“I’m such a shit writer, I can’t get anything to sound good!”
I guarantee if you’ve written more than a few sentences, there’s one in there that you like. There’s something that made you glow with pride, or at least made you think for a moment, “hey, a few more of these and I’ll be set!”
So here’s what you gotta do.
Compile them.
Make a separate document and name it “Lines I Like”, “Good Shit I Wrote”, or anything that proclaims that it’s the best of your work. Not “okay stuff I guess”. This is for tooting your own horn, not negging yourself straight back into misery.
Then go through any and all WIPs or past projects and paste them into it. Save it to your desktop and maintain it. Add to it every time you create a turn of phrase that sounds right, any time you write a good pun or a striking paragraph. Top it up with fresh material.
Open it up when you’re feeling down on yourself as a writer. Anything that makes you doubt your abilities, open it and reread those lines. It’s an instant mood boost.
Be your own inspiration, because if you’ve written a good thing once, you can absolutely do it again.
Great advice! I do something similar, I have a document with my favorite line from every chapter in it, and it works like a charm! ❤
and if you ever doubt yourself or your ability to write a good story please know that the world is lucky to have you and you deserve to tell the story you want to tell regardless of the skill you possess
The old adage of “show, don’t tell” is most applicable to third person narration, because it is here that writers most often make the mistake of reporting events in an especially monotonous fashion rather than illustrating them. Utilizing a variety of sentence structure, intentional vocabulary, and engaging pace/tone is the key to pulling your reader into the story rather than simply dictating a series of events. Third person point of view can make it difficult for a reader to connect intimately with the story, as the more objective voice or subtlety of the narrator’s bias can translate in a less personal manner than first person. It’s imperative to receive feedback on how well your use of alternative methods is drawing the reader into the story throughout.
Including Backstory & Context
Backstory is more convenient with third person POV, because you’re not limited to the knowledge of a single character. (Of course, this is assuming that you’re writing in third person omniscient, rather than limited. There will be a follow-up article all about limited POV in the near future, but for the purpose of this article, this focuses on omniscience.) You can utilize information, memories, and backstory of your entire cast or world, and furthermore give your reader insights into the characters’ actions or world building that they would not have in first person. Take advantage of this allowance to create a rich narrative with clear connections between characters, plot points, and information.
Developing Secondary Characters
The ability to further develop secondary characters is a major advantage of utilizing third person narration, because you are not so limited in the scope of information being revealed to the reader. You can shift the focus of the narrative to situations that solely involve characters other than your protagonist, and this offers the unique perspectives of characters outside or on the periphery of the main conflict. You can develop subplots more efficiently, offer the reader information your protagonist isn’t aware of to create suspense, and enrich your world outside of their limited perspective. This makes third person an optimal point of view to utilize when telling a particularly complex story or one that is set in a quite complicated world.
Distinctive Voice
When one is writing in the third person, it can be easy to fall into the habit of filling the pages with paragraphs of unnecessary description in order to achieve goals of length or in emulation of a particular writing style. This is often also the result of maintaining a needlessly objective narration. It is reasonable to write in the third person with a particular slant or bias. It gives the narrator their own voice, and makes the writing more engaging. Not just in the way of an unreliable narrator, where the bias in narration distorts or exaggerates the essence of the plot. You as the writer or narrator should have a voice that is just as distinctive as any character would have, although it’s generally agreed that a third person narration should be more subtle than a first person narration.
Practice & Adjustment
Third person point of view can be difficult to get accustomed to. It is a more impersonal style of writing. When writing about intimate or meaningful messages/events/characters, it can feel more natural to adhere to a first person perspective, even if third person better serves the story overall. It’s important that you actively practice if you’re unfamiliar with writing an entire story in third person. Getting used to approaching certain events or depicting certain emotions from a third person perspective is immeasurably helpful to the process of creating an engaging story. It can also help to practice thinking about events from that perspective if you’re prone to switching perspectives reflexively when you’re trying to articulate emotion or tone, which is a struggle I see often with new attempts at this POV.
