People often ask me, “How do you write so fast?” or “How do you come up with all those ideas?”
I often don’t have an answer for them because writing is an extremely fluid process for me. When I’m writing, I rarely have all the bits and pieces of the story or novel mapped out. Instead, I feel like I’m just putting it all down as it comes to me. Sometimes I’ll write a sentence and lose track of what I just wrote. Then I’ll go back and edit what I’ve written, only to lose my train of thought while doing so. And sometimes the ideas just come to me so quickly that I don’t have enough time to process them before the next one comes.
When I first started writing novels, I used to put a lot of thought into what I was going to write. I would plot out intricate stories with a beginning, middle, and end. Then I would go back and fill in all the little details. But after a while, I stopped doing that and started writing exactly what came to mind. Nowadays, I usually have a general idea of where the story is going, but when I get to that point I usually find that the characters and the setting have changed. So now I just go with the writing and try to fix it later.
Creative Writing Is Rewarding
Even when I’m editing the most boring parts of a manuscript, it still feels good. It’s rewarding to sit down and pour your blood, sweat, and tears into creating something that you know is going to be special. When I first started writing solo, I would often write a novel in one month just to see if I could keep up with the sheer volume of words. But now that I’ve been doing it for a while, I know that getting the words out doesn’t really matter. It’s the process of getting the words out that’s important.
Even if you don’t end up publishing your novel, the creative process of putting it together is exciting in its own right. When I first started out, I would get super excited about the idea of getting a publisher and being able to offer my work for people to read. But now that I’ve been doing it for a while, the only thing that interests me is continuing to write and see what happens next.
The Importance Of Feedback
Being a writer is a hard job; it requires a lot of attention to detail and constant feedback. If you want to produce a book that’s going to be worth reading, you’re going to have to put in the work to make sure that every bit of it is just right. But this is all the more important if you’re writing your story or novel for the first time and don’t have much experience.
If you’re writing a story that’s based on real events, it’s important to note that not everything that happened in the story is going to be factually accurate. The more research you do into the subject matter, the more you’ll be able to make the story fit the facts. But even then, it’s still important to note that real-life stories can be incredibly difficult to write. You’re usually not going to be able to capture all the nuanced details of what happened during those times. And sometimes you might decide that some of the details that you include are just too much and need to be changed for the sake of the story.
How To Start A Creative Process
So you’ve decided to write a story or novel. Congratulations! Now what? How do you start writing?
There are a few different ways to go about it. But before you begin, make sure that you’ve got a good idea of what you’re going to write. Are you going to write a murder mystery? A romance? A satirical piece about politics?
Once you’ve got your idea, you can begin to flesh out the basic concept. What is the main conflict? Who are the main characters? What are they fighting for? What is the main theme of the story?
Answering these questions will give you a good idea of what you need to include in your story or novel. It will also help you decide on a plot point that you might want to emphasize in your story. For example, maybe you’ve got a character who is really good at spelling, and you want to use this as a tool for comedic effect but you don’t want to give it too much emphasis because it’s also integral to the plot. In that case, you might want to give the character some flaws so that they’re not just perfect at everything.
After you’ve got your idea and plot set, it’s time to start writing. But before you begin, it’s important to take a step back. Look at what you’ve written so far, and ask yourself questions to make sure that you’re doing it right. Ask yourself, “Does the story make sense?” “Is the dialogue consistent with the time period in which it is set?” “Does the pace change at the right times?” “Does the story follow a pattern that is interesting and logical?”
Writing is a lot of work, and it’s easy to get sidetracked by the sheer volume of words on screen. Make sure that you’ve got everything written down before you start moving around with the characters. This will make it much easier to plot out a story that requires a lot of travelling. If you’ve got lots of detail, it can also be difficult to gauge how the story is progressing. Writing out the whole thing on paper will make it much easier to follow along and ensure that you don’t lose track of what is happening.
Character Development
Along with having a specific plot and theme, every story needs a group of characters. A story without characters is like a painting without colors – it’s just an assemblage of forms. You don’t really have any idea of how it’s going to look until you’ve got some characters and can start putting them in different situations and seeing how they react to those situations.
If you’ve decided to write a romance novel, but you don’t have any experience doing so, it might be a good idea to read some romances that already exist. You can get an idea of how a romance should be written and how the characters should act and talk. Doing this will help you get into the right head space for writing as well as give you some good example to base your own story on.
Characters are everything in fiction. Without them, you don’t have much to write about. They are the ones that the reader follows around and gets invested in. They are the ones that you grow to care about most deeply. When you write your characters, decide how they are going to react to situations and then write those situations down. Try and put yourself in their shoes for a while and see how you would act in the same situation. Character development can be very difficult, especially if you’ve never done it before. So before you start, take some time to read lots of great novels and find inspiration in those characters’ actions.
Editing
At some point, most authors go through several rounds of editing their work before it is complete. The first draft that you pour your heart and soul into is usually very rough, and it’s the edits that turn it into a good story that you want to share with the world. But edits are crucial, even if you’ve gone through several rounds of them. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the right words to perfectly fit the narrative; you can always find something that is better than what you originally wrote. But sometimes you’re not sure if something is right until you’ve tried it out.
When you’re editing, it’s important to look for every possible mistake you’ve made. Every little detail counts, and if you want your book to come out perfect, it’s going to take a lot of work. But even then, there are some things that you can’t fix – you have to let go and move on. Sometimes the only way to improve what you’ve written is to start over again from scratch.
Remember: editing is not writing. When you’re writing, you’re writing. There’s no stopping once you’ve started. But when you’re editing, you’ve got the time to go back and make changes that will improve everything about your story.
Final Takeaway
Writing is a tough job, but it’s also very rewarding. Even when you’ve gone through several drafts and done your best to make it perfect, there is still a chance that you might not agree with how things are turning out. But that’s part of the fun – it means that you’re still able to grow as a writer and make improvements as you go along.