Do you have any tips for someone who wants to borrow your idea of a daily writing series?
1. Make a minimum word limit. There shouldn’t be a maximum as you should write as much as the story needs, but a minimum of 250 words a day was something I easily stuck to, even on days that were extremely busy. If you’re just starting out, I’d say have at least 200 words a day be your minimum! It’s quite manageable, and allows for those days where you’re pressed for time or uninspired. Some days it’ll be easy to write over 1,000 words (some days, I even wrote up to 4,000 with ease) but others it will be hard just to get through 100, so a definite minimum really helps.
2. Don’t limit yourself to one genre. At first, I felt like I needed to stick to a certain type of story, but as the months went on it was just inconceivable. Take the opportunity to branch out into other genres or tropes, even those you’re unfamiliar with!
3. Have a set time to write. I had a lot of other commitments to complete throughout the year (assignments and rigorous studying, for example) but I always left myself at least an hour (usually after dinner) to write and edit. Of course, if you don’t intend to post it online then editing isn’t too necessary, but I found that fixing all the mistakes was the most tedious part of writing daily. Having a routine really helped! And if I happened to have some free time because I’d finished something early, then I’d start writing (as it’s quite a hobby for me, and I didn’t view it as a chore on most days so I was quite content to have it fill my breaks / leisure time).
4. Find a way to write that suits you. I prefer to write one-shots, just because I sometimes struggle to keep up a full-length story due to motivation and inspiration. However, if you work better with chaptered stories, then do those instead! There’s a lot of flexibility in writing as a hobby, so you could aim to write a certain amount of chapters a week, or a certain amount of words per chapter a day, or something similar. I’m a very structured person, so having limits like that work well with me! You could always have a one-shot that branches into several parts, as well.
5. Lastly, I think the most important thing is to preserve! A lot of people give up on a hobby as they’re not automatically as good as they wish, but skill comes with time and with encouragement. If you don’t preserve and stick to what you’ve said you’ll do, then I find that motivation will decrease and the challenge of it becomes obsolete. Perseverance pays off in the end, I promise!
If you find motivation or inspiration is the problem, then I also suggest asking for help! Even when I had just started, when I asked if anyone had anything they wanted written I got several prompts sent in that helped pick up the momentum again :) Have your ask box open, and don’t be afraid to ask for help! Get inspired by art and edits and posts (but make sure to always credit back to the creator) and write from them. Worst case scenario, on days where it’s simply not working, then write dialogue or introspection. I found those two things always bumped up the word count, and it was easy to get done. You’ll find that the longer you preserve the easier it becomes to sit down and write!
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me! I hope this helps!
