Your Worst Writing Problems Solved, Part One: The Half-Finished Project Graveyard
Your Worst Writing Problems Solved, Part One: The Half-Finished Project Graveyard #amwriting #writerslife #writingcommunity #writing #fiction #writingprojects
When I first started writing, it used to happen to me all the time: I would start a story, write a few “good” chapters and make it to between 10-15k words, then I’d get bored or stuck and walk away from it.
As far as fiction writers go, this doesn’t seem to be an uncommon problem:you start a story you’re really excited about. Things go well for a little while, and then you get stumped. “I’ll…
Hi! I came across your blog and your advice on How To Fall Back In Love With Your Story, which was super helpful and reassuring to know that it isn't just me this happens to. I was wondering whether you have any advice on sticking with your story and pushing through to finishing it, especially when you feel overwhelmed by your own plot and everything that you have left to write. Thank you for your time and for all the effort you put in to keeping this blog!
Hi there, thanks for your ask! I definitely have some advice on this topic, seeing as it’s something that I’ve gone through myself (multiple times). Let’s jump right in!
Sticking with Your Story
Writing is no small task; it’s perfectly normal for you to feel overwhelmed by your story, but looking back at all the times you’ve powered through makes it a truly worthwhile feeling. At the time, though, it can seem almost inconceivable to keep going, so let’s look at some possible problems and solutions.
I’m trying to do too much at once.
Look at what you want to do in this draft alone. What are your goals? Some examples may be (but are not limited to):
Fix pacing
Include more characterization
Include more world-building
Work in more foreshadowing
Improve descriptions
Rework information dumps
Line edits — make everything flow smoothly like a published work
If you want to do a couple of these per draft, great! But if you’re trying to tackle all of these issues at once, you may be overwhelming yourself with the amount you want to get done in one draft alone. Keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a draft limit. If you want to get all of these things done, dividing the tasks into different parts will do you well. Will it take longer to reach the finished project? Yes. Will it be beneficial? Absolutely.
Instead of trying to divide your attention between six different concepts, try to focus on two or three at a time. If I was in this situation, my drafting process would look like this:
Draft 1: Fix pacing, include more characterization (and focus just a bit on world-building)
Draft 2: Include more world-building, work in more foreshadowing
Draft 3: Improve descriptions, rework information dumps
Draft 4: Line edits
This will absolutely take a longer time than fixing everything in just one draft. However, when you’re taking the time to focus on just a few subjects at once, you can improve them lots more. Keep in mind as well that everything is somehow interconnected. While you’re improving your world-building, you might also subconsciously be improving your pacing and descriptions.
Everything needs to be perfect.
No it doesn’t! As a perfectionist myself, the need for everything to be 100% flawless is something that really slows me down sometimes. Learn to take a breath and say, “There is always the opportunity to improve this.” You can choose to fix it now, or your can choose to fix it later. But right now, in this moment, you don’t need to be looking for perfection — only satisfaction with your own writing.
I can’t do all of this on my own.
That’s okay, because you don’t have to! The responsibility of getting your book ready for publication doesn’t fall on your shoulders alone. You still have the beta readers and the professional edit (both of which shouldn’t be skipped!) to get through, and they’re going to contribute to your work more than you might think.
They may not be writing your story for you, but the insights that they’re providing will take you far on your path to success. There’s more than just these two, as well: you can get out there and look for as much help as you want if you think it’s going to be beneficial.
There’s too much left to write.
What is your goal for this draft? Let’s use the classic NaNoWriMo example: I want to write 50,000 words in a month. That’s a lot of words to think of in a month. When you break your goals down into smaller chunks, however, it becomes a lot less daunting. 50,000 words in a month is the same as 11,669 words in a week. Still terrifying? Let’s go further: that’s 1,667 words in a day. A little better, right?
If that’s still too much, don’t be afraid to downsize your goals a bit. Create a goal that works for you, not one that you think should work for you — those are two very different goals.
I’m overwhelmed by my story.
I’ve been there before. Maybe there’s too much going on in your book, or maybe you don’t think you have the level of writing skill to do your story justice. Here are the solutions that I know have worked for me in the past:
Divide the story into multiple books so that the plot is more manageable.
Cut out any unnecessary details from your outline until you have just the necessities, and build back up from there.
Work through the story anyway — you’ll learn more about your craft.
Put the story away until you think you can “properly” write it. (I don’t recommend this one.)
In all honesty, every writer doubts their ability to write their story in the “right” way. What makes a writer is pursuing the story anyway, and editing and reworking and fixing everything until you get it to where you wanted it to be in the first place.
So, that’s all I’ve got for you today; I hope this helped! (Also, please don’t give up on your story!) If there’s anything you’d like to see me talk about in my next post, my ask and my messages are always open! Until next time, much love! <333