Common Struggles
~ When dealing with multiple characters that have they/them pronouns, what’s a good way to keep the reader from getting mixed up? I assume that you would want to try and rely on a different sentence structure that allows you to clarify whom you’re referring to with context clues, rather than pronouns. It may seem less clear or accessible, but it’s very possible to write in a way where each sentence doesn’t start with “he said, she said, they said”. It’s also important that you master the way in which you write about each individual character. This will help your reader to correctly anticipate who you’re writing about and when.
~ When writing third person POV, how do you write multiple people’s emotions and perspectives at the same time? Focus on how they express their emotions rather than communicating exactly what they’re feeling and why. If the reader needs to comprehend the ins and outs of their thought process, perhaps third person isn’t suitable for the story.
~ And if lots of people with the same pronouns are in the same scene, what are useful ways to distinguish between the characters without using their names all the time? Clarify who you are referring to whenever “the camera moves”. When the focus shifts in space rather than subject, you must signal to the reader that this has happened. The use of dialogue tags is not an efficient way to do this, and many writers will often make the mistake of leaning too heavily on them. Instead, give your characters “stage business”, or an activity that they’re engaging with while dialogue is happening, and when they become the center of attention, refer back to the activity in a subtle way. Move the camera. Although, it is important to note that you rarely need so much dialogue in a scene to communicate information to the reader that you would get lost in the crowd of involved characters. Consider what you could better share through description and action, rather than dialogue.
~ How do you make sure you don’t use too many pronouns in a paragraph to refer to a certain character? Consider whether your descriptive style is too procedural. Natural writing flows without an abundance of clarifying pronouns, and if you start every sentence in a paragraph with “she did this, she saw that, she noticed, she heard, she felt” your writing will fall flat. Experiment with sentence structure, descriptive style, and perspective in your writing. At a certain point, your reader should be in a groove where they can keep up with who you’re referring to, even through context clues having to do with a large cast in the same scene.
~ How do I maintain momentum and clarity when writing in third person limited POV? For those who may not know, third person limitation is the narration of a single character’s perspective (at a time, if the story focuses on multiple characters). This point of view can be tricky because the limitation requires you to differentiate what each character knows and when they become aware of things that may already be known by other point of view characters.
The best advice I can give when attempting this is to be very diligent in keeping your characters’ stories and inner monologues straight. Keep track of who knows what, when they found (or will find) out, and refer to this timeline regularly as your story progresses. It’s also worth your time to strategize with your key pieces of information. If your reader has already learned this information through another character’s perspective, then reviewing this through the eyes of another must be illuminating in a different way, or the process of the other characters’ discoveries of what we already know must add to the suspense/emotional build/payoff. Pieces of information are the fireworks of your story, and you need to release or repeat them with great care for the greater show.
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For all the less popular writers. For the writers who don’t get much attention. For the writers who have a very small following, or no following. For the writers who don’t get a lot of notes or comments.
You are valid. You are brilliant. You are creating something unique and magical and all yours. No one would create it better. You are creating! You’re writing! That is a magic all its own, and all yours.
You are valued, and valuable, and good enough as you are.
With every story you write, you learn a little more about the craft and art of storytelling. Your voice and your style shines brighter with each tale you tell. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try something new because discovery is your greatest asset!
So stock up on those WIPs! Stack ‘em high! Keep telling your stories because you never know what you’ll learn about your writing today! :)
Doesn’t matter if you’ve barely written anything today, or yesterday, or the past few weeks or however long. Doesn’t matter if you’re not sure of where you want your WIP to go, or if you’re distracted by other ideas. Heck, it doesn’t matter if you think your writing is absolutely terrible.
what makes a “good” story is subjective. Just because one person puts down your story, does not make it objectively terrible
your love for your writing is the most important love there is out there for your story. Without your love and passion for it, the story will lose its fire and so will you - write what you love
take breaks when you need to. Stop pushing yourself to keep writing when what you really need is to step back for a few weeks.
you’re not a disappointment and you’re not a terrible writer, but if you keep telling yourself that, it’s going to keep getting harder and harder to convince yourself otherwise.
sharing your work is difficult. There is no shame in being scared. Take a breath and click that post button. You won’t die, you won’t disappear, you won’t be hated for it. And anyone that does send you shade is the one that’s terrible, not you.
you are brave and beautiful. Keep your head high. Be proud of what you’re doing, no matter how terrible you think it is, because it’ll only keep getting better from here but only if you continue to do the thing.
