The Moral Support Thread!

[Alumette]

Okay, yesterday I officially started my book! I'm completely stupid at it, never having done anything like that before. (And I wouldn't have had the courage to do so if it hadn't been for someone in particular, you know who you are.)

So I thought I'd start this little thread, not just for me, but for anyone who's starting a new project or going through something a little bit scary. If you'd like a little moral support, just post what it is here, and others can reply. For example: Sally posts that she's creating a task force to take on the city council to keep them from commandeering peoples' homes. Widdy and several others post their encouragement: Go Sally! You can do it! Stick it to the Man! (or whatever).

Just thought I'd increase the SQ a little. :)

So here goes: Guys, I'm starting my book. I'm trying to do a thousand words a day, but it's soooo hard, being on summer vacation, and with the sunshine and these forums here... plus I have no idea what I'm doing, and the muse can be bitchy and temperamental at times.

[Tarberetta]

Writing a book? Wow, good luck with it! Always wanted to myself. Hope it works out for you!

[Jade_Dragon]

Ah, you have SO much sympathy from me... From about 2001 until some time last year (or has it been two years now?) I was writing stories to post on my web site. The muse dried up, and I have been staring at that same half-finished story ever since.

I SO want to get back to it. The Crime Fighters are here in CoH, and even Alan and Rachel are getting into the game now, and I have only one episode of each to show for my big plans to have a continually running serial. So keep me posted. Maybe your progress will encourage me to get back into it. :D

[sheld0n]

Well, i tried writing my first book when i was 12. It ended up being a short story, about, uh 2 pages long. But it made people laugh, so there it succeeded.
What i want to say is, dont force yourself to write. It will end up bland and people will have to force themselves to read it too.
Write a sketch of the whole story somewhere else and work around that. Add details, polish it, perfect it. Just like a sculpture.
Instead of forcing yourself to write, force yourself to think about it, all day. When things happen during the day, think about them in relation to your book. And when ideas come up, write them down somewhere.

I saw your posts where you shared your personnal stories, so i know for a fact that you're good at this and you can do it.
So good luck and, uh, break a.. keyboard... :eyebrow:

[Esbat]

I can tell you that writing a book is no easy task, even if you love writing, there will be lots and lots of rewrites but as long as you've got the stick-to-it-tiveness to... uhhh... stick to it then nothing can go wrong that you can't overcome!

Just remember the first million words are the hardest. :)

Es "still trying to find a publisher" bat

[the_starcrosser]

Hmm, i know that there's an event that goes on in... november, i think? where people write 30,000 words in 30 days and then share the results. I have a friend who tried it, it was tough, but he did it... i wonder if they'd have any helpful ideas for you.

Aha, here it is, NaNoWriMo - http://www.nanowrimo.org/

[Nyx]

Actually, best advice I've ever heard is to write a page a day. Hey, that's not so hard, is it? And if you keep to it, you've written 365 pages at the end of a year! (366 on leap years, but who's counting?) That's a good-sized book. That doesn't mean that at the end of all that writing that all of those pages will stay -- you may rewrite or edit or whatever, but it's something to work with.

And I both agree and disagree with Sheld0n... Yes, have a framework. You can't force yourself to write from nothing. I've tried, it doesn't work.

However, if you *do* have a vague idea of what needs to happen next, etc, I for one have actually had quite a bit of success with sitting down and forcing myself to write said scene. This process of 'just do it' helped me write the longest thing I've ever done -- over 120 pages! This is also how I wrote Nyx's origin (80 pages)... by just doing it even when I didn't really want to. And it isn't always that awful when you go back and re-read it... sometimes they're as good or better than things you wrote in a fit of inspiration.

[Alumette]

Thanks guys. :) I'm writing non-fiction, so it's a little easier, but the challenge here is getting the flow. I strongly appreciate the encouragement. Thank you so much! :)

[inde]

Yay for Alumette :)

[OneHitWonder]

Go Alumette! I have been meaning to write my own non-fiction book for some time. 1000 words a day, huh? I think I'll take your advice :)

[Thermyte]

Go Go Go!

[coldcut]

Take that word number down. 1000 words a day is something like 5 pages a day which would net you around a 2000 page book by the end of the year. Nobody, besides maybe Jack Kerouac, writes like that.

[Alumette]

Nah. 1000 words/day is maybe something like a page and a half or so a day. I have about 3800 words down and 8 pages, so...*shrug* (this is typed--I'm sure handwritten it's more pages).

Most writers stick to that rule of thumb (except Hemingway, who just spent his advances on women and drink and then cranked out the stories at the last minute, in between intense bouts of moodiness... okay I exaggerate, but only just).

Shad was the original person who suggested 1k/day to me, and I remember reading somewhere that Hugo wrote 1000 words a day even if he wasn't working on anything in particular, and Shad pointed out that it was something lots of writers do.

Some parts have been easier to get my 1k than others, but so far I've stayed pretty much on schedule. Yesterday I wrote over 1850 words, I was on a roll!

Of course, most of it's crap that I'll have to junk in the revisions, but at least I have something down to work with that I can refine into my vision later.

Thanks so much for the encouragement, guys. It's getting easier now that I have it kind of rolling. And to those of you who've lost touch with your muse:

"Whatever you think you can do, begin it." --Goethe

[Stalking Shadow]

Honestly, I am a huge fan of the "force yourself to write, even if you don't want to" school of thought. Writing is like working out a muscle. The more you do it, the stronger it gets, and you have to push yourself to work out every day. Each word is like a rep and every paragraph is a set. Just like in a physical work out, it helps to set goals that you want to meet daily.

(Also, there's something terribly ironic about a student giving a teacher homework)

Of course, it's all going to be drivel the first time around, but that's what the revision process is for, to polish, to shine, to buff, and to finish. I always think that it's easier to take away things from my writing than to add them in later.

[Tsarmina]

You can DO IT!

[Alumette]

Thanks, Mina!

And to you, for just starting the South Beach Diet:

You Can Do It! :D *cheers her on*

Just to give you an update: I wrote just over two thousand five hundred words today!!!! *happy dances*

What are some other goals that people are working on? Surely we can spread some of this encouragement around.