Writing on Days When You Feel Drained

If you feel drained of ideas and motivation, that could be a sign that you need to take a writing break and let yourself entirely off the hook. Spend the day reading a book, catching up on TV, or actually, you know, interacting with people. I find that having conversations with other writers and creators is often the best way to find inspiration again.

But let’s assume for a moment that you can’t take a break and you have to write no matter what (ahem, like when you’re in the middle of NaNoWriMo). What do you do on those days when you have to force yourself to write?

Maintaining a Streak

If you’re writing to maintain a streak and it doesn’t matter what you write, so long as you write, it may be a day to shelve the current work in progress and try something new.

Shift over to your ideas notebook, grab a random prompt from the internet (there are a jillion, so if you don’t have a favorite site bookmarked, Google “creative writing prompts” or “writing prompt generator”), or ask your friends if there’s a story they’d like to be told. I’ve written some fun one-offs about my original characters inspired by things my friends prompted me or scenes they wish they’d read.

If you’re still struggling to get any words on the page, or are generally finding yourself uninspired, it’s time for some free writing. This free writing could eventually evolve into a blog post or story, but it might just be an activity to get you writing again.

Start with a question about what’s bugging you. This could be anything from, “Why am I so tired today?” to “How am I so uninspired?” Once you have that question nailed down, twist it into a question you can analyze and/or give advice about. “Why am I so tired today?” might become “How can you write when you’re tired?” or “What’s the greatest obstacle between a writer and a nap?” or “Why is sleep so important to the creative process?” Once you have a question, and one that is built on a topic that’s currently bugging you, you have something to write about. And turning it into a question that you can either analyze or give advice about lets you turn free writing about your problems into a positive exercise. Too often free writing about problems can turn into negative thoughts and self-immolation, but turning it into a question to be answered lets you think about the same topic in a completely different way and hopefully can inspire you to help yourself!

Writing to a Deadline

If you’re writing for a deadline and you must work on a specific piece, the real problem is that you have to find inspiration in a specific work, so jumping to other pieces isn’t always an option.

But it’s still where I would start.

When feeling totally uninspired on one story, I start by writing on something else. If you have another project in progress, spending some time on that might reinvigorate your motivation for the deadline project. If no other project is available, you can take any of the suggestions above and apply them here—prompts, free writing with a question, etc.

No matter what you’re writing, set a timer to limit how much time you spend working on other activities or projects. I recommend 10–15 minutes for warm-up writing before trying to get back to the project you’re supposed to be working on.

Or, instead of writing something different, you can use prompts that allow you to work with the same characters or the same world, essentially approaching your deadline project from the side instead of head-on. Try posing what-if situations for your characters, alternate scenes/endings, or writing something from the perspective of someone else in your world.

You can use a similar strategy as the suggested free writing activity by answering a question related to the thing you’re stuck on—”How can my character get out of this situation?” or “Who should my character partner with for this mission?” or “How does the world’s society/laws limit my character?” Using the free writing format as an opportunity to organize your thoughts can help you work through the problem in a different way than just thinking about it. (This is why so often solutions might come when we’re talking to someone else, rather than when we’re just thinking to ourselves. Different ways of communication allow us to organize our thoughts differently, so if you don’t have a friend on hand, have a conversation with a blank page!)

If you absolutely must be working on your deadline-driven project and don’t have time for warm-up activities, try reading the last 1-2 pages you’ve written and allow yourself to revise and edit them. One of the best ways for me to get back into a story is by working to flesh out the last thing I wrote. If the last thing I wrote is literally what stumped me—and I had difficulty figuring out where the story goes next—I rewrite from where the story started to derail. Sometimes I might keep all the action and description, but change the dialogue. Sometimes I might move the setting. Sometimes I might scrap the entire idea, or even shift who is in the scene and take the whole thing in a completely different direction! It may not feel like you’re getting anywhere (especially if you end up trashing that version and starting again), but what you’re doing is eliminating the ideas that aren’t working and helping find the idea that does work.