Write the story you want to write, no matter how cliché or overdone of a concept it might be. Youareallowed to write your story, even if it’s filled with billions of things we’ve already seen before.
As long as you enjoy what you’re doing, and you’re passionate and excited about your project, that’s what matters.
And don’t give too much thought into what other people are trying to tell you. There’s an audience for everything. Some people do actively search to consume stories about “washed up” concepts.
Now, prepare for the third volume, the most in-depth behind-the-scenes of writing books yet…
Every book that you read has a story to tell. Not just the one in the pages, but so too the behind-the-scenes hell.
I documented what writing a book looks like from Day 1 to Release Day. The work never ends. You write wherever and whenever you can.
And when I say write, I mean, you have to WRITE
Like….DON’T STOP.
Here’s a secret: the more you write, the longer the book gets!
Sometimes you’re gonna be absolutely STUMPED. Like the entire universe is just being petty and conspiring against you.
When all else fails, drink coffee. Worship coffee. Sacrifice your first-born child to coffee.
Sometimes you’ll show up at your regular writing spot AND SOMEONE WILL HAVE STOLEN YOUR SEAT, THE STUPID, FAT HOBBITSEES
So you’re forced to write out of your element, totally distracted as you figure out ways to make it look like an accident…
And remember how your teachers always said you’d need to use math everywhere in life? Well, they weren’t wrong…
Every day, you persist. Inching closer. And closer. Every word pushing the story toward its close.
It might take a week, or a month or two or three, but every time you add another 10k, you can’t help but feel a swell of pride.
There will always be the days you miss writing, but that’s absolutely okay! Don’t beat yourself up! You can make time for it. Writing is art, and art takes time, and shouldn’t be rushed.
And one day you’ll sit down and stare at your screen and realize….the end is near. You can feel you’re closing in on those final words, those last sentences with the characters you’ve spent the past year with.
When you write those last words, a wave of relief will slam into you. You might shed some tears, because writing a book is difficult, and finishing the first draft is an incredible feat to achieve. Treat yo self. You deserve it.
Then…..take a break. Take as long a break as you need. Some people might need a month, some a year. Whatever your rhythm is, find it, stick to it, and never give it up.
No matter if you edit by hand or by computer, print out that first draft. Hold it in your hands, feel the weight of the words you wrote. The words that were stuck in your head for months, even years. Flip through those pages and look at what YOU created.
Then, when the time is right, edit that book.
Maybe you’ll finish editing a chapter in a day. Maybe it’ll take a week. For me, it’s usually an hour per page! Edit at your own pace. It’s not a race!
And then…..voila. You’ve edited the first draft!…….
If you have other books out, don’t let them fall to the wayside! Keep marketing, keep telling people about them (and showing them your work on the newest one!!), and get book signings and events whenever you can! Bookstores are ALWAYS looking for authors to feature. Just ask!
And of course, make it fun for yourself, too! Book flare and merchandise? Um, YES PLEASE.
Aaaaaaaaaaand now you need to focus again, and, you know, actually put all those edits in. Which usually turns into an entirely new round of editing in-and-of itself.
Keep putting those edits in….
And more, and more, and more edits…
Did I mention sometimes you’ll need to go to extreme lengths to fit in writing days?
Although art itself is so, so, so rewarding, we’re all still human. Some days will be more difficult than others. Some days, your mind will weigh you down. These can be the hardest days, but push through. Find an anchor and hold tight and take care of yourself.
Other times, you’ll be traveling! Take your writing with you. I find that when I’m on vacation, I’m a much more productive writer! The atmosphere is usually more relaxed. You’re not in a familiar place, so it gets your creative juices flowing stronger!
When you’ve edited your book a few times, FIND BETA READERS. These can be friends, followers on social media, or someone random you meet in your coffee/tea shop! Get fresh sets of eyes looking at your work! They will make suggestions, edits, and faun over your book.
Sometimes they’ll make corny jokes.
