It’s Not All Bad

There’s something good in the rough pages. We have all written paragraphs, pages and occasionally chapters that should not been seen by anyone. The level of frustration experienced at the messy pages can be huge, the urge to hit delete strong. Stop!

There are decent lines and possible good paragraphs mixed in with the mess. Can’t stand to read it again, understandable. Use one of the following options to find the good parts.

Have someone read it slowly out loud. Have them stop after every couple of sentences. Take the pages back or the tablet and circle the parts worth saving.

Or

If your version of Word or writing software has a read-aloud feature, use it. Most of these programs allow you to select from several voices.  Like option 1, listen but pause every couple of lines. Mark lines that are good.

Your rough parts contain good lines. Even if the lines aren’t a fit for this WIP (work in progress), save them in a file. They can be tweaked and used for a project in the future.

Protagonist Greatest Strength

We’ve covered ways to make your MC (main character also known as the protagonist) appealing. However, we must also ensure that the readers see their scars. Over the course of your novel/novella, they’ve emotionally risen, fallen, and stood a final time.

In a romance they connect, feelings are hurt, and the problems are finally resolved. However, they are not the same at the end. Harse words have been said. They have realized the person they love can cause them pain. MC has learned that love is risk but one they are willing to take. The wounds from their fight heal, to become thin scars.

If your Protagonist solves a mystery or survives a killer, they too have marks. What they have experienced has forever changed them. They no longer view people with an openness.

Shows your charters pain and how they evolve. Yes, what they have gone through has shifted who they are and how they interact with the world. How could it not?

New Season, New Words

It’s Spring, time for new! Let’s start with planting fresh ideas for the plot challenges in your WIP. Pick one of the pages or paragraphs that needs attention. You know the section that drove you to the point of writing around it. Time to tackle it.

Highlight and copy that section into a fresh blank document. Below, brainstorm. Allow yourself to list every possible thing that could push the material forward. Every idea is valid. He joins the circus. Fine. They become hackers and move to a remote island that has high speed internet? Also, good. Fill that document with as many ideas as possible.

Review your options. Do any of them feel like they would correct your plot problem? If not, close the document and return to it tomorrow. Repeat the process as needed over the next two days.

On day four, pick a scenario that could lead somewhere. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Add it into the challenge area. Expand on it within the document. It may work or spark something that will.

Go, Write New Words!

Runaway Words

You’ve plotted the story in the form of an outline. Or maybe it’s still in your head. Wherever the words are, you’re ready to put them into the form of a chapter. You fill multiple pages and possibly go as far as 70% in before it happens. You read through the WIP (work in progress) and discover that the story has run wild.

A side character or sublot have taken over. The plot doesn’t resemble what you planned. Yes, it’s different but this could be the good.

The original plot or main characters may have been a place holder for this new novel. If you are open and go in this new direction, save the original version. That story possibly is meant to be told in the future or parts of it may be useful.

When your WIP takes a turn or is taken over by characters, lean into it. See where this creative road will go.

Step Up Away From Your Email!

You’ve sent a piece of your heart to a literary agent or small publisher. Now comes the wait for a response. Stressing and sweating over an agent or publisher’s response to your query or submission will create stress. Times to focus on something else. Instead of checking you emails constantly: exercise, bake, volunteer or learn a new skill, start another story/poem or essay.  Put your heart and energy into anything else.

Deal with the response when it comes. Right now, move positively forward.

Share with Your MC

Stressed? Dealing with anxiety? Share these challenging emotions with your characters. Yes, really! Main characters are relatable when they have human traits. Are they faced with problems at work, toxic relationship or life shifting events? In therapy, managing it with a support system or not ready for help? All of this shows the vulnerable side of your MC (main character). Let the reader see this.

Keep Going

You will not fizz out on your WIP. While 20-40% of people give up on their resolutions in February, that is not you! Take a break if you’re overextended in other areas of your life but do so with a plan to return. And often as possible, put anything on the page, even poorly written words count. You’ll polish them later. This is the year to reach your writing goals. 

Back To Work In Progress

With the holiday madness fading to memory status, it’s time to refocus on WIP (Work In Progress). If the timeframe from last year worked for you, repeat this. If however, it was sporadic, change that pattern. How:

Write early/late when your home is quiet.

Write on your lunch break. Do so from your car or in a corner of the breakroom.

Steal time on weakly errands. ~ While running around, schedule an extra hour or two at the beginning and use it to write.

Both you and your WIP deserve the time.

Holiday Madness

As work, relatives and travel push your stress level through the stratosphere this holiday season, consider it fuel. In the new year, the drama and emotional battle scars gained can be used to heighten your MC (main character)’s emotions.

Need him or her to be frustrated? Tap into what you felt standing in long lines or while circling the airport multiple times.

Need them to simmer or burst with rage? Recall the moments when you had to bite your tongue with that “special relative.”

Holiday stress and drama are meant to be survived and later used as writing fuel.

A Year of Words

It’s time to review your 2023 words. If you were the King or Queen of Productive Writing over the last 12 months, great! For 2024, continue along the same path.

If there were projects that were not completed or if your WIP still has rough edges, guess what. It’s OKAY!

We need to know where we are in order to move forward. In the next post, we’ll look at which projects will be the focus of the new year.