 

No matter what’s going on with you creatively, there are ways to dig deep on those days when you’re feeling drained. And the more often you practice digging deep, the easier it can get. I still sometimes hit days when I’m totally worn out and need a break, and on those days I write my minimum word count using one of the strategies above and call it a day. But because I’ve put in so much effort, it’s easy for me to use one of those strategies and see success. So even if it’s hard now, know that putting in the hard work will help train you as a writer and eventually you’ll be able to sail past those inspiration-less days with no trouble.

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Reading Fiction to Write Fiction

One of the ways I prepare to write a novel is by doing a lot of reading. While some of that reading is nonfiction research to help me with the time period, jargon, or specific details surrounding the novel or topic, some of my most potent research comes from reading fiction.

There are a few ways reading fiction can help with the writing process:

1. Familiarization

Getting familiar with your genre allows you to internalize story structures, characters, and tropes within the genre and speak about the genre with authority. You can find inspiration in what other people have written and you can figure out what concepts have been written about extensively or haven’t been covered at all. Also, the more familiar you are with your genre, the easier it will be to determine comp titles, which are used to pitch your book and for agents and editors to determine the marketability of your work.

2. Internalization

Just like how you can internalize tropes of your genre, you can also internalize the descriptive and narrative techniques of your favorite authors. If you start to analyze why a particular device works, you can start to understand how to recreate and use that technique in your own writing.

3. Research

Reading fiction set in the same time period as your work or about the same subject matter can do some of your research heavy lifting by generating a list of what you need to research to establish authenticity or accuracy. You also might be able to pick up some details from those published novels (just make sure you double check that those details are accurate and fit your story).

Now that you’re on board with reading fiction to write fiction, you have to start reading as a writer and not just for enjoyment. It may sound difficult, but with a few tools, a plan, and some practice, you’ll be ready to dissect any novel.

Tools & Organization

The three most helpful tools for reading as a writer are a set of color-coded page flags, a pencil for underlining, and a notebook. If you’re reading eBooks, page flags won’t be so helpful, but most eReaders have highlighting or note-taking options, so familiarize yourself with what you can use in your app to mark your eBooks.

While you could use any page flags, or even just dog-ear your book, I prefer using color-coded flags (or color-coded highlighting on eReaders)—this was especially useful when I was just starting to develop my skill of reading as a writer.

Pink—anything involving character development, which may include dialogue, reactions and descriptions

Blue—setting and physical description

Purple—world-building dealing with history, politics, religion, or other abstract ideas (to differentiate from setting description)

Yellow—compelling language; sentences that have excellent imagery, syntax, and rhythm

If there’s a different area you need to study (dialogue, how plot fits together, etc), you may decide to swap out a label, or get a pack of page flags with more colors. The important thing is to pick what each color represents and be consistent with it.

In addition to organizing your notes, color coding helps create a guideline for what you’re looking for as you read. If you’ve thought about it before you start reading, it’s easier to tune into craft as you read.

Since a flag only identifies what page you want to review, you’ll need to mark exactly what on the page is drawing your attention. There are a few options for doing this, which I’ve divided between those who will brazenly write in books and those who like to keep their books pristine or who are borrowing books.

Write In

  • Underline in pencil or pen
  • Highlight using your flag color coding

No Write In

  • Take a picture of the page
  • Write down the quotes in a notebook

Regardless of your method, document the sentences/paragraphs you want to come back to review. If you are writing them in a notebook, it’s helpful to include a page reference in case you need the full page context later.

Study Plan

Once you’re in the groove of tagging, you need to have a plan for how to go from reading fiction to learning from fiction. This is when your notebook will come into play.

When you’ve finished a few chapters, or are at a comfortable stopping point, go through your flags to study what you’ve marked. Compiling notes every few chapters ensures those chapters are still fresh in your mind and makes analysis a little easier.

The most organized way of studying the highlighted material is to go through your flags by color, grouping your notes by topic of study. By focusing on one topic at a time, you might start to see patterns and make connections about what you’re seeing the author do.

