by Alin
To all the writers: those who write every day, those who have written a novel, those who are still working on their book, those who haven’t written anything in a week/a month/a year, those who write but are afraid to call themselves writers, and those who are young and learning.
Let me tell you about my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) journey, in which you write a full-on novel within one month. Usually, the planning happens during October, called ‘Preptober.’ Instead of working on a novel, I was writing a novella, partially because I’m too scared to commit to a long project. I dedicated one week of November to outlining the story; however, I didn’t do a scene-by-scene plan and now I suffer the curses of I-don’t-know-what-happens-next and what-is-the-plot-again. So far, on the 16th of November, I’ve written 3.3k words out of my 15k-word goal. Did I mention that this is the first draft? And that I’m submitting this to a competition with a deadline? While juggling university applications?
When life throws rocks at you and breaks your hands, what do we, as writers, do?
When They Laugh at You, Laugh With Them.
You can hear the words mocking you when you read your WIP(s). Why can’t you be like Mary Shelly who published Frankenstein when she was only TWENTY? Why can’t your prose be like Fyodor Dostoevsky? Why can’t you just write properly?
You’d cower in fear and close Google Docs, promising yourself to never write again. Like a kid who got called cringe by a bully after being discovered to unironically enjoy fanfictions.
They say bullies bully because they enjoy putting others down. So if you take all the power away, making yourself seem unaffected, then you win. Laugh at yourself, accept the truth, and move on. No one’s first story is perfect, nor does it have to be.
Or imagine this: You embarrassed yourself on a big stage while rehearsing the show you’ve been looking forward to your whole life. The stage manager tried to hide their cackle, but you heard it loud and clear. Would you just leave the stage and abandon your dreams behind? When this is your first day practicing?
That’s right. You laugh along with them and try again.
But sometimes it does hurt, so take a breather and give yourself a healing period: Step outside, listen to music, socialize – anything but write. But afterward, you must go home and retrieve that deleted file. Whether you need a 1-day or 2-month break, as long as you return with a fresh mind, you’ll have the last laugh.
When They Want a Divorce, Buy Them a Bouquet of Books
In the middle of your first draft, not only do you have self-doubts, but you may have the same curse as me - not knowing what to write next. Any writer here who still doesn’t know if they’re a planner or a pantser? Or a planner-pantser or panster-planner? Or a planner-pantser-planner-planner-pantser? No matter how much you’ve experimented with the outline, the story never finishes. You then give up before writing a scene you’ve daydreamed about too many times – the very reason you started this project in the first place.
Guilty as charged!
Now, this may seem hopeless seeing that I, the person who’s supposed to give you the ultimate cure to every writing problem, am also going through this. Trust me there is one single trick: Reading.
Subscribe to newsletters. Read literary magazines. Download Substack. Go to a bookstore. Borrow from libraries.
Ah, no, but what if I’m on a deadline?
Make time for it. You know how in the morning, all you do is laze around in bed? Yeah, pick up a book instead. Remember how you spend 20 minutes trying to pick a YouTube video to watch while eating lunch? Why not just read while eating? Or on long car rides where you look out the window and daydream to edgy songs? Read. Motion sickness? Audiobooks.
You never never have enough time.
When you read, you may find something you love and hence, inspire your WIP(s). Don’t just read books by your favorite authors, expand your taste! I like to approach people who read often and ask them to recommend a book. If you’re a student, your English teacher is the best bet. Plus, you’ll establish new friendships and maybe they’ll let you borrow their copy!
When They Cry, Make Them Laugh, Just Not at You.
When both you and your words are on the verge of giving up from getting rejected by a literary agent or magazine for the 237th time, think of published authors and look through their life before that one famous, signature book of theirs.
Or better yet, look at terrible works that managed to be published.
Now this is getting controversial. Some of you may be convinced that writing is subjective and that there are no objectively bad books, but you might change your mind after reading this REAL excerpt from an ACTUAL, PUBLISHED book.
“I ask for giveness of the world of mankind for teling the trouth I meane No hurt to A flie only when he bits me then I kils the flye if I can I have bin my one tromter fore teene years my tromter is Dead my haveing so many wounds in fas and on my head I Doue it to make a good Lafe to keep my sperets from sinking pittey me all good peopel A men”
Yes, this is real. This is from A Pickle for The Knowing Ones by Timothy Dexter. This is an autobiography in which he grandiosely describes his life while avoiding punctuations and misspellings practically the whole book.
That’s not the end of it. At the end of the second edition, Timothy wrote long blocks of different punctuation with a note that read:
“fouder mister printer the Nowing ones complane of my book the fust edition had no stops I put in A Nuf here and thay may peper and solt it as they plese”
People were complaining about the lack of commas and periods, so he put all of the punctuation at the end and went “Add it yourself.”
Still, this book was published and is talked about to this day. Of course, the industry has gotten harsher and it’s harder to be published nowadays. But listen, if he made money out of this, so can you.
Learning the history behind each novel makes you feel less uneasy since you can see that they’re all learning writers, not a gifted child writing like Shakespeare out of the womb.
Moral of The Story
When life breaks your hands, wait for them to heal, exercise to regain strength, and keep writing.
These are all the hardships you as a writer have faced or will face. It’s natural to have these self-doubt feelings and inspiration blocks. It just depends on how you deal with them. And these are the methods that effectively work for me. It might be different for you, which is why I encourage you to confront your feelings rather than let them linger.
Remember: if your writer-self ever causes distress again, think of your favorite book. In another timeline in which the author quit writing and that book was never published, what would your life be like now? Lost, empty, and longing for a home?
That’s exactly how your future readers would be if you never finished your story.
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