You will get a TON of feedback, and you will have to compile them all together, chapter by chapter, reading and considering every single comment and comma.
Your beta readers will love you forever when they finish reading your book. Guaranteed. Always. So in love. Yes.
Eventually, your beta readers will finish, and the countdown to publication will begin…
As you near the end, the Universe might have some surprises in store for you. Me? It took me back to the exact seat and window where I wrote the entire first draft of the first book in the series….a very poetic twist of fate.
Finally, the day will come when every major edit is done. When you’ve skimmed and scanned and combed and proofed. When you have a cover design and formatted all the pages to books, it’s time to order those first copies.
And then….the day comes….when your book finally arrives. You see the mail truck pull up and you see the boxes, and you just KNOW it’s for you.
And then you open them and look inside….
And you get to hold it in your hands for the first time ever…..
And you get to put it next to the other books that come before it….
And then you get to ship some of them out to ARC readers who will be reviewing your book before it’s released!!!!
And then you get order an entire shipment for upcoming book signings, and copies to send out to people who pre-ordered, and seeing them all stacked together will ALWAYS be a beautiful sight. Cherish it. Take a picture to show off to potential readers, that image of YOUR books all stacked together.
This is what writing is like. This is what goes into all those thousands of hours of sitting behind a computer. This is how books come into existence. It’s not the same steps for everyone, but the process for all of us is similar. It’s not easy. You won’t see a dime for your work for years, unless you already have books being sold.
But it’s worth it. Pouring your soul into writing a book, or making music, or graphic art… This is the beauty, the struggle, the dedication, the pain, the hours of lost sleep, the gallons of caffeine, the barista friends you make along the way….
Even though they might catch you in your candid element…..
But you will form a bond with them. They will learn your favorite order, have it ready the moment you walk in the door. And if you ever leave, it will be a heart-wrenching day…
They might give you a keepsake, too, to remember them by….
Stay humble, and remember every moment. Every experience. Appreciate everyone who helped you along the way, from giving you free drinks and food, to all the support and encouragement, to the avid fans who rave about your books. They’re all here for you, following your journey as you write.
For this particular book, the journey was 23 months, from December 2015 to October 2017. It takes a long time, even when you work every single day, and stick to a strict schedule. Some days you won’t want to write at all. Some days you won’t want to stop. That’s okay. Just hold true to your passion, and celebrate your accomplishments.
Don’t let anyone tell you not to write. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re doing it wrong. We all live through the same process, from the great artists to the starving artists. If you want to write a book, this is what it looks like. Though writing a book isn’t easy, the reward of holding it in your hands is worth the days, the months, the years. You will have created something beautiful. You will have created art.
“i don’t think this pen helps with my creativity, I gotta buy another one”
This is the third notebook I bought this month I need to s t o p. I don’t even write in them anymore
That overwhelming feeling when you found the perfect song for your work
One-word horror story: titles
Sequel to one-word horror story: summaries
“I know exactly how to start and finish this…I just…need to figure out how to bridge them…”
Me while reading an older work: what the fuck are you talking about :)
Me while reading a recent work: what the fuck are you talking about :)
Physically stops myself from using fucking as an adverb…again
Hello, constant self-doubt, my old friend
That one song you listen to on loop when writing a scene that by the end of writing it you’re already sick of the song and ready to fight anyone if you have to listen to it again
Me while writing a character intelligent in something im not: what the fuck should I talk about :)
Writing for a fandom and seeing people make passive-aggressive posts about fanfictions as if fanfic authors are fandom slaves
why are tenses so fucking difficult
That feeling when making a playlist for your wips
Writer’s block is so fun huh
Daydreaming about your wips
“is ‘fuck’ a curse word during the 1700’s”
Thinking of the dialogues/banter and not noticing that you’re saying it out loud until you see someone giving you a weird look
“im self-projecting too much aren’t I :)”
Looking for writing tips and following none of them because ‘you have your own style’
Someone seeing your google history and wondering if you’re a murderer because why the hell do you have ‘how to hide dead bodies’ in there
Not knowing how to feel when people are liking more the thing you half-assed than those stories you shed tears writing
This is a ridiculous idea but would make an interesting story
Me while writing: im never gonna be good enough I cant im horrible I should give up - | me when I finished something: I am god no one can stop me now I will take over the world | repeats cycle
Spends three hours researching about lamps
That one person you want to impress. You know, them.
