced. There’s a lot that goes into why I felt that way, but for months I had been questioning the value of my words, and whether or not sharing my perspective was worth my time and energy. There were just so many opinions out there, so much noise, so much anger, and while I too found myself frustrated, I did not want to add to the deafening cacophony. I wanted to be a person who lived her life without offending others, and was left alone to believe as I believed. After months of discomfort, I wanted to be comfortable.
And so, in Sylvi Quine, I created a protagonist who valued comfort and solitude above all. I gave her a backstory as the perpetual outsider, shaped by the kind of pain that would make anyone want to be left alone, and then I gave her the thing that I, the author, feared. A crew who expected things of her. A team that would need to know her intimately in order to survive. Their mission would require everything she brought to the table: her skills, her power, her respect, and, most importantly, her voice. If she wasn’t willing to be what she was created to be, to use the voice she had been given, those closest to her would suffer.
I made Sylvi uncomfortable because I was uncomfortable, and then together, we climbed into the cab of an ice rig with a demanding crew, and began a journey to make peace with the expectations we both longed to be rid of.
See? Writing a novel is work. You have to be willing to dig deep and get honest. You have to be willing look your own fears in the face and then ball up your fist, punch out their teeth, and move forward. If you can’t or won’t, your stories will lack what they most need: soul.
By the time Sylvi and her crew reached the end of the road in WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED, she was bloodied and bruised, she’d made enemies (the thing she and I both had been trying to avoid), and she knew what it was to be completely known and completely loved. She learned that using her voice would have consequences–many of the same consequences she feared–but that the benefits far outweighed the risk.
She learned this lesson so well that in book two, REBEL, BRAVE AND BRUTAL, she’s moved onto a new lesson: What do you do when you’re willing to speak, but others try to silence you? How do you fight a rock between your teeth?
Another question I needed to answer for myself. And I was glad for it. Glad for another journey with my girl and her crew. We had grown, all of us. We were a little battered, a little wiser, and a lot more willing to fight.
Now! How about that giveaway!
With the release of REBEL, BRAVE AND BRUTAL, the WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED duology has been on shelves for three months now, and I thought it was time to do a giveaway here at Go Teen Writers! Use the Rafflecopter below to enter and, next week, one random winner will get to choose a signed hardback copy of either WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED or REBEL, BRAVE AND BRUTAL. The winner will be contacted via email, so please use a valid email address.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTell me, do you ever write with your struggles in mind? Do you wrestle with big issues on the page? Care to share any of your experiences with this? We’d love to hear.
Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.
Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.
It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.
To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.
For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
I have to say, I find myself putting something or things I have already struggled with into books I’m writing. I don’t know why, but it just comes out sometimes. Possibly that I’m so hurt by a situation that I’m just like, ‘Oo, this would be good to put in.’ ?
But this post really helps me! It’s good to know that other people also put their struggles into books. I don’t feel so alone now, tbh.
You’re definitely not alone! Cheering you on, Naomi!
I definitely write when I’m struggling. I’ve found that it helps me to calm down, gather my thoughts, and somehow produces a better draft!
Writing can be very therapeutic that way! When I’m editing, I often find things I need to cut because they were more for me than the reader, but it’s helpful to see them on the page.
I meant to say it also helps me understand things I’m going through a little better.
It’s so interesting and encouraging to me that you wrote this post, so thank you! For the last four or five years, since I truly started taking my writing seriously and working and growing as a writer, every time I read what I’ve written, it becomes incredibly clear what I was struggling with while writing. My brother likes to say that if he needs to check on me, he uses my writing as a weather vane, and it’s also something that I’ve been teased about. But I’ve also noticed that when I put something that I’ve really struggled with or am currently wrestling with into my work, it becomes so much stronger and my characters have so much more depth. They don’t have to face the situation the way I do, but just the act of having a mirror to my own struggle and being able to communicate my thoughts through a different medium is so helpful.
So thank you so much for this post. It makes some of the cuts and bruises I collected for my writing not hurt so much.
I love that your brother says your writing is like a weathervane! I can definitely see my mood through the words I write!
Such lovely thoughts, Alethia! Writing absolutely impacts my mood and my emotion. Reading too. It’s why I always need to keep my priorities and my focus up, on the things that matter. Cheering you on as you write, friend.
Absolutely yes. My struggles bleed over into my books, and it’s hard to continue with them sometimes cause I don’t want to face the struggles.
Ah! The dark side of this method for puzzling out problems. It can certainly be weighty. I hope you find a way to add some levity to the process. Perhaps by minimizing how many personal struggles you include in a piece?
