Comments on: Give Yourself A Break

By: Bethany Neal

Bethany Neal — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:40:16 +0000

This post makes me feel ions better about the 4 months(!) I toiled over 4–possibly 5, but who’s counting?–different ideas before actually being able to focus on the one that felt right as my next novel. I knew there was a reason you’re my agent. So understanding and supportive.

I really had to step back and realize I needed to write for me, not the “fickle” marketplace that I was suddenly hyper aware of once I got myself an agent. It really scrambles your brain when you actively try to write for the unknown masses.

And deep breath. Therapy session over.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:14:59 +0000

Thanks for all the great posts. Glad to see this one struck a chord and so many of you have such great stories to share. Please keep writing, and loving it, even when it’s not going as well as you’d hoped!

By: Maryanne Fantalis

Maryanne Fantalis — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:15:13 +0000

As writers, I think we tend to fall in love with what we’ve already done, even if, deep down, we know it’s not as good as it could be or should be. I know that there have been times that there have been little quivers of problems (“this doesn’t make sense” or “this contradicts something from chapter three”) that I just don’t feel like dealing with so I leave it and hope no one notices. But who am I kidding?

Unlike Victoria, though, I never hit delete – I always keep copies (digital or hard) of what I’ve done, because you never know at what future time a piece of an idea may become useful to you again, and then I’d hate to be unable to put my hands on it.

By: Anne Stuart

Anne Stuart — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:42:49 +0000

One thing I’ve learned after a looong time in this business is that just when you think you’ve got it worked out, the girls in the basement aka the muse throws you a curve. I was a pantser, then an outliner, then a pantser. Sometimes I know exactly where I’m going, sometimes I write on faith. Sometimes I toss out an entire book, sometimes the first chapter, sometimes I only keep the first chapter (though for me that tends to be problematic).
I’ve decided that there’s no controlling it and no understanding it. Each book needs to be written as it wants to be written, but as Stacey says, it has to come from the heart. It doesn’t matter how commercially-viable and high-concept it is — if you don’t love it then it’s not worth writing.
Two mantras:
“If it’s not fun why do it?” Ben and Jerry, American philosophers
“It’s a mystery.” Shakespeare in Love

By: Alli

Alli — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:20:46 +0000

…whoops. I never thought I’d hit the reply button so quickly? What I wanted to say was I never thought I’d be one of “those outliners”. I am now and I’ve learned a lot from it.

By: Alli

Alli — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:19:19 +0000

I am a reformed pantser. My first two novels I wrote myself into some tricky corners and spent a lot of time hitting delete and rewriting. The third novel was outlined (a little) and I’m sure it saved me a couple of drafts. This new WIP I’m about to embark on has been outlined in great detail (20 single spaced pages!) but I am more excited about starting this one than the others. I used to be scared that outlining would mean I would lose the passion for the story because I knew what was going to happen but it’s turned out to be the opposite. Because I know what’s going to happen and have an idea of how, I can’t wait to get it on the page and find out how it turns out! Huh. I never thought I’d

By: Kevin James Richardson

Kevin James Richardson — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:36:33 +0000

I always love taking a cruise through different writing blogs to view those insightful comments penned by fellow scribes. It’s refreshing and invigorating to say the least. One always learns a great deal from another’s well thought out and crafted words concerning their own personal frame of reference within those plotted genres from which they rise.

As one whose been recently embraced by Jane Dystel to review my passion for tossing my words on a page, I discovered that it truly “is” your heart — which becomes your voice — that people are drawn to. I opened my heart honestly and in truth with Jane and she graciously responded.

When I began to consider this “thing” that had been bumping inside of me wishing to be unleashed and expressed, I found that it was my “heart” that wished to be heard in print. Not my mind or any other component of my being; but my heart first. With this writing experience my life has been completely and forever changed. It’s simply amazing what a commitment to your musings from the heart can do in one’s life. I feel so blessed!

For me, it will always be that my writing comes from my heart and nowhere else. I find that with this, I’m never “stuck” as with some authors state they are, as I’m discovering constantly these new windows of imaginative and creative opportunity which enhances my new divinely inspired path in life.

I heard Nic Sparks comment about being “stuck” when I met Nic at one of his book signings. It amazed me that a person of Nic’s popularity on the world’s literary stage would even comment to such a thing. It’s one thing to feel or state to someone you’re stuck; in a sense, but it’s quite another to actually embrace those misleading words when your heart is telling you to take a break, relax your mind and go discover that special something you need to bring back to the workbench to enhance your wordsmith’s abilities.

This is great stuff! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m always learning more and more daily and “reading” sets you in a different light — a light in your heart, which lifts you even higher within your gifted craft. Be well all! Write-On!!

By: Carol J. Garvin

Carol J. Garvin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:21:15 +0000

After writing my fourth novel I realized why my first one hadn’t worked. I could go back and rewrite it now, but the premise is flawed and it wouldn’t be worth the effort to start from scratch. It’s been permanently shelved. I did do a rewrite on the third novel, however, and cut out two unnecessary scenes to tighten the story line. I’m not so attached to my words that I hate to part with them. They’re meant to make a story better and if they don’t accomplish that I’d rather get rid of them.

By: Teri Carter

Teri Carter — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:10:34 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever worried much about ditching a project that’s not working. I think of it like bad relationships … if I hadn’t had the bad ones, I wouldn’t have noticed or appreciated the good ones that came along. I think of Wallace Stegner who claimed that his BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN (no small book) was merely practice for writing his masterpiece, ANGLE OF REPOSE. These thoughts keep me putting the pen on the page and moving on.

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:57:55 +0000

Hear, hear! I feel like I say this sort of thing often, and it’s nice to be echoed by someone with a bit more clout.

Outlines usually work well for me, but there was one story about a year ago that just turned into a monster despite my careful pre-planning. I finished the first draft, but knew it would require a complete rewrite to be made to work–and recent world events have made me doubt the basic science fiction premise could happen anywhere in the near future, so I’d have to replot something anyway even if the manuscript had turned out well. It was a very frustrating struggle all the way, but it has made it easier for me to cut characters, subplots, and words in subsequent stories.