Apparently, I’m getting older or my body has simply betrayed me this week. Instead of writing, reading and creating with a clear head, I am curled up in bed with a fever and a throat so sore I must have accidentally swallowed an entire swarm of bees.

I couldn’t write at all on Friday. And only managed to get a few hundred words done on Saturday. I caught up with my wordcount on Sunday, but they were the hardest words in 2017 so far.

Not a big setback, right? Just a few hazy days filled with feverish dreams. I still went out for a short 20-minute walk each day, because walking doesn’t need a clear head and I didn’t want to break both streaks I’d planned for 2017.

My partner offered to type the words as I dictate them, but I realised all I could do was whine about being sick and maybe hammer out a few words filled with self-pity. And that’s definitely not the aim of this streak. The aim wasn’t to get words out just for the sake of writing words. The aim was to improve. To exercise my writing muscles. And to never just stare at a blank page without eventually filling it with a scene or two.

And I’m still achieving that.

However, this small setback got me to think about other setbacks a writer experiences every now and then… rejections.

Rejections sting. In fact they downright suck. But they’re part of the process. All writers who send their work out will receive them. Some will hurt more than others.

Don’t let them discourage you. It’s not personal. It’s not about you. It might not even be about your work.

I don’t like every book I read and sometimes I don’t like a book that others seem to love. The same goes for anyone reading your work in the publishing industry. It might be good, but that doesn’t mean the person behind the desk who is paid to read it will enjoy it.

Last year I finally started to send out some of my short stories. I was motivated at first. Made a spreadsheet (always have a spreadsheet so you don’t accidentally send the same market the same story twice) and updated it regularly and whenever a story came back I send it right back out.

But then I got discouraged. I’ll be honest with you, it didn’t take much. It took a few “this is not what we’re looking for” on what I consider my best pieces and my mind automatically went to the “I can’t do this” place. It’s a dark place and while you’re there you’re not submitting and when you’re not submitting no one can accept your stories.

Setbacks happen. We get sick, deal with stress or life punches us in the gut… but we can’t succeed if we don’t try. Again and again and again.

This week, I decided to get my spreadsheet in order. Update all my submissions and carry on submitting. Wish me luck.

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See you next week (hopefully without a fever)
Olivia

This week I’d like to talk to you about the importance of joining a writing group.

I know, writing is usually a solitary activity. Many of us are introverts and I reckon some of us aren’t comfortable around other people. Sitting in front of the computer, or with a notebook, away from the world is part of what makes us love writing. We feel at home surrounded by books and empty pages.

Thankfully a lot of writing groups meet online these days and neither require leaving the house nor having to comb our hair or change out of the fluffy bathrobe and slippers.

In 2015 the decision to turn this writing thing into more than just a hobby was fresh. I was motivated and ready to produce words, and I wrote a lot of words in 2015. I wrote my first complete novel as an adult (believe me you don’t want to see the one I wrote when I was 15) which I’m currently revising. After that, I wrote a horror novella (which turned out too tame and hence is, at least for now, shelved) and I even wrote a fantasy novel for children (which possibly isn’t adventurous enough) which I’m hoping to rewrite soon.

Then 2016 came. And with it the rejections. “Unfortunately, this story isn’t quite what we’re looking for right now. We wish you best of luck finding the right market for it.”

What even does this mean? Was it shit? Should I stop writing? Was it just not good enough but not bad either? Did you like it and might have given it a second look under different circumstances but it doesn’t fit what you’re currently looking for? TELL ME.

But they get a thousand submissions every week and they don’t have the time to tell you. Instead you get variations of the above sentence.

I got discouraged. Is my writing good enough? Is my English good enough or should I write in German? Can I even plot? Do I know what to do with words?

My only feedback came from my partner, friends and some family members and obviously that feedback can’t (always) be trusted. Feedback like that is a start, of course, but they love you and will never be as harsh as is needed for us writers to be able to improve.

How do you battle crippling self doubt, lack of ideas, writer’s block and everything else the world throws at you?

Tip: not by sitting at home in front of your computer weeping because you think you’re shit at what you do.

Find a writing group instead. Weep with them instead. A writing group will offer encouragement, good feedback and a place to talk characters, plot, storytelling, grammar, and publishing with like-minded people.