I haven’t written fiction, for fun, for over a year now. I’ve been struggling to feel motivated to write, and when I randomly feel like writing I don’t have ideas that will add anything to the world. I have a hard time being creative and then going through with it. This article was so helpful! Thank you!
That’s hard!
Try taking away all the pressures of “adding something to the world” and write what you love. Don’t even worry about if it has good plot! If you have an idea YOU like, write that. Don’t write for the world, write because YOU love it.
I use writing prompts when I get stuck this way. Or writing games. Google will populate with a ton of options if you search either.
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard it put this way, but reading this, I definitely do the same. I write to understand–things going on in my life, myself, aspects of life in general that I want more people to understand or realize to be true.
I’m definitely someone who “steals” from my life, whether it’s something big that I struggled with or something fun like a quirky personality trait or embarrassing incident. I definitely have a story that I wrote in order to help me come to terms with something that happened to a family member, and it was hard to work through but writing helped give me perspective on how to react and what to say and do within the situation.
I also know that I read certain books in order to understand, especially the struggles of people who aren’t like me or don’t have the exact same experience as me. (Though I’m sure I read books with similar experiences to understand as well.) I love that fiction can be both entertainment and a chance to learn and grow as a person through all types of stories.
Absolutely! I love that writing can carry weight, can say something meaningful, and can still entertain me.
I tend to have my main character go through things that, though completely different from what I’m going through, put her in a place where she needs to know the same truths as I do. Watching her struggle and then learn the truth and come out victorious gives me courage that I can do the same.
Agreed!
I definitely write out of my struggles. Writing is a way for me to process my thoughts and feelings in creative ways. I love that out of pain and challenge comes something beautiful: a story worth telling.
I love this too! Storytelling has so many facets.
I know I do this a lot- my characters sometimes figure out my problems before I even know I put them into my book!
How funny! Yes, characters have a mind of their own at times.
Oh, this is such a good reminder. I definitely write with my struggles in mind. Sometimes, I find that I just need to write for me; the story may initially be preachy and full of plot holes, but it can be such an amazing outlet to process. And sometimes those germs of ideas bloom into something beautiful upon revising. All pain has a purpose, and writing has definitely showed me that.
Beautiful thoughts, Amelie! Revisions are my absolute favorite place in the process to be. Cutting and rewording and fleshing out. It can take a very personal draft and open it up to a larger audience. I love that part.
I’ve had a couple of story ideas swimming around in my head since being in a relationship, and especially being engaged. All the dreaming of the future doesn’t come close to preparing you to actually process the season when it comes, and a recent idea of mine, in particular, might end up written for the sheer purpose of processing. And it might even prove to be a nice break to write something only for myself instead of considering future viability for a project.
It’s a beautiful thing to write without concern for an audience. I love this idea.
I love this, thank you so much for sharing!
I usually write poetry when I am struggling with something, and fiction more when I’m in a better mood. I don’t know, writing my struggles into fiction just isn’t very easy for me, but I guess that just goes to show that writing takes work!
Lorelei – I don’t think it’s necessary to include your own struggles, but I do think that big ideas like conquering fear, stepping into your role, growing through struggle, preferring others above yourself–these ideas can be amplified by your own experiences. You can also draw on the emotions they evoked in your own life without having to put yourself in exactly the same situation. For example, I have never been an ice road trucker like my protagonist, Sylvi, but I have wanted people to leave me alone. I understood her in that way and it made the writing process richer for me.
I have noticed that I tend to put my struggles and worries into my writing. I go back and read what I’d written, and I can clearly tell what mood I was in, as it’s often reflected in the way the main character responds to the situation she’s in. I also rely heavily on writing to order my thoughts and stuff, so I do see characters picking up on the same struggles I have.
I’m with you here! I will say that the revision process is a lifesaver because I’ve often included too much that was for me alone and I get to trim that out. Wishing you all the peace and joy as you write.
I love the insight into how your personal experiences while writing funnel into your character, and how by having your characters work through something it changes your own mindset. I’ve experienced this with one of my characters who bases his worth off of how much he succeeds, but never feels like he succeeds enough. As I continue with his story and he learns that his worth isn’t tied to his victories, my own mindset has begun to shift:)
I love this! It’s very similar to how I learn alongside my characters.
So true!
My mood definitely affects my writing! I always feel better while/after writing! And it definitely helps me process my emotions!
I love this! I enjoy feeling like I’ve gotten my work in for the day. It’s incredibly satisfying and a great mood lifter.
What a fun giveaway. Thank you!
You’re not alone. I often talk with my friends and family about how my characters and stories “teach” me things, change my mind and perspective. I’ve never been able to quite explain it and I always end up feeling a bit crazy with the looks I get, but explain it so beautifully!