Consider this routine as you start:

  • Copy the quote in your notebook.
  • Underneath, write why you captured the quote.
    • What made you think this was exemplary writing? What about it drew your attention? How does it provide context to the wider narrative?
  • After you’ve organized the quotes for one flag color, start thinking about how you can use these same techniques in your own writing. In short, what can you learn about writing from reading this novel?
  • Summarize what you learned. Include a checklist of strategies and techniques you want to try. You might refer back to the quotes to identify examples for each strategy.

If you don’t copy the quotes in a notebook, I recommend at least capturing what you learned from the book. It’s easier to try writing strategies if you have a list of writing strategies you want to try.

Read & Practice

Practicing is the only way to develop the skill of reading as a writer. A good way to practice is by studying a book you’ve already read. Using a book you already know well, you can start to see how the beginning affects the end, and you might even notice more writerly things because you’re less concerned with knowing what happens since you already know the plot and outcome.

If you find it difficult to keep track of all the things going on in a book, consider focusing on one thing. Personally, I struggle with knowing where to incorporate description, so I might decide to just focus on how characters and locations are described and when those details enter the narrative. Starting by focusing on one area of craft can help you learn how to identify and appreciate individual elements of craft within the wider narrative and can help you build the skill of reading as a writer.

As you continue to develop this skill, you may be able to skip some of the steps, eventually passing on page flags, or just keeping a notebook beside you as you read. However your process evolves, ask yourself two questions when you finish reading a book: What did I learn from this? What can I apply to my own writing?

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DIY Edit: Voice Intrusions

Even though I’m an editor for hire, I firmly believe in self-editing. Each month I’m going to drop a tip for developing your ability to edit your own work or identify things to look for as you edit. Make sure to check out all the DIY Edit Tips to improve your self-editing.

 

12 Voice Intrusions

The fiction you consume influences what you write. Not just in terms of content, but in how you write and in the words you use to express your ideas. This is often a subconscious element of writing that appears during drafting, when another author’s syntax and diction might sneak into your draft. Don’t let that stop your forward progress—or turn you off reading!—accidental intrusions are normal for any author. The work of identifying those intrusions and correcting them comes in revision.

It’s important to be aware of what’s your voice and what’s someone else’s. Absorbing other authors’ craft is a great way to develop your own writing and allow it to evolve. But it’s important to absorb and internalize that craft so it becomes a natural part of your voice and not a glaring error. Revision is the time to smooth out those bumps, find those intrusions, and craft something that truly sounds like you.

  • Does the dappled, wind-swept meadow fit in among your descriptions or does it stand out? Do you have lots of long, flowing descriptions of the settings and characters, or have you been reading Tolkein?
  • Is that a ten-cent word one you’d normally use—and are there more of them—or is it there because you were reading David Foster Wallace?
  • Are short sentences really your thing, or have you been reading too much Hemingway?

Pay attention when you or your readers identify something that sounds out of place within the rest of the manuscript. While you want to have sentences and descriptions that sing, it’s important to maintain consistency in your voice. Word choice and syntax are the foundations of an author’s voice, so pay attention to both while you craft your writing and make sure that your story sounds like it came from you.

 

Hiatus! DIY Edit will be going on hiatus for a few months. Expect it back in early 2019.

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DIY Edit: Rhythm & Pacing: Dialogue Tags

Even though I’m an editor for hire, I firmly believe in self-editing. Each month I’m going to drop a tip for developing your ability to edit your own work or identify things to look for as you edit. Make sure to check out all the DIY Edit Tips to improve your self-editing.

 

11 Rhythm & Pacing: Dialogue Tags

The rhythm of a sentence can affect readability, understanding, and emphasis. A clunky sentence can cause confusion, while a well crafted one rolls off the tongue and right into a reader’s brain. Good sentences seem effortless, but they require a lot of attention from the writer during revision.

