Author’s Note: This article was originally published on July 16th, 2022 as part of a blog series about a novel I was ghostwriting for a client without the use of AI (though I have since used AI to generate some of the images). If you haven’t read the introduction yet, you can find it here.
Day 19
The Wrong Inspiration
What do you do when, in the midst of writing a book, you become inspired by an idea for a different story? What do you do if the new idea becomes so compelling, so exciting, that you simply can’t stop thinking about it?
If you turn all your attention to this shiny new idea, how will you ever finish the existing project?
Here’s my method. Provided I can still meet my daily goals for my current project, I write down the shiny new idea as fast as I can— within a few hours over the course of an afternoon or evening, ideally. That way, I can go right back to my main project the next day and not worry about missing deadlines.
If you’re thinking, “There’s no way I could write out this idea within a few hours,” my advice is this: if it’s a big idea that demands a lot of time and attention, focus on outlining rather than writing a rough draft. If you start with a rough draft of this new idea, there’s a good chance it will grow and grow, competing every day for your attention. If, on the other hand, you focus on outlining, you should be able to get the idea down within a reasonable amount of time.
Maybe it’ll lose some of its shine by that point. Or maybe you’ll still think it’s the bee’s knees. Either way, this protects your current project from being discarded.
The result is that you get the outline of a story you can write at a later date, while still remaining faithful to your work-in-progress.
Daily Word Count: 2514
Total Word Count: 35561
Day 20
Keeping Your Story Straight
When writing a series of books, it’s very easy to mix up the details. Characters evolve in the telling, and sometimes things that have been consistent throughout many revisions ultimately change on the final pass.
The significance of these details can range from a character’s eye color (probably not a big deal, though it’s still important to be consistent) to a character’s core beliefs (definitely a big deal).
How do you keep everything straight?
You might be tempted to jot every bit of minutia down throughout the writing process. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this technique, you’d better use a pencil with a good eraser, just in case.
My approach is to only take notes of the most significant details, such as the aforementioned core beliefs. Then, when I’m preparing to write the next book in the series, I can go back, reread the finished book, and keep a solid record then, knowing even the smallest of details are fixed at that point.
However you record and keep track of the little things, it’s of paramount importance to stay organized. You’ll save yourself a lot of headache down the road.
Daily Word Count: 2510
Total Word Count: 38071
Day 21
The Doldrums
At some point while writing a book, you will probably lose your initial excitement for the story and find yourself wishing you had something else to do.
I call this the doldrums. You start off with a strong wind, bright eyes, and a clear compass reading, but then find yourself stuck in a vast, dead sea with seemingly no way to get to the other side except by rowing.
You start thinking, “There must be a current here somewhere. If I can just find it, I know it will carry me the rest of the way.”
Or maybe you decide to head to your quarters and wait for a more favorable wind. It has to show up eventually, right?
Maybe so…but it’s equally possible you will wake to the sound of the keel grinding over a sandbar, and you will realize the journey is over and you never reached your intended destination.
When the wind fails and the sea goes dead, ROW. Check your compass, yes, but once you are sure you’re heading in the right direction, row for all you’re worth. Row till your arms come loose from your shoulders, till the sun has scorched your skin and the last of your sweat dries to salt on your brow.
Row like a sinking man swimming for the surface, because your story’s very survival is at stake. If you let the elements force you to give up on your journey now, you may never undertake it again.
Now is the time to show your mettle, so get on that bench and put your back into it.
Daily Word Count: 2504
Total Word Count: 40575
Day 22
Getting into the Story
Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to re-enter your writing. You go from chapter to chapter, looking for something to light a spark in your imagination, but it all feels like a tired old tale you’ve heard a thousand times before. The dialogue is dull, the action clunky. The emotion feels about as real as a bowl of cereal on a cereal box.
What do you do? How do you enter the action? If you jump into the middle of things, you may not remember clearly what happened leading up to a particular scene.
My advice? Go back to the beginning, reading through the story again and correcting small errors along the way. You’ll be refining the book while familiarizing yourself with the characters, settings, subplots, and so on.
Pick up as much momentum as you can. Then, when you come to your first obstacle, hit it as hard as you can. Keep going even when the work feels about as lively as an autopsy. The hard work of tackling that first problem may just solve other problems down the road.
Daily Word Count: 2522
Total Word Count: 43097
Day 23
Excelsior
As I write about the process of writing a book, it occurs to me there are very few hard-and-fast rules about writing.
Some writers begin in media res (opening the story in the midst of a crucial event), while others start with worldbuilding.
Some sprinkle adverbs like pepper, while others avoid them like cyanide.
Some use whatever dialogue tags come to mind (“bellowed,” “exclaimed,” and “hissed” are a few examples), while others stick to “said” and “asked.”
If there is one thing I consider a concrete rule that applies to every writer, however, it’s this:
Learn.
Learn from your mistakes, learn from your successes. Learn from others’ mistakes and successes. Learn about life, the world, history, cultures, anything that fascinates you and much of what does not. Learn from professors and lovers, the elderly and children, foreigners and neighbors. Learn facts about the world and insights of the heart.
The moment you stop learning is the moment your writing becomes tired and stale.
Daily Word Count: 2500
Total Word Count: 45597
Day 24
Resenting the Story
I hope I’m not alone in confessing there comes a time in writing a book when I begin to resent the story. It starts to feel like this needy, whining dog some stranger left me with at the supermarket while they went to the restroom — only they never returned, and now I’m caring for this animal because I don’t have the heart to pawn it off on someone else.
Maybe the dog was cute at first, but that wears off in a hurry the first time it poops in the hallway and uses your carpet as toilet paper.
Okay, okay. Enough with the analogy. The point is, it’s okay to get frustrated with a story. It’s okay to resent it or to feel it’s out to get you. It’s even okay to abandon a story — sometimes.
But there’s a catch. If I let myself off the hook too easily, if I abandon a story just because the process is less exciting than it was at the outset, I’m setting myself up for failure. Inspiration has an expiration date; what excited me yesterday may not excite me tomorrow.
I just have to accept that, as much as I love writing (and I really do, which isn’t a given for every writer), there are days when I don’t like the project I’m working on. I just need to keep the faith, push forward, and trust that the hard work will pay off in the end.
Daily Word Count: 2500
Total Word Count: 48097
* * *
Check back in for Week 5, where we’ll go over:
– The importance of tracking story threads
– How to bring the action to life
– How to make better use of tertiary characters
And more.
Until then, happy writing!
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