It’s coming up to my bedtime and have been checking out other bloggers tonight so have not done any progress on my book. I think I’m OK with that, I’m further with it now than say 3 weeks ago when it was all thoughts and ideas.
I have been telling people about this blog and it’s making the writing that bit more real. I feel this is really motivating and therapeutic.
I have posted another article and thought I’d share my own experience on the advice within.
https://homemum2catspluskids.wordpress.com/2017/07/19/how-to-multitask-when-writing/
The coffee drinking I have done, 2 cups and have churned out about 700 words this morning. I stopped over thinking things to the nth degree and just wrote the current scene that I had started last night. Some paragraphs will need a re-write, the sub plots and the multitasking involved went well simply because I just wrote presently. A big obstacle for myself was thinking:
“What will I get my character to say?”
“How will the other character react?”
“What if it starts going in the wrong direction?”
“How does this link in with the main plot?”
“Is this actually relevant?”
“How will I feel at the end?”
“Am I enjoying writing this?”
“What if this doesn’t work?”
And it just got to a point where every question I had just blocked me from writing at all. I’m taking my own advice (Thank you Tan!) and am feeling confident I know the whole story so am motivating myself that way today. It’s all in my head and it now just needs to make its way onto paper, well Word for now!
When it comes to writing, it is always a challenge to focus on the 1 scene you’re writing because the way I see it, it all has to link together and you really have to think ahead or multitask as I like to call it. It’s like trying to carry one child in you arms while 3 others also want your attention (possibly cuddles too) and here’s the real kicker you HAVE to give everyone of them nurturing all at the same time. So what do you do?
Here are 3 easy steps to a successful multitask writing session.
1: Like the picture above indicates, Coffee. Lots of coffee is required beforehand, especially if you just aren’t in the zone for wanting to write. Once the caffeine has kicked in it does help you focus but don’t over do it yeah, too much will only result in less writing time as you’ve been sat on the toilet at regular intervals.
2: Don’t overthink it, just write it. If you are struggling to find the right emotion for a character because your brain just won’t give you the word you’re desperately trying to find, just write a generic “X” if need be, then revisit when your head and fingers are working as a team again. It might look gibberish at first, you may even read it back and wonder what on earth you’ve wrote but if you have the essence and the purpose written down it will massively help continue the story, and it’ll help you keep on track with the end goal.
3: Convince yourself you know the entire story. The fun in writing, I find, is in the making up part. So if I need a scene to begin with a character needing to reveal something big, by the end of the scene that character needs to be and feel different, as well as all the others he’d revealed it too. You know those things are a certainty but how it plays out when you’re actually writing may be different, the filler part is where you should let your creative juices flow. Don’t be hard on yourself, just write it and if it can keep all the plots intact then you know you’re doing something right. If what you’re writing changes the story then stop, hit DELETE and try again.
I have never written a novel before but am in the process of doing it. What I have discovered is that the story needs a solid framework, the characters and setting need to be strong and believable and if you have those then you have a good formula going.
Tan M Butler 