Dialogue tags, or attributions, are primarily a functional element in writing. They efficiently identify who is speaking, but, even when using a simple construction like “he said” or “she said,” attributions can be used to guide the rhythm of sentences and scenes.

A dialogue tag can go before, after, or in the middle of a line of dialogue, which means it can affect the sentence rhythm in a number of ways. Consider the different rhythms of these three attribution placements:

(1) “The heart isn’t the problem,” Jacob said.

(2) Jacob said, “The heart isn’t the problem.”

(3) “The heart,” Jacob said, “isn’t the problem.”

The first example is the most utilitarian. It’s the construction most often seen in modern literature with the dialogue followed by the attribution. It’s perfect if this is just another sentence in a fast-paced conversation.

The second example is an inversion of the most common construction, beginning with the attribution and ending with the dialogue. This places more emphasis on the speaker. It’s easy to imagine this construction is used because Jacob is interrupting other characters arguing about the problem.

The third example uses the attribution to break the dialogue. This slows the delivery of the sentence, leading to a dramatic effect. (It can also be used to show how a character is speaking, taking a big pause after “heart.”) It affects the rhythm of the sentence, placing greater emphasis on “the heart,” by separating it from the rest of the sentence. This is useful if the dialogue is a major reveal, for example if Jacob is going to bridge the conversation into what is the problem (it’s not the heart, it’s the brain).

Varying the placement of dialogue tags and using them to control the flow of sentences, or to emphasize specific sections of dialogue, can be a good first step to crafting the right rhythm and pacing for your sentences and scenes.

 

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DIY Edit: Read Aloud

Even though I’m an editor for hire, I firmly believe in self-editing. Each month I’m going to drop a tip for developing your ability to edit your own work or identify things to look for as you edit. Make sure to check out all the DIY Edit Tips to improve your self-editing.

 

10 Read Aloud

If you feel like grammar and syntax aren’t your strength, try reading your work out loud. Reading your work aloud is a great way to catch awkward phrases and rhythms, run-on sentences, and repeated or missing words.

Reading out loud engages a different center in your brain than when we read silently, and it’s easier to find repeated or missing words since you’ve moved from comprehension (which can rely on scanning and interpreting) to performing. The performance aspect is part of what can help you catch errors since you’re now trying to translate those written words into spoken words.

Run-on sentences can be easier to catch when spoken because you physically start running out of breath. If you find yourself taking an awkward gasp in the middle of a sentence, highlight it for further review. Sometimes it’s just a long sentence, which there’s nothing wrong with, but it could mean that you need to use the punctuation more effectively to help the reader navigate the sentence. Good punctuation helps group ideas and show how ideas are related in a sentence, thus showing a reader how to read the sentence. If you’re losing your breath on every sentence, evaluate if there are any you can shorten. A variety of sentence lengths engages the reader and makes your writing more exciting.

If you’re tripping over phrases as you read them aloud, that may be a sign that you should rework the syntax or review the diction. (Honestly, sometimes it means you wrote a tongue twister, so you don’t necessarily have to change everything that trips you up.) Some things don’t sound awkward until they’re read aloud, so taking a pass to read your manuscript—to an empty room or to a friend—can be a crucial step in cleaning it up.

 

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Querying: It’s Dangerous To Go Alone

This blog was written for and posted to The Creative Writing MFA and Beyond July 9, 2017. It has been updated for a wider audience and for revised advice concerning nudges.

 

At some point all writers have to deal with the business of writing. One of those business steps is getting an agent. Last summer I started querying my first novel. The querying process can be overwhelming and frustrating, which is why I’m sharing my experience and the resources that helped me navigate the process.

Preparing Yourself

Before you start looking up agents there are four things you need to prepare:

  1. a complete and polished manuscript
  2. a perfect first fifty pages
  3. a one to two page synopsis
  4. a query letter

Obviously, before you start querying a novel, you need to have the complete, polished manuscript. It needs to be agent-ready the day you send out your query letters. I received a request for the full manuscript the day after I started sending out queries. No more time for copyediting if I wanted to get the manuscript into the agent’s hands.

