A Writer's Perfectionistic Streak

Practice Makes Progress (Photo credit: Mary_on_Flickr)

I guess there is a bit of a perfectionist in every writer. After all, our words seldom (or never) come out right on the first try. The brilliant idea looks a bit lack-luster on the page.

Perfectionism can be crippling. Some writers stare at a blank page, afraid they will let down their idea, their reader, themselves. These writers fight a loosing battle with their inner critic. Too much of this and the idea and the enthusiasm for the idea die.

Perfectionism can also motivate the writer to keep writing. It seems like perfectionists might give more attention to finding just the right word, the right character, the right twist that brings the story alive. A perfectionist won't settle for second-best. Not for long.

Perfectionism means frustration with anything that comes. It means wondering if anything you write is good enough.It means a finished product that doesn't match your ideal.

Perfectionism sounds an awful lot like a writer's inner critic. Maybe they should be treated the same?

Writer's Block or Burn-Out?

Amsterdam blue - back-to-back (Photo credit: CharlesFred)

         You stare at a blank screen. It happens to us all. But when should you power through and when should you take a break? Use the excuse of writer's block and you risk slowing or halting your progress. Force yourself to write through burn-out and you prolong the pain. When you can't write, how can you tell the difference?
        People with writer's block want to write but can't. You become frustrated with yourself, doubt yourself, doubt your work. Regardless of how you define and explain writer's block, it can be gotten around with patience and understanding.
        People with burn-out have a different set of symptoms. You have no interest in writing. It might even make your head hurt and it only gets worse the harder you try. Burn-out plays havoc with your emotions. You become moody -- even when not writing. When someone asks about your writing you get irritable, angry, or defensive (reactions directed at other people rather than yourself or your work). The only way to get past burn-out is to rest and recharge.
        Recognize the difference between writer's block and burn-out. Know when to keep trying and when to call it quits. Your WIP, your emotions, and your relationships will thank you.

Raise Reader Tension: The Unknown

 Introduce the Unknown and you will have the reader on edge -- an immediate increase in
reader tension. You can do this at any point. I think Middles are particularly well-suited for doing this since Beginings are for set-up, Endings are for wrap-ups, but Middles are for complications. And what is more intriguing and unsettling  to the reader than an "I know something you don't know"? Especially right when the reader is getting complacent.

English: Hampoil cave entrance from inner angle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Foreshadowing in prose, allusions in dialogue, or unexplained events are just a few ways to raise reader tension. Some of this might be plotted into your first draft but if you have places that sag but are necesary to the story, you can add elements of the unknown to draw the reader back into the story.
        Look for ways you can rewrite the scene so the characters explore a new area (a cave, empty building, new sector of the city. A place neither the characteer nor the reader has ever been before.
        Look for places where you tell back-story or history directly and without conflict. Or brainstorm back-story or history that is not included in the story but you wish you could have included. Turn this into a secret to be kept from the reader (and maybe the character) that must be discovered through hints and clues given out by various characters and settings.
        Take a character who is important (but maybe not vital) to the story and rewrite your manuscript so the reader never actually meets this character.
        Take your time when introducing a new character or setting. The reader doesn't need to know everything at once. In fact, the reader doesn't need to know everything at all just so long as you know. Show the action and take your time with the explanations. (Some explanations can wait longer than others.)
Introduce uncertainty, mystery, indecision -- the unknown -- to increase reader tension. Raise reader tension to help tighten the sagging, dragging passages of your manuscript.

Raise Reader Tension: Surprise

Tightrope Walker (Photo credit: the other Martin Taylor)

        Does your story drag when you reread it, despite a well-conceived plot? You may be having trouble with dramatic tension. A feeling of tension in the reader is vital to building suspense because it keeps the reader from feeling complacent.
        Reader complacency is the enemy to tension. A reader can still feel complacent -- and bored --  even when faced with the fastest, most action-packed plot.
        How can this be?
         The complacent reader knows what is going to happen. So even when the character is surprised, the reader is not. Predictability is the enemy to dramatic tension.
It is not necessary for the character to feel the tension, so long as the reader feels it.
        After all, the character isn't the one reading the book, turning the pages, making the decision whether or not to put the book down or stay up through the night. Tension in the reader overlaps with -- but is not identical to -- tension in the viewpoint character.
You can fight complacency with uncertainty. Not uncertainty in the character (though that can help) but uncertainty in the reader.
        Surprise the reader.

