Why Write? For When You Feel Like Giving Up

When You Feel Like Giving Up

Most of the people I associate with are interested in writing in some capacity. Authors, editors, hobbyists and those who wish they were all of the above. If you read this blog, its likely you write, or at least, wish you did. Which is fantastic, of course. People who love writing are the exact people I want to spend more time with. I love my tribe.

A few times a month though, on my twitter or facebook feed, I see someone who is close to giving up. Or, more likely, they want to write, but haven't been able to for a long time, have been beaten down by rejections, or have lost the passion for the project they are working on.

They ask their community for advice, or even if they should just give up completely. This is almost always met with an outpouring of support and encouragement. Often with a few tips or suggestions, and a few people reminding, whoever it is, to be kind to themselves and that they have been going through a lot lately.

The problems, advice and responses are always pretty much the same, which will either be reassuring, or disheartening, if you have recently been in that situation.

Honesty Is The Best Policy

If you want support and reassurance, posts like those I have mentioned are a good idea. There is no shame in giving your friends and family a chance to give you the love and support they feel, but rarely get to show.

If an ego boost is what you need, that is perfectly okay.

However, if you are really, honestly umming and ahhing about if you want to dedicate your time and energy to writing anymore, I have an exercise that may help you make that decision.

No one else can make the choice for you, either. No matter how well someone knows you and your life, they can't make the right call for you. Only you can make that call. However, I hope this exercise will make it very clear to you what the right call is.

The 'Should I Write' Exercise:

1. First, get a notepad and pen,or open a new word document. At the top of the page write:

"Why I Want To Write".

2. Under that, write a list of reasons why you want to write. Keep writing until you can't think of any more. Aim for between 20-30. Be honest, put things you would never admit out loud on there. Things like impressing people (maybe a specific person), making money, proving someone wrong, etc.

3. When you have your list of 20-30 very private reasons why you want to write, go through that list and try and come up with other ways you could achieve those things. EG: If you reason is 'Getting Rich' you could list things like 'Get a better job' or 'Ask for a raise'.

4. When you have gone through the entire list and come up with other ways to achieve the same results or feelings, look through the list again. Is there anything you want from writing you can't get anywhere but writing? Is there any real reason to keep writing?

Some of the reasons you might not be able to satisfy any other way include things like:

- I get a special joy from writing I can't get elsewhere.

- I want to share a specific story with the world.

- I need a way to get these ideas out of my head so they leave me alone.

- I needed stories like this growing up and they didn't exist.

Now you will either have a list of compelling reasons that you MUST write, or you will have a list of things you can do with your life that will make you equally happy.

I can't tell you what conclusion you will come to, but I can tell you by the end you will have a good idea if you want to keep writing, and why. Or why not. Maybe you have realized all the things you want from writing you can get elsewhere and there is no need for it in your life. Or maybe you will have realized why you need to write and feel invigorated again.

Either way, good luck moving forward, for all the right reasons.

Writing Exercise: Your Perfect Book

This week I am shamelessly stealing a writing exercise from a writing masterclass I am taking at the moment. I am altering it slightly, but all credit goes to the original creator—I’m just not sure who that is.

I am a person who has a lot of book ideas. More than I could ever feasibly write. So I don’t usually do any ‘idea generation’ exercises, as the last thing I want is more ideas. However as I am doing all the exercises in this masterclass, I did this one. And while it didn’t give me a new idea, it did make me reorganise some of my priorities and remind me what I want from my writing career.

So without further ado:

If you could walk into a bookstore right now and buy any book that doesn’t exist, your dream book, what would it be like?

When I first read this question, I realised instantly it was a book I had started writing and put away. My dream book is already plotted and I have written several drafts of it. So, this year I am going to look at tackling it again. Amid other projects.

However maybe you aren’t there yet. Maybe you can’t answer that question easily. So here are some more questions to help you.

What genre is it?

EG: Fantasy, romance, horror, drama?

What tropes, themes or narrative elements does it contain (or do you love most)? Write your top five, or ten, tropes.

EG: Dragons, Arthurian myth, space cowboys, girl disguised as a boy, queer romance, viral outbreak, vampires, political intrigue, marriage of convenience, etc.

What is the tone?

EG: Dark, light-hearted, tense, epic, humorous, melancholy, etc.

What sort of characters do you love reading about?

What are your top five, or ten, favourite characters from books, movies, TV, etc?

What do you like about them?

White a list of twenty character traits for each one.

You can use these three mini exercises to mix and match and create your new characters in your novel.

What sort of relationships do you like?

What have been your favourite relationships in books/movies/tv shows? Make a list of ten.

Are they mostly romantic? Siblings? Parents and children? Friends? Protagonist and antagonist?

What relationships do you want to explore?

What relationship have you been longing to see and read about?

What is the setting?

Is it on earth or a fictional world?

When is it set, now, in the future, in the past?

Where is it set? London? A fantasy china? A futuristic Africa? What times and places fascinate you?

Is there a time in history that you love? Or a type of setting trope? Make a list.

What are your favourite pivotal/key scenes?