All agents will want a query letter, but many are also looking for sample pages of the novel. The number of sample pages varies dramatically—I had to submit anywhere between three and fifty pages. Because fifty appears to be the maximum requested, it’s a good idea to give extra attention to those pages and eradicate any typos or wonko language. Make sure your first few pages introduce the main character, hook the reader, and, basically, showcase the novel world.

Some agents specify a one-page synopsis, but others are more flexible (others may not want a synopsis at all). The synopsis should cover the entire plot of the book (even the ending) and should be entertaining. They don’t want a laundry list of events; rather, the synopsis should relate the main arc of the story and include the voice of the novel to show the tone as well as the plot.

The query letter is a whole craft unto its own. In brief, it should cover the stats (genre, title, and word count), the hook and/or comparative titles, a short blurb, and a brief author bio. It helps to have a little personalization as well, something that indicates that you’ve done the research and can say why this agent would want this book (this can also be done just by querying agents who are actively seeking things like your book). The query letter is covered in detail in many different places. I would recommend NY Book Editor’s article How to Write a Darn Good Query Letter to learn more about writing queries.

One More Thing To Prepare

A pitch is a one-sentence enticement for your novel. It should highlight the main character, motivation, and a crisis. You’ll need a pitch if you’re planning to go to a conference or want to participate in a Twitter pitch party. I recommend learning more about pitches since they can be another path to finding your perfect agent. They can even help you in the query process, as the pitch can be part of your query letter or give you another tool in your arsenal.

Researching Agents

Once you have your materials together, the next big step is researching agents and figuring out who to query.

Query Tracker is a wonderful resource for figuring out who represents your genre and generating a list of agents. In addition to searching for agents by genre, you can easily see who is currently open to queries and filter by query method. Query Tracker only lists reputable agents, so it’s also a good litmus test for finding agents who have a proven track record of making sales.

An agent profile on Query Tracker includes links to their agency website, email, Twitter, and other places to help you research them. The information I found most helpful in deciding whether to query an agent was their bio or submission guidelines, their current clients, and their Manuscript Wishlist. All of this information goes toward making sure you find an agent who not only represents your genre, but who matches your view of the publishing industry.

Manuscript Wishlist is another website that is extremely helpful for researching agents and personalizing query letters. Not all agents listed on Query Tracker have a MSWL profile, but many do. A good MSWL profile not only lists the genres an agent represents but has more details about their dream manuscripts—“fantasy from non-traditional eras”; “historical fiction set in the Middle Ages”; “badass, competent female protagonists.” This information can let you know if this agent is not only right for you, but is looking for exactly what you’ve written.

Don’t discount looking up the agents of your favorite authors and authors who write similar stories to yours. One agent wasn’t able to take me on (too similar to her other clients), but she liked my concept enough to pass my query to another agent in her company—and that agent requested the full manuscript! As long as your query is professional and follows the submission guidelines, you should submit. Don’t let intimidation stand in your way.

Sending Queries

I’ve read and heard recommendations to send queries in batches of no more than ten. The first batch is partly to test your query. If you don’t get at least one request for a partial or full manuscript, consider revising your query. If you get anything higher than a 10% request rate, send more queries when you’re ready.

The “when you’re ready” part is key because once I had prepared ten queries, I needed a break. I put about a month between my first two batches, but two to three weeks would have been preferable to keep responses rolling in more steadily. After you hear back from about half of your first round (or after you get one or two requests), start prepping that next batch of query letters.

Be aware that some agents have a “no response = no” policy or they can take over two months to respond. This can make it difficult to query if you’re waiting on responses. To ensure you get responses to your first batch of queries, spread out your queries among agents who have a variety of response times and policies. (And remember, never close a query until at least two months have passed, or the expected response time listed on the agency website. Response times and policies are nearly always listed on the website.)