When Willpower Becomes a Vice

Cracked stone (Photo credit: quinet)

         For writers, willpower is a strength. Taking your writing seriously may mean forcing yourself to start writing even when you don't feel like it. And eventually the words start to flow. But any advice can be taken too far.
         One of my goals as a writer is to shorten the time it takes me to complete my work-in-progress. I try to set goals that challenge me. I have the flawed belief that if I try hard enough, I can do anything. To meet this goal, I started pulling longer hours, thinking that sheer will-power would see me through. But the markers I set that were meant to be challenging were too high.
         I started sacrificing sleep and exercise to meet my goals. Well, regular sleep and exercise are important to keeping my bipolar in check. And after a few days... BOOM! Again.
         Now, you might not have a mood disorder but I imagine that anyone who has been writing for a while both swears by the "butt in the chair" advice and has experienced times when it just does not work.
         Just like a character's strength can also be a weakness, forcing yourself to write usually helps you as a writer but taken too far, it can hurt you. Exceptions to the rule.
When my willpower weakens me personally and as a writer, I tell my pride to take a hike and go back to the basics. I usually find that I have sacrificed areas of my life that are basic to my well-being. It is difficult, but I reestablish the routine that meets the needs of a healthy lifestyle. Because a healthy writer makes for healthy writing. In the long-term.

An "Ideal" Writing State

      While no one needs to reach an "ideal" mental state in order to write or write well, it always comes as a pleasant surprise to find that I have slipped into one. Ideal states of mind are one of the greatest pleasures of writing. But what IS an "ideal" state? Is it a degree of creativity? Quality? Output? I don't think creativity is a state of mind (I will explain this in the next blog). And I believe both productivity and quality are determined by time spent writing (both long-term and short-term).

      For me, an "ideal writing state" relates to how I feel while writing. At some point while writing I realize that I am both tired and energized. My mind is both empty and full. Three hours have passed and the time span feels both very long and very short. For me, this feels like an ideal state in which to write. I say "an" ideal because I don't have a single ideal state of mind for writing.
       I wasn't always like this. At first, I thought I needed to be in a certain creative state before I started to write. Later, I thought I needed to write myself into that state. Recently, I have realized I have grown to have more ideal writing states than just that one.
       I think this is normal -- that eveyone's "ideal" will broaden with time. That the basic definition of their ideal will change. Probably mine will broaden and change again. What do you think? What are your thoughts on an "ideal writing state"? How does it feel when you are "in the zone"?

To: Readers (From: Writers)

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de eBook Беларуская: Фотаздымак электроннай кнігі Русский: Фотография электронной книги (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A reader of this blog made the comment that just as writing tethers the writer to other people, writing also tethers other people to the author. It works both ways. I've been thinking about this and decided to form my thoughts into two blogs: what writers give readers and what readers give writers. Today: what writers give to readers.

• Entertain: A writer entertains the reader. This is probably the most common reason for reading fiction: to be entertained. Entertainment is not all laughs – tears and fears make the happy times all the more meaningful.
• Educate: A writer educates the reader. Yes, there may be facts about how the material world works but there are always facts (or opinions) about the workings of people and life. As an Aspergers person, I turned to books to learn what did not come intuitively to me.
• Validate: A writer validates the reader. Readers are often drawn to writers who share similar world-views – who have similar thoughts about the way the world does (or should) work. Through this world-view, the writer can affirm the reader's feelings about struggles, joys, and conflicts. The reader finds personal affirmation in the written page.
• Feel: Definitely the writer gives a reader feelings. Every poem, book, lyric, and script is saturated in emotion. Having characters feel is not enough. The reader has a need to feel, too. And the source of feeling – just like in the real world – is in caring.
• Challenge: A writer challenges the reader. Throughout a book, the writer poses a series of questions that the reader tries to answer. A writer may also pose dilemmas about society, love, and other aspects of life. Sometimes the writer provides an answer but other times the reader is challenged to reach the reader's own conclusions.
• Create: A writer gives the reader the power to create a world that belongs just to the reader. A world that exists only inside the page(s) of the work. Some readers go further and create fan fiction, using the characters and world that the writer introduces. And some readers go even further, inspired by other writers they create their own worlds and characters. Both types write for themselves and for a new generation of readers.

To: Writers (From Readers)

Gel pens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A reader of this blog made the comment that just as writing tethers the writer to other people, writing also tethers other people to the author. It works both ways. I've been thinking about this and decided to form my thoughts into two blogs: what writers give readers and what readers give writers. Today: what readers give writers of any kind.