If you get stuck in the middle of a story, you can ask for help and ideas. Once you’ve finished a piece, they can provide beta reading and feedback. Whenever you’ve got questions, someone will have an answer.

They all work towards the same goal as you. You’re not alone.

Share your journey and take some new writing friends along.

You’re wondering how to find a writing group? Facebook has tons of groups filled with helpful people. Reddit has several subreddits dedicated to fantasy, sci-fi and other writers. If you aren’t comfortable with the first group(s) you find, don’t worry. People don’t all fit together. Not everyone is for everyone and that’s all right. Keep looking.

Since I’ve joined Garage Fiction I’ve been writing regularly and I keep finding new motivation thanks to our brilliant members. I feel like I’ve really improved my writing by taking onboard the feedback I’m receiving and my confidence is growing steadily, and since my goal is to become a published author, that growth is necessary.

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February has begun and I’ve finally found a rhythm.

I start the day by reading and re-writing the words I wrote the day before. Sometimes they require an extensive rewrite because I only wrote down the bare bones of the scene and didn’t add any descriptions or pay any attention to my sentence structure. Sometimes there’s not a lot to edit.

Editing puts me back into the story and I feel like I know exactly where I’m at and where I want to go. The creative juices start to flow and I can concentrate on writing the first draft of the next scene/chapter.

I’ve written about 32,000 first draft words in January. Some of them were character notes and backstory and will not find their way into the final draft. As of today I’m at 12,000 roughly edited words in my psychological drama/thriller.

At the same time I’m working on outlining an urban fantasy novella and a space opera novella. I always say novella at first, because I often end up on the shorter side.

And while trying to come up with ideas for my two projects, I realised I struggle with exactly that: coming up with ideas.

I have a lot of settings and genres I want to write in. I’d love to create an epic science fantasy that shows the world thousands of years in the future and what humanity has become. Maybe continents have moved, humanity has evolved; maybe we lost technology and are back to farming and maybe a few androids are leftover slowly going insane as their chips deteriorate.

I’d love to create an urban fantasy with witches, vampires and other creatures, maybe set in a small rural place in England and in London. Maybe with a parallel universe. And I’d love to create a space opera with a political conflict and a complicated love story.

Genre and setting, not a problem for me. I’m bursting with ideas. But actual storylines? That’s where I struggle.

How do I get around that? I brainstorm. I take a bunch of flashcards or an empty page in my notebook and write down things I find interesting. Some are very vague like religion and psychology. Some are quite specific like dog training, sexual abuse and robots as household helpers.

I then try and see which topics I can combine. Psychology, sexual abuse and robots as household helpers for example might result in a story about an abused robot who needs therapy.

However, for me coming up with these storylines is hard work. I’m not someone who has random plots pop up while showering, walking the dogs or cooking. I can use those activities to expand on already existing ideas, but I rarely get an idea for a storyline out of the blue. I always have to work for it.

Other writers often tell me they have so many ideas they don’t know how to choose. Well, I’d gladly have that problem instead.

What about you? If you also struggle to come up with exciting storyline ideas, what do you do about it? I’d love to hear about your process in the comments.

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See you next week,
Olivia

January is almost over. A whole month of writing a thousand words every day and the very first month in my life during which I actually consistently wrote every single day. No excuses. No being too lazy on the weekends and no being too busy during the week.

I’m working on a psychological thriller. Or what I’m hoping will turn into a thriller, for the moment it’s just psychological. I’m making good progress and I’m excited about the story.

I briefly mentioned in last week’s post that I’m more of a pantser than a plotter. I’d like to talk about that for a bit.

In writing circles it’s a never ending debate: should a writer outline or write by the seat of their pants?

Both sides have their pros and cons and I’m telling you right now, the best thing you can do as a writer is to find a mix that works for you. Yes, a mix.

An outline is like a roadmap. A road trip will probably be more successful when you know where you want to end up and actually manage to get there, than when you just start driving, find yourself going in circles, and end up back home in thirty minutes. Or, even worse, you end up stranded without petrol in the middle of the desert.