Tracking Queries

While you can keep your own spreadsheet of the day you sent your query, when you expect a response, and what that response eventually is, I highly recommend using Query Tracker. Once you select the agents you want to query, Query Tracker lets you cultivate a list of those agents and then track when you sent your query and their response. While you can use Query Tracker for free, a yearlong membership is only $25 and gives access to powerful query tools, including the ability to prioritize queries and see an agent’s timeline.

The timeline lets you see when other writers have submitted, when they received a response, and what that response was. You can also see about where you fall in an agent’s queue. I found that while I was trying oh so very hard to be patient, checking Query Tracker once per day to see if agents had made progress on their queues was helpful for keeping myself focused and keeping my worry in check. (Although when I was next in the queue, sometimes that heightened the anxiety.)

Another cool thing about Query Tracker is that while most agencies list their expected response times, using the timeline allows you to see how quickly agents are currently responding. One agency listed a 4-week response time, but I could tell by Query Tracker that a specific agent was responding within a week of recent queries. It made it an easy decision to move that agent up in my priority list because I knew I’d get a response quickly.

Getting Requests

When you get a request for your manuscript, first freak out and celebrate. Then send your manuscript as quickly as humanly possible (while still writing a polite, typo-less response to the request). If you thought an agent responding to your query letter took forever, buckle up for the Patience Carousel—you know, the ride that moves slowly and in circles? A novel, or even a partial (which often sits at that magic length of fifty pages), takes time to read and evaluate, especially when you consider that taking on new clients is only one aspect of an agent’s job.

You tried being patient and it took too long? I know, I know. You can nudge an agent about a requested manuscript, but give it an appropriate length of time before contacting them. If an agent doesn’t list expected response times for requested materials, plan to wait at least six months. Think of it this way, would you rather an agent spend time reassuring you that your manuscript is still in the running, or would you rather an agent spend that time actually reading your manuscript? If you’re planning to move on from a manuscript, that is an appropriate time to nudge.

Another reason to nudge—and the best reason, I’d say—is if you have an offer from another agent. This is the reason you keep sending queries even after those first requests. Once someone makes an offer of representation, notify the agents you queried but haven’t heard from. This gives them an opportunity to look over your query and manuscript before you’re off the market.

Finding Support

While the support of friends and family are great, I highly recommend the support of a friend who has been through the querying process or who understands the publishing culture and knows about agents. My mom teared up the first time I told her I had a full manuscript request and—while that was great—it was even better when I texted my friend-in-the-know. She knew who the agent was and responded positively about him.

A friend-in-the-know can also recommend other agents to query, or provide feedback on your pitch, query letter, or synopsis. Querying can be a rough road, and it is filled with rejection, so planning how to support yourself is key to finishing the quest.

Summary: Take This

There’s a lot more to querying than can be covered in a single blog post, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what to expect and where to find additional information to start your research. Don’t be afraid to ask writers about how they found their agent or what the relationship is like. Writers love telling stories and the agent search is just another story.

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I Don’t Feel Like It

Even in the middle of a multi-year streak of writing daily, I sometimes hit walls. The walls aren’t as thick as they used to be, and frequently they’ll appear after I’ve written 100 words (so technically I’ve already written for the day), but there they are, blocking my progress. Sometimes those walls come in the form of being unable to fill in a plot hole, or in difficulty articulating a thought, but often all of those walls manifest in the feeling of not feeling like writing. It’s the ultimate avoidance tactic! I don’t have to deal with my writing problem if I just don’t write.

So, how do you deal with not feeling like writing but needing to write?


Write Something Different

I frequently circumvent this wall by stepping away from what I was planning to write and working on something else. That’s how I started this blog post. I had been struggling to draft a chapter (not “feeling” like working on that novel), so I opened up a new document and asked a question: Do you ever not feel like writing? Suddenly I was on my way writing again.

Switching focus can unclog my brain and give myself the mental boost of having written. Generally if I’ve put some easy words into something else, I’ll be past the hurdle of feeling like I wasn’t performing, and then have the confidence to tackle the task that blocked me. (I may not have resolved the block, but I can start working on the problem again.)


