Yes I'm channeling Nike here.
By C. Michelle Jefferies
I know several writers in real life and through social media. I see several way to approach writing because of it. It's fascinating to see how people plot, structure, and pants their way through a story. Sometimes I even find a little something that I can use for myself from this interaction.
I noticed one thing that some authors do and it has me wondering at what is going on. This particular habit is the perfect procrastinator for someone who doesn't ever want to actually finish a story.
This is called the super planner.
There are writers who have one or several story ideas and while these story ideas might be great, they're never going to finish them. They have notebooks full of notes, binders full of details about characters. Idea after idea. While research and organization is good, it can also be a deal breaker if your entire time you should be writing is spent researching or filling out character data sheets.
My suggestion is this. Stop it. Stop obsessing about every little detail about your character. Stop obsessing about your setting. Stop researching the story. Just do it. Just put your BUTT in a chair and write the story. Don't let this bad habit stop you from finishing the story.
Want to be a published author eventually? Five words. Stop it. Just do it.
The path to wisdom is not always straight
2 comments:
Good advice. since I posted what I did this week, I wondered if you were referring to me. I know you weren't, but feeling guilty about not being published I wanted to point out that, Even though I go back and get things right while I'm writing, I have finished three books so far this year.
two of those books are definately national market and I'm looking for non judgemental critique partmers to show it to.
Also, my regular critique group, can't seem to find the time. I have two other books to submit, but I hate to ask for Beta readers, since I'm a lousy critiquer and don't offer my services in return. Such is my dilema.
There are many, other reasons an author hasn't been published. One of mine is horrendous writing mistakes. Don't believe it? Just look at the punctuation in this comment. I even ended a sentence with a preposition. This subject might be a good topic for my next blog . . .
Again, good post, and great advice. Thank you.
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