Writing dialogues: okay, good, so poetic, much majestic | writing descriptions: the sky is blue and the water is blue too because of it
“wait, fuck, I already used this scene in my other story”
Me while writing using my third language: im using this word correctly right
Me while writing using my first language: im using this word correctly right
I thank god for the creation of thesaurus
That conflicting feeling when you read someone’s work and it’s really good, so so amazing that you’re both inspired and envious and you feel bad for feeling envious
I have 167 ideas and im writing none of them
Don’t listen to that voice in your head that’s telling you you should take a quick break when you’re on a writing roll. Just don’t. It won’t be a quick break.
When you have the time to write but you choose to do other things that there’s really no need to do
Like me writing this post
And you browsing tumblr
Open a document now
Write
Your wip is waiting for you
And it’s gonna be amazing and all so worth it
So don’t be too hard on yourself.
Someone out there fell in love with your style. Someone out there will fall in love with your style.
writing is like falling in love - all the advice on what to do makes sense when you’re in it, and seems as impossible as touching the moon when you’re not. just sit down and write every day? ridiculous. impossible. but fall in love with a story again and you look back and wonder why you thought putting one word in front of the other was so hard.
Writing is such a love hate relationship for me. Sometimes I will sit down and truly feel the love for storytelling. Other times it takes everything in me to press down on the keyboard keys, trudging on with a story that I don’t know if people will like or hate. Being a creator of any kind is so difficult and writing is a long process of failure with little reward along the way. But those times when I feel as if the words are coming from my soul, that my language is dictated by my heart, makes the arduous process worth every second. For years I rejected manuscript after manuscript because I wanted my work to be flawless. Art isn’t something that can be perfect though, because it is subjective. Fall in love with your own art and watch as the critics, the nonbelievers, and the rest of the world all melt away
·Write to your comfort level. Meaning: give yourself a break when you need it and push yourself when you’re feeling motivated.
·Seek out sources of motivation. There are very few times when motivation hits me out of nowhere. Read a good book. Watch a good movie. Write down your goals.
·Find your space. Coffee shop. Library. Your room with the music blasting and the TV playing your favorite show. Find whatever gets you in the right headspace.
·Your first draft is just the first draft. Too many writers stress out about the first draft and they forget it’s just the first step in completing your novel. You can add to it, build from it, or toss it away completely.
·You will be rejected. Even if you write the next big hit, you’ll be rejected. Read the reviews for some of your favorite books—I guarantee someone HATED it. Not everyone will like your work, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.
·Write advice isn’t for everyone. There’s no one-size-fits-all plan for writers. Pick and choose advice that works for you, ignore what doesn’t. Not everything will relate directly to you and your style of writing.
·It’s okay to stay in. Want a night to yourself so you can write? Don’t be afraid to cancel your plans and focus on your writing hobby. You don’t have to feel guilty about wanting to work on your writing.
·Let ideas settle. It’s tempting to jump right in to a new writing idea, but let things settle for a bit. Brainstorm. See what comes next. An idea needs to have legs and it needs to take your story somewhere. Let it grow.
·Outlines aren’t set in stone. Be flexible with your outlines. Plan if you need to, but allow yourself to explore new ideas. Let your story go in an unexpected direction.
The singular most helpful thing to my writing isn’t inspiration, or words, or planning—it’s just making and sticking to a schedule. It doesn’t matter how much inspiration I have, or how many hours and words I put into the perfect plan if I never actually commit to sitting down to write.
I’m the kind of person who has a routine and a schedule and a plan for everything, so that’s probably why this works super well for me but might not work for every writer. Regardless, I’d urge you to try it out and just see if scheduling is something that could help you as well.
The first thing you need to know is yourself—as a writer, and as a person with a life outside of writing. I write best early in the morning with a tea while I’m still in my pajamas—some people write best late at night, or during their break at work, or while they’re procrastinating from doing homework after classes. Whatever time you write best, aim for that.