Make Some Tea

Getting up and doing something with a time limit can sometimes unblock my brain. Making a cup of tea takes me seven minutes, which means I can devote seven minutes to thinking about what was blocking me, why it was blocking me, and how I can get around that block. Seven minutes isn’t long, but often by the time I have a cup of hot tea, I have a solution for how I can keep writing. (Even if that solution is figuring out a different, unblocked part of the story I can write.)


Give Up

This may sound counter-intuitive as a strategy to start writing again, but sometimes the only solution is to stop fighting. I have many times gotten so frustrated that I marched away from the keyboard, only to suddenly be slapped with the solution. Walking away was key to my discovery. It wasn’t until I had become so frustrated that I was ready to give up that my brain presented the answer so plainly. Sometimes walking away from your writing is a good thing!

 

Feeling like you don’t want to write doesn’t have to stop you from writing. Lean into the feeling a bit, give yourself a break, and once you come back to it, you just may feel like writing again.

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The Write Mindset

I recently received a great question* about how I center myself and clear my mind before writing. I think answering this question begins with establishing what “clearing your mind for writing” really means.

For some authors it might mean clearing away distractions to create focus. It might include selecting and molding their physical and mental environments to encourage concentration and creativity. For me it includes knowing what I’m going to write.

I never sit down in front of the computer with a blank page and a blank mind. Today, for example, I came to my writing time with this question in mind, and I had already thought about some things I wanted to say on the subject and how I wanted to organize my response. Tomorrow I will come to my writing time with a draft of this blog post, which I will read before laying fingers on the keyboard. Another day I may seek out a prompt in advance, explore a line of dialogue, or continue a scene on an in-progress story.

All of that thinking and planning and deciding is done before I sit down to write. I do that mental work while I’m in the shower, or eating breakfast, or going to sleep the night before. Basically, I think about writing in my spare minutes, so that when I physically sit down for a ten-minute sprint, I’m ready. This means I spend more of my writing time actually writing, and less of that time staring at a blinking cursor and figuring out what I should be doing.

I still have days when I haven’t adequately planned and I wind up opening and closing several documents, trying to figure out what to work on. Those days of uncertainty and indecision underscore for me how important it is to plan. If I find myself doing that, I stop, get up, and work on something different so I can plan before coming back to the page. (Folding laundry, flossing, and taking a walk are all excellent activities to busy my body while my mind works.)

Planning what I’m going to write doesn’t have to be involved or include outlines, notes, or a chart. The real “plan” comes from eliminating uncertainty. When I come to the page with something in my mind, I can start writing right away and am never stymied by indecision while sitting in front of the keyboard.

Do you have a different strategy for clearing your mind to write? Do you meditate? Use free writing or journaling? What methods work best for you to get yourself into the writing mindset?

 

*This question is actually from a spam bot, but was coherent enough to be useful as inspiration, so you really never know what will inspire you!

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DIY Edit: Long Dialogue Tags

Even though I’m an editor for hire, I firmly believe in self-editing. Each month I’m going to drop a tip for developing your ability to edit your own work or identify things to look for as you edit. Make sure to check out all the DIY Edit Tips to improve your self-editing.

 

09 Long Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags, or dialogue attributions, are meant to identify the speaker for clarity but fade into the background of the narrative. That is why the simple “Joe said” is so celebrated, because it doesn’t draw attention to itself and distract from the dialogue. Even though I’m aware of this, often—especially in first drafts—I wind up with long dialogue tags in which there are multiple actions or descriptions. Having an action or description isn’t a bad thing, but coupling several with the dialogue tag can be confusing and distracting.

To simplify dialogue tags, first you have to identify what is “too long” for a dialogue tag.