• Entertain: Yes, readers entertain writers. We love to design adventures for others to enjoy. Almost nothing is more fun than a reader in tears of sadness or laughter. Or a reader who is sleep-deprived because they couldn't put our book down.
• Educate: Having readers encourages writers to educate themselves. We learn more about the world so we can more accurately represent it in our books. We learn about nature, cities, the legal system, and people (just to name a few). We learn how to convey our ideas more clearly.
• Feel: Readers encourage writers to feel. Yes, the path to publication and growing readership is strewn with all kinds of emotions. But every writer is encouraged to feel and think about how feelings work so the reader can have a more intense and vicarious experience.
• Challenge: Readers definitely challenge the writer. Reach more people. Become more skilled in the craft. Invent new ways to surprise and delight. Produce new material. Keep the reader engaged. Lead the reader where you want the reader to go. So many challenges!
• Empower: The reader empowers the writer. Every time a book is read, a writer becomes someone who matters. Because of readers, a writer can become an agent of change, a therapist, a philosopher, a giver of escape, a maker of opportunities. And readers validate the writer's efforts and existence.
• Create: Readers give writers a reason to create. Yes, we would write anyway. But having readers means being subject to expectations and most people try a little harder when there are expectations to fulfill. Writers write a little better when there is someone to impress. Writers write a little faster or more often when someone is waiting to read the next installment.

Writing Without Motivation or Inspiration

Water abstract (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

Today the writing does not flow. Do you ever just not feel like writing? But you have a commitment – to readers, to yourself, maybe you are even lucky enough to have a deadline. So you write. You might drag, your quality might suffer (or seem to), but you lay down one word at a time. And you make headway on your work in progress.

Inspiration makes it easier to write. Motivation makes it easier to write. But neither is necessary when you have notes or an outline. This is why I like outlines so much. Once I discovered outlines, I no longer had the excuse for writer's block. When you have an outline, you can make it more and more detailed – almost to a sentence level – so you always know what to write.

An outline does not need to be an alpha-numeric list. Mine starts as a summary. When I have no motivation and no inspiration, I take the sentence that condenses my scene and begin to elaborate on it. I brainstorm and choose the best options. You can learn to brainstorm from very little. I expand my outline/ summary in three's. When writing at a more macro-level, I use an inciting incident, a complication, and a resolution/complication. When writing at a micro-level I create a stimulus, reaction, and response.

Writing without motivation or inspiration becomes more difficult for me when I do not have an outline. But even when I don't have a plot, I have a story I like to tell. A particular type of story that can be told many ways, through many characters and events, in many settings. So I use that as an outline in the broadest sense.

Even on the days you do not feel like writing, you can make progress. It is not the end, it just takes a little more fight. Being a writer takes many traits and one of them is the will to fight. Even if the trait is underdeveloped, you can start now by sitting down and writing.

Benefits of a Writer Support Network

English: Dew on a spider's web in the morning. Français : Rosée sur une toile d'araignée au levé du soleil. Русский: Утренняя роса на паутине. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Writing can be a lonely profession. But a writer does not need to be completely alone in his or her efforts. By building connections with people, writers find affirmation, encouragement, challenge, accountability, and grounding. Although a writer can write alone, I believe that a support system greatly increases a writer's staying power – the ability to keep writing in the long-term. The people in a writer's support system can include family and friends, but don't neglect the power of casual acquaintances, critics, and the faceless reader.

• Affirmation: People who call you a writer can boost your confidence when you are in doubt. I regularly write at a cafe where many of the servers and regulars know that I am working on a book. Every time I go there, people ask me how the book is going. Their belief in my ability to be a writer helps me to get going and stay on track.
• Encouragement: This is a tough one for me. Writing is difficult but I don't like to complain. On the other hand, allies who are writers or thoughtful readers can provide fresh insight or just nod as I talk about the current challenge until I find an answer (sometimes a journal just doesn't cut it). I've learned that by having many people in my network, I can ask for encouragement from just one or two people and rotate through the people I confide in. That way, I don't weigh people down (something I worry about).
• Challenge: Tap into perversity when you come across a skeptic. The urge to prove the skeptic wrong can give you added motivation to push through all obstacles. When you feel the criticism is valid, push to improve your work and overturn the opinion.
• Accountability: I feel that when I tell people I am writing a book, I am increasing my accountability. Sometimes their expectations are all that keep me writing. I do not want to let down people who believe in me. You can also ask people in a support network to help you keep up with deadlines (self-imposed or otherwise) by holding you accountable to them.
• Grounding: Writers can get so caught up in the worlds of their creating, that we forget about the real world around us. People in support networks can help you reconnect with this world. Further, relationships generate and release emotions that writers need to experience for their writing to live. Not to mention they provide fresh fodder for conflict, dialogue, character, and plot! The people in a writer's support network are a constant reminder of the larger world – distracting sometimes but a necessary ingredient in life.

Dating Your WIP (Work in Progress)

English: Non-cardioid heart curve as a shadow of wedding ring on an open book Polski: Krzywa sercowa ( ale nie kardioida) jako cień obrączki na otwartej książce (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Be honest. Sometimes it seems like you almost are!

• Respect yourself and your book.
• Spend time together.
• Celebrate the happy times.
• Work through the bad times.
• Respect one another's limits.
• Take the good with the bad.
• Be supportive and trustworthy.
• Take time for yourself.
• Keep up with your family and friends.
• Foster happiness!