Now, how often can you take that time? I wake up about an hour before every morning class and write during that time before I need to start getting ready. Since I’m not great at writing late at night, I know it’s pointless to pretend I’ll do some writing aftermy classes, so I fit it in before classes. I can do that about three times per week, an extra two if I wake up early on weekends, but never on Fridays because my classes run super late on Thursdays and I don’t usually get to bed on time to wake up early the next morning.
So that’s my schedule. Yours will probably look wildly different depending on the responsibilities you have for work, school, family, and friends. The important part isn’t cramming in as much writing time as you can, but more sticking to something consistent.
If you’re trying to make yourself write every day regardless of your schedule, you’re more likely to end up writing none of those days, rather than if you say, “every Wednesday between 10:00am and 11:00am is writing time.”
Manageable, works with your outside schedule, and creates consistency. Try it, I can almost swear you’ll end up with more words than if you hadn’t.
If you don’t write your story, then it’s not getting written.
That means it’s not getting published. Not online, not self-published, not by an indie press, not by the Big 5.
That means it’ll never be available for purchase, and your potential biggest fan will walk right past the empty gap on the shelf and pick something else up, and love that instead.
They’ll go get someone else’s autograph on its title page and order the special edition and scream about it on the internet, all while your book is trapped
in your head
incomplete, on a hard drive or in your notebook
wishing it could be where the rest of the books are.
I don’t know what else to tell you, because there’s only one way outta this, and it’s hard. Maybe it’s already knocked you on your ass once, or twice, or fifteen times.
You have to write. Give a reader their favourite book.
I’ve seen it so often in the writing tags, so many posts that liken writing to self-torture. The posts that insult themselves, the work, the process and the story itself.
Friends, please stop doing this to yourselves.
Here are three important facts to remember as you move forward:
1. Writing is a skill and you will improve based on how willing you are to put in the work. Nobody is born perfect and anyone who presents themselves as such is just as nervous and uncertain as you but they chose bravado and arrogance as their armor.
2. Writing should not feel like you are being eviscerated on a daily basis. If you are trapped in a cycle of doubt, self-disgust or hate or disappointment, then you need to take a break. Writing is either a hobby or a job but neither should leave you feeling worse for the effort.
3. Writers will always have more ideas than they have words to fulfill. If you have too many wip, stop writing new ones. You will remember the stories that matter whether you write it immediately or not but you will never finish a story that you can’t stick with. Part of the reason you can’t stick with it is that it’s not a full story yet and you’ve started writing it before it was finished brewing in your brain.
You absolutely can succeed at writing. You absolutely can love every word you put on paper. You absolutely deserve to be proud of what you’ve created without the feeling that you are less than or worse than someone else. You are on a journey that only you can make and that means there is no other person that you can be fairly compared to.
Please remember to be kind to yourselves, fellow writers.
general writing advice, actually: you don’t need an excuse beyond “BUT WOULDN’T THIS BE COOL” to write something into your fic. write things in solely because they make you cackle with the delight of a 12-year-old-boy playing with his dinosaur toys. it’s fun and there’s nothing stopping you or any of us at all any longer.
Hard to believe… but it’s true, yo. Mistakes do not mean you failed. It means you tried. And trying means progress. And progress, my friend, is what we’re all about here. (<- me giving you a fist bump)
Being a writer means forever torn between wanting to relax and read, or continuing your wip even though it’s hard and scary and you don’t know wHAT yOu’RE dOinG—
But in the end, it’s still the most wonderful feeling in the world.
I used to think I had to have everything all figured out - that everything had to be perfect and shiny in order to be taken seriously - but oftentimes that led to a fear of rejection, fear of mistakes, and in the end I just gave up and didn’t try at all.
It’s taken me a long time to realize this, but you don’t have to wait until you’re perfect to do what it is you wanna do! We’re all just human with a finite amount of sand in our hourglass and, honestly, perfection doesn’t exist anyway (…unless your name is Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch, of course )
So what if you don’t know all the rules of writing? It’s your first time writing a novel? You didn’t study English in college? I say go ahead and do it anyway! Because in the words of Jamie Lauren Keiles:
The crappiest first draft is still better than the imaginary story you are withholding in your head.
