It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it's time to convene another meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group. Our host Alex J. Cavanaugh has assembled a great group of co-hosts this month: SE White, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguirre, Joylene Nowell Butler, and Jacqui Murray.
Be sure to check out the IWSG website for great writing resources!
The optional question for this month is: When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end? If have not started the writing yet, why do you think that is and what do you think could help you find your groove and start?
I often find myself getting stuck at some point during my writing journey. I often take a step back from the story for a day or two before coming back to it. Returning and looking it over with fresh eyes can sometimes reveal opportunities that I hadn't previously considered before. I also like to take notes and map out possible scenarios. Writing out short drafts of later scenes in the story can help me decide if a possible narrative path will work well.
Truth is, I don't always find a way to keep writing to the end. Sometimes I can't work my way through the issues I encounter with the story. When this happens, I save everything in case I end up coming back to it later. You never know when inspiration will strike, after all. Maybe I'll pick up the story years down the road with fresh new ideas. Or maybe I'll be looking through my old story files and find inspiration in them for a new idea I'm working on.
Try not to get discouraged when you get stuck. It happens to all of us. It all comes down to how you handle those normal struggles.
How do you keep yourself writing to the end?
Looking at something with fresh eyes can help. It's great that you can just shelve a project for awhile when you're really stuck.
ReplyDeleteComing back to it later sometimes works wonders.
ReplyDeleteI picked up one thirty years later...
ReplyDeleteI like your advice not to get discouraged. And of course, no writing is ever wasted. Some fragments that never got finished could be used years later in totally unexpected ways.
ReplyDeleteI write the end first and aim my story toward it. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette