"why does writing take so long" because 60% of it is coming up with a sentence, realizing that sentence doesn't work the way you want it to, and staring at a wall
I haven't abandoned this story. I just put it on the back burner for now. The story is just on a small vacation. It is currently out of office. It can't come to the phone right now. It just fell under my bed to sleep with the monsters. It never left my head. It is everywhere - except on paper.
Know what they want,
What they're scared of
What/who they love
What/who they're willing to sacrifice
Also their breaking point, what shit do they have to be dragged through before they give up everything just for it to stop.
And if they regret it or not,
Start with something you do understand about them and branch off from there. Personally, I find it easier to write for characters that have some aspect of my personality, amplified and then manipulated into something new or different. Or maybe we share some aspect of childhood. We don't have to be the same people, but my experiences are something I can understand and use to shape new people.
Knowing your characters’ limits and how to exploit them is essential for creating tension, and for writing excellent fight scenes/final battles.
Under what odds is your character able to win? What is their greatest strength?
Now take that strength away.
How do they account for that? Is it possible to still win, or is that strength all they have?
An acrobatic fighter who is shot through the leg. A knight whose trusty sword shatters. A sorceror who runs out of spells and elixers. A dragonrider whose steed is felled.
Find the limit and push past it! That’s how to raise the stakes!
when expanding on a main character, it helps to develop the characters they interact with most often:
do other characters trust them, and should or shouldn't they? what do they base that trust/distrust on? how does this affect the main character if/when they find out they are [dis]trusted? who laughs at them behind their back? who is privately rooting for them? who frequently forgets they exist and who is the first to notice them when they enter a room? what would it take to change any of these opinions, and how good/bad would the effects of those changes be on the main character?
its so important to me that artists remember they can fuck around. you never have to use tools as intended. you can always skip steps. you dont have to be organized. you dont have to be neat. you can put as little effort as you want into the parts of the process you dont find fun. maybe if youre making products you cant do these things but on your own time you can do literally actually whatever the hell. it doesnt matter how long you spend on it youve made art and its complete when you decide to quit. yee haw
Hello my fellow writers I have a resource to share with you!
Last year, I challenged myself to write just 200 words every day, and I ended up writing more than 80,000 words (8000 more words than the annual goal!) throughout the whole year! How did I stick to this goal considering I have ADHD and struggle with executive dysfunction? I made a spreadsheet to keep track of it.
I made a customizable spreadsheet for anyone to do the same:
Word Count
Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday,Saturday,Weekly Total,Until Weekly Goal,Cumulative Goal,Cumulative Progress
Jan
(I'm not a programmer by any means, just an average spreadsheet user)
The first page is to record your word count. Off to the right, there's a box where you can change your daily goal. I have it set to 200, but you can make it whatever you want and the rest of the tracker functions should change to match it.
There are several different tracking features, such as the weekly goal tracker, a cumulative progress tracker next to it, monthly and daily trackers down at the bottom, and a tracker that adds up your yearly total.
The colors for the months are just something I added for fun and to help me make the monthly trackers. You can change the colors or get rid of them altogether. The daily trackers are also just for fun. They can help you see which days of the week you write the most on in the long run.
The second page is for you to track which projects you're working on. You can do whatever you want there. I like to color code when I start a project and when I finish one, but that's just a suggestion.
Anyway I just wanted to share because this really helped me build a habit! You don't have to write every day in order to meet your word count, and don't beat yourself up if you don't meet it.
For me, I stopped skipping days around the end of May and I started meeting my word count every single day in October because I realized that was the easiest way to meet the weekly word count.
Happy new year and happy writing :) Feel free to dm me with any questions!
“Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.”
you know that expression, "dance like no one is watching you?"
try writing like no one is going to read it
it's easier to let yourself go and just enjoy the process of creation when you aren't also playing 6 dimensional chess with your insecurities and anxieties
write because you have fun writing and if you never post it anywhere that's totally fine because you enjoyed your time with the process
I hope every writer who sees this writes LOADS the next few months. Like freetime opens up, no writers block, the ability to focus, etc etc you're able to write loads & make lots of progress <3
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