People who outline are called plotters. A plotter knows everything about their story before they start to write. Characters, goals, motives and stakes. They plan the theme, and usually have a chapter by chapter summary. It’s all there: every big event, climax and resolution. Sometimes a plotter will neatly display it in a spreadsheet, maybe even colour coded.

As a pantser however, I frequently encounter dead ends and sometimes even get lost halfway through. As a pantser I sometimes stare for hours at a blank page not knowing where to go with my story.

On the other hand, an outline feels restrictive. I personally get bored when I write with an outline. Part of the thrill for me is to be able to discover the story along the way. There’s no better feeling than sitting on my chair in front of my PC and yelling I KNOW! before adding an exciting twist to the plot that just surprised me and made me giddy. That moment is one of the many reasons I love writing.

Pantsing is wildly creative. I never know what’s going to happen next. I don’t know where this story will take me and I’m excited to find out. I’m excited to sit down and write. I’m being spontaneous.

Outlining is destroying my creativity so to speak. Which of course is bollocks.

I just had to realise that I have to approach the subject in a different way. Spreadsheets don’t work for me. Neither does jotting down all events on flashcards. I need to discover the story as I write it. But, instead of writing an entire first draft and ending up with 60,000 words, I write down the bare bones of the story.

Sometimes I even leave myself little notes in my document and type:

Kate’s mother (who by the way really needs a name? Something harsh and unlikeable) entered the room. Her grey hair is tied into a bun (how old is she anyway?) and her glasses have thick lenses. She’s carrying (an official document, look up medical wills, what’s the specific name?), pressing the documents against her chest, like a shield.

In the end I have a VERY rough first draft (or a very messy outline if you prefer), much smaller than the final draft will be, but it’s the entire story and I was able to discover it as I wrote it.

Now the re-write begins and I know where I’m going and can’t possibly get lost along the way.

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See you next week,
Olivia

This week the daily writing has improved and I almost felt good about it. I wouldn’t quite say a habit has formed, but I’m getting better at producing words whether I feel inspired or not.

Ideas come to me more easily now that I write regularly. Before, I often sat and thought of ideas and tried to scribble down outlines and my mind would just stay utterly blank. Now, however, when I just write, after a while the connections and ideas flow.

I need to remember that the next time I’m not writing: Just write.

Of course it’s not all sunshine and roses… yet.

It’s time to tackle one of my problems I encounter when I actually write. We’ve talked about my fear of writing in my first post. And the way I productively procrastinate in my second post.

While the ideas are flowing better now, I still tend to have a problem of “underwriting”.

What’s underwriting? It’s like this: I write in a spare, spartan style.

I have plot, character motivation and dialogue. I have all the necessary information.

BUT… I simply don’t add much description.

It usually leaves me with one main plot, no subplots, and no flesh on the bone. The bone I’ve created is good, tense, has lots of action, but is lacking everything else. Instead of ending up with a 250,000 words novel that has to be cut in half, I end up with a 45,000 words novel and can’t call it a novel until after I’ve added 20,000 words of description. And maybe a subplot.

A lot of the editing process of many writers is cutting, cutting and cutting. It hurts to cut your own words. It takes hours to write them, they’re precious, because we created them. And now they have to go.

I’m lucky, I just have to create new ones.

I have to add more depth to scenes and characters, their emotions and surroundings. How is a reader supposed to immerse themselves into my story if I’m not giving them a vast and well described setting? How is a reader supposed to fall in love with my characters when they’re cardboard cutouts with no depth?

I’m a pantser. I write by the seat of my pants. I don’t outline, I don’t plan. The story comes to me as I write. The twists and turns come to me as I write. If I just sit at my desk, with a pen in my hand and wait… nothing comes to me. Absolutely nothing.

Without an outline I sometimes get lost in the middle, lose interest or don’t know how to rein the story back in so I can finish it.

At the moment I’m trying to do something that would help both the underwriting and the no outline problem. I am putting together a short 5,000-15,000 first draft. Just the bone. Bare. Nothing else. I just write it. Without attention to spelling, form, style or plot. Once I’ve got that, I’ll go back to the beginning and I’ll treat this extremely messy first draft as my outline and I will re-write from there, fix all my mistakes and add flesh to the bone. Hopefully enough to make it a fully fledged novel.

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See you next week,
Olivia