Make a list of twenty or thirty key scenes that moved or awed you in your favourite books, movies and TV shows. The scenes that made you feel the strongest emotion.

Can you group them into types? Twists? Cliff-hangers? Big reveals? Declarations of love? Victories? Darkest moments?

What type of scenes are you excited to write about? What type of scene are you scared to try? How could you structure these ideas to have as many of these awesome scenes as possible in one book?

If you do this exercise and feel like sharing, I would love to read what you come up with.

Post it here or even email it to me. I’d be fascinating to see what other people’s perfect books look like. And I hope if this hasn’t given you a brand-new idea, it has at least made you realise what you should be writing, like it did for me.

Happy writing!

For Love Of Writing

I love writing.

Some writing is harder than others. Depending on the stage of a project, some writing requires more focus and mental power. However I always enjoy the act itself.

Many of you know my co-author Meg and I have insanely high word counts. We love writing together even more than I love writing alone. As a result, we produce a huge volume of first drafts. About 15 last year, I think. More than one a month and most are between 60k-100k. We can do this, because we enjoy it so much.

A few days ago a friend came over and he gave me some excellent advice. He said: 'You need to stop writing first drafts and focus on editing.'

Unfortunately, while his advice was excellent, it was also wrong. He, like most other people in the industry, considered writing a first draft to be part of the work and editing to be another part of the work.

However for Meg and I, writing the first draft isn't work in any capacity. Writing the first draft is something we do for fun. It's like playing video games or watching TV. We would do it even if we knew it was never going to be a book, if it was never going to go further than that first draft. It's pure joy. It's quite literally a game we play.

The suggestion we stop writing first drafts to focus on editing is like saying: 'Don't watch TV, play video games or read, just work all the time.'

I mean, I could do that. It would be a pretty joyless existence. The problem is not that we are writing first drafts instead of editing. The problem is that editing, while I love it, requires a lot more focus and concentration and skill. So it is much slower. It is a 'work' process. First drafts are not.

Slowly, however, Meg and I are changing our first draft processes to make the editing process much easier. So perhaps in future, it will be faster. At the moment, however, while we are very fast writers, we are pretty normally paced editors.

And that is perfectly okay.

It really only causes problems when I am gung-ho and decide I can skip normal human functions like eating and sleeping and edit at the same pace I can write. Unrealistic expectations are not your friend.

I think the barrier a lot of people have with writing, is that they don't let themselves enjoy it. I work fastest when I have no deadlines. The moment I have a deadline, my productivity dies, because I feel the weight of expectation and it's no longer about me just having fun. Suddenly people expect things. People I like, such as my editors.

Imagine you are at the beach with your kids. No one else is there, just a gorgeous, sunny beach with gentle waves and pristine sand. They have their floaties on and sunscreen and cute little hats and they're laughing and playing. You're happy. They're happy. Everyone is happy.

Now imagine a creepy guy shows up and stands nearby watching your kids. It's the middle of the day and he's wearing a trench coat. On a beach. You think he is filming your kids with his camera? Maybe? You're not sure. You're not having fun anymore.

You also see something that might be a shark out in the water. Or is it seaweed. Was that a fin? Then your kid brings you some broken glass and you realise there is a lot of it, hidden under the sand. It's really sharp too.

Are you still having fun? Or are you ready to pack the fuck up and go home?

Nothing bad has actually happened, but the fear of bad things happening, worrying about things, anticipating disaster, sucks the joy out of things, regardless of how lovely they are at first.

If you're thinking about deadlines, what people will think, sales projections or angsting about your own skills, you can't enjoy writing.

You know what though? No day at the beach with your kids is actually flawless and awesome. Nothing is ever perfect. Someone gets stung or sunburnt or you lose something or someone cuts themselves on a oyster shell.

No book is birthed perfectly either. I'm not saying you should be deliriously happy every time you sit down to write. However EVERY book is going to be hard and stressful and draining if you are worried about shit the whole time you're writing it.

I enjoy writing so much, that if I am suck and stressed, my answer is usually to write something else. Often, it's something I think will entertain Meg or Annie. I'll pound out two thousand words, show it to them, they'll laugh and enjoy reading it and I'll feel a hell of a lot better.

Sometimes, if I am struggling to edit something, I will choose someone I want to impress or want to make happy and write the scene to appeal to them. (It's good to choose people who are enthusiastic about your work for this.)

I always turn my writing problems toward a source of joy. I always make joy the end goal. Am I happy? Is this going to make someone else happy? Who is going to smile or shiver or cry over this? I don't angst about it, I'm excited about it. And when Meg and I share our edits, I make a point of actually showing my enthusiasm. (I'm an enthusiastic person, but it doesn't always show on the outside.)

Knowing I am excited and waiting to read more motivates her, in the same way her enthusiasm motivates me. Having people I adore say they are excited to read something I have written is also very motivating.

Most of the time though, my main reason for writing--particularly first drafts--is just for the pleasure of doing it. Just like watching horror movies or playing video games. It makes me happy.

If it doesn't make you happy, ask yourself why. Clear out the negativity. Be joyous. Love the process of writing.