  • Winded One way I identify long tags is by reading the dialogue and dialogue tag aloud. If I get winded reading the sentence, or if I have to pause and reframe my tone (because I was expecting the sentence to end earlier), the tag is probably too long.
  • And And And Another method is to look at the construction of the dialogue attribution. Most attributions are in a similar format—”character said, [continued sentence].” If the continued sentence has an “and” in it, or if it is longer than the dialogue that precedes it, it is likely too long.
  • Run On If the topic changes—for example, the dialogue is attributed to Elsie and then the continued sentence starts talking about Mike, or about something that is happening elsewhere—it is probably a run-on sentence. Remember, the dialogue attribution is still a sentence—it’s actually part of the sentence of the dialogue—and it needs to follow the basic rules of sentence construction.

Editing long dialogue tags is often as simple as inserting a period after the attribution and starting a new sentence. Sometimes the information in the sentence needs to be evaluated because it is extraneous or irrelevant (ah, the enthusiasm of the first draft). In any case, careful review of dialogue tags and keeping dialogue attribution brief can help keep the focus on the dialogue and let the attribution fade into the background where it belongs.

 

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Hesitant to Finish

I am resistant to finishing things.

It sounds ridiculous typed out like that. I mean, the point of starting a project is to have a finish product. In this case, it’s to have a finished story, and having a finished story is an amazing feeling! But even though I know that, I have a lot of trouble motivating myself to finish one pass and move on to the next. For me that hesitation comes down to three anxious questions:

  • What next?
  • Will I have another good idea?
  • But is it really done?


What Next?

This is a question that isn’t just about what project will I work on next, but how will I structure that project? What will my days be like? What is the routine?

I like ruts. I love working in ruts because I know how much work I’ll get done each day, when I’ll start, and roughly what I’ll do while I work. It’s comfortable and consistent and I am super productive once I have a well-worn rut. But getting that rut going is difficult. Figuring out the best way to work on a project takes time and patience, and often means experimenting with new workflows—new ruts—until I find the right one for the project (or for that stage of the project). As a project winds down, so do I, dragging out the last few tasks in anticipation of having to carve a new rut.

I haven’t figured out how to battle this question. The simple solution seems to be to develop a rut for each stage of writing, but every book I’ve worked on has been different, so that means the process isn’t cookie-cutter. For some books I’ve followed a structured outline, and for others I wrote scenes out of order. Perhaps one day I’ll have enough experience with each kind of workflow to immediately know how I’ll attack it, but for now I have to find other methods to banish my worries about what happens next.


Will I Have Another Good Idea?

Well. Will I???

The idea that what I’m writing will be the last thing I ever write is one of the most ridiculous anxious thoughts I could have, but it doesn’t stop me from thinking it nearly every time I near the end of a project. Obviously I’m going to write something else. Even through periods when I wasn’t as creative or productive, I never stopped getting ideas for stories. But this is anxiety talking and anxiety doesn’t have a firm grip on reality, so it throws out fearful doubts like this.

There’s no real defense against an anxious thought, except to not entertain it. I’ve gotten better at ignoring this question over the years, but sometimes it still catches me off guard and slows down my progress, keeping me from crossing the finish line so I can linger in my “last” good idea.


But Is It Really Done?

Of all the anxious questions I have that disrupt my productivity, this is the one that I actually have to answer. Figuring out if a project is actually finished is key to, you know, finishing the project. The problem is when this idea turns from productive checking in with the story to obsessing over commas, prepositions, and if I should start swapping around scenes just to see what it looks like.

I typically use revision checklists to keep myself on track and to eventually identify a stopping point. Sometimes I need to add things to the list—maybe during copyediting I uncover another crutch phrase, so I want to double back to search for that phrase, or I might finally figure out how to condense two scenes—but mostly I stick to the list and when the list is done, I’m done. Having that list as a definitive end point helps stop me from obsessing because I have something tangible to point to that says the story is done.

 

Knowing my weaknesses and having strategies to overcome them certainly helps, but it doesn’t stop me from struggling with finishing projects. Hopefully with continued practice it will get easier as time goes on.

Are there any aspects of finishing writing projects that stymie you? How do you over come those obstacles?

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