Greetings all, New member here on WF, this is my introductory post. My writing journey began in about 2010 when I came across an article about self publishing. I was thrilled at the prospect of bypassing the trad pub gatekeepers and being able to write, edit, and publish my stories. Nothing to it right? I mean, I have a vivid imagination and have read tons of novels. Oof, I was so naive. I spent the first few years studying writing, and wrote a lot of words. I followed the self publishing industry - all aspects of it from six- figure authors' careers to the mechanics of formatting an e-book and designing book covers. I loved watching writing podcasts, coming up with cool pen names, participating in writers' forums, attending workshops, etc. It's now 2024 and what do I have to show for my time? *Drumroll please* A filing cabinet full of unfinished novels. About twenty of them across many genres. I think I enjoyed researching and learning about writing more than actually writing. Let's face it, we all know writing is work. It really bothers me that I did not finish what I started. It was a bucket list item for me to be a self published author, and I was too lazy and apparently didn't want it bad enough. That's the reason I'm here on WF today, folks. I'm dusting off my unfinished beauties and will have some serious butt-in-chair time doing the work so by the end of the year I will have a finished product. How about you? Do you fall in love with a shiny new idea for a story and abandon your current WIP? Do you find yourself spending more time researching writing than actually putting words on paper? This post is so long that I'm counting it toward my daily word count, lol. That's my not-so- brief introduction, thanks for reading. Ace
Well hey, that's actually a damn good start. Writing a lot is key, and in the beginning it isn't so important to finish stories, you just need to log a lot of writing time and get loads of experience at it. That alone accomplishes much of the transformation into a writer. But there's another important factor too— Bingo! There it is!! So, you've been getting the experience and the book-learnin' stuff. I'm a big fan of something a dude named Leonardo said a while back. No, not that Leonardo—the one with the long white beard. Let me dig it up so I don't butcher it: "Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory." There's a little more, but it's about the importance of perspective, which applies more to drawing, though does bear some strong resemblance to POV (point-of-view) in writing. Plus, your first handful of stories will serve mostly as practice pieces. When you've logged that all-important mileage (you're pretty much there, or getting really close it sounds like), you'll be ready to start thinking along the lines of finished works. It's a lot like learning to play music, which begins with learning scales and chords and progressions, then progresses through simple little tunes like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and working your way up through more complex ones. All well before you start composing your own songs. But fear not, that day approach-eth! I'm also reminded of a little anecdote Stephen King likes to tell. Apparently he was on a plane sitting next to a brain surgeon who told him "When I retire I think I'll take up writing." King replied "Yeah, I think when I retire I'll take up brain surgery—it sounds like a lot of fun."
Thanks Xoic, for your encouraging and amusing reply. I'm certain that if da Vinci had written novels he would have been a genre- hopper too. He was a man with many different interests as well.
Hello and welcome Ace, there are definitely parallels between how we spent the last ten years or so! Years ago, I completed a first draft of a novel that I never went back to edit. In the last year, I started two novels and ended putting both of them aside. I have completed a lot of short stories in the last year-and-a-half, but also started a lot that were abandoned. Who knows, maybe one day I will put in the sufficient effort to figure out how they are supposed to end! Maybe it might help if, instead of spreading your focus around, you choose your favourite project and focus just on it. Choose one, and commit to it. You can keep track of your progress with a progress journal: https://www.writingforums.org/progress-journals/ Anyway, looking forward to seeing you in the forums. You'll find a lot of resources, support and encouragement here.
There is nothing wrong with putting a WIP aside for a while. Provided you actually come back to it. It is one thing to put it on the back burner, so you can approach it with fresh eyes, and edit. Something I wish a large number of the self published would do, along with hiring a good editor. I have stopped counting the amount of crap writing I have gotten from Amazon, even in audio books. I haven't taken the self publishing step yet myself. I am currently focused on the quality of my work, and figuring out the marketing aspects of the industry. It is beginning to look like I need to find a good sandbox program for social media, to block their spyware aspects. That seems to be where you need to focus the marketing currently.
Thanks Louanne, for the link to the progress journal. I agree with what you said about picking one WIP and finishing it. I struggle with that, do I go with the one that's easiest to write? Or the one that is closest to being finished? Or the WIP that's the most fun to work on? Ha, ha. You get my drift. It feels good to make progress, though. I need to aim for consistent progress.
Just pick one and give it a cold read. Make notes as you do the cold read. The fix the problems you see. If that doesn't fire your imagination then grab another and repeat the above steps, until one of the stories grabs you. This let's you find the one your inspired by and makes progress on the rest.
