Strange things happen when you make a goal and stick with it. I can’t believe it took me ten years to figure this out!
The Backstory
When I set my New Year’s writing resolution for 2021, I vowed to write every day this year. I would allow myself to “skip” days only in extreme or special circumstances. Seemed simple enough.
Then, well-established crafter of words, Brandon Sanderson, released a video explaining how one could write a book a year just by writing every day. Totally coincidental, but this hit home so hard for me that I had to write about my experience doing just that in January: writing everyday.
January in Review
I’m happy to announce I only missed one day in January (and that’s because we suddenly had to buy a car… long story, totally uninteresting) Other than that day, I buckled down and committed. Every day I wrote.
Truth be told, some days were easier than others, some days were a challenge altogether. Some days it took me literally hours to write two paragraphs.
But I wrote.
Even when I wanted to throw an adult temper tantrum . . . even when I had to take a drink every time I churned out a sentence . . . even when I spent more time delaying the inevitable by cleaning, or making another coffee, or forcing the dog to play (no joke!), I wrote.
The first week was a breeze. I’ve got this, I thought. I’ve done NaNoWriMo for nine years in a row. I’ve got this!
The second week was a bit of a slog, but not too difficult. The writing quality took a hit, but still, I wrote.
The third week suck-didily-ucked.
But the fourth week. Eureka! Something clicked. Suddenly writing every day wasn’t like a chore. Suddenly I was cranking out 700-2,500 words a sitting as opposed to my measly 200-400.
So What Happened?
I developed better writing habits.
I turned off my phone and my tablet. At times, I disabled the wi-fi on my laptop.
I beat the sh*t out of my internal editor and told them to shut the eff up!
I didn’t worry about writing “crappy” sentences. I just wrote.
I became a willing participant in my ‘write every day’ goal.
I became a willing participant in my ‘write every day’ goal.
Throughout the day, I would think about the scene I wanted to write.
I stopped procrastinating and distracting myself with other work—cleaning, organizing, etc.
I set aside a specific time and dedicated that time to writing for one hour.
I stopped seeing writing as ‘work’ and turned it in to ‘fun.
I didn’t stick to one story. I mix-and-matched.
I allowed myself to write whatever-the-heck I wanted, even if it would never make it into a novel. (I even dabbled in Romance. Ooooh, the forbidden genre!)
I found music and other inspirations to keep things interesting.
As I’m writing this blog post, I have an ATEEZ dance mix playing on YouTube to keep things peppy and interesting.
What did I accomplish?
For months since pandemic lock down started in Canada, I’ve been in a creative rut. My next novel was supposed to come out at the end of 2019. Now I’m aiming for winter of 2021, a full two year delay! Ugh!
I got stuck in the middle of the novel while getting my characters to a critical turning point in the plot. I had written that plot point already, I had gotten my characters out, I had them suffer the consequences already. But getting them to that point had me throwing adult temper tantrums.
So for January, I was hell-bent on getting over this hump! It’s not like this point in the story was boring, far from it. Something in my brain kept me from writing this transition. So when I sat down to pound keys on Jan-One, I was determined to complete this scene, even if it was complete garbage.
And I did!
As I worked through my road blocks, the ideas started flowing. I hoped in January I could complete 3 chapters in my Fourth Book, and I did that and more. I figured out plot points in my epic fantasy, I reworked issues in a sci-fi/speculative fiction I had been writing. As January came to a close, I had written close to 9,000 words. Sure, that’s no NaNo, but I thoroughly impressed myself!
January writing progress as recorded in my bullet journal.
Plans for the Future?
Now that I know my crux and how to get past it, I think this write-every-day thing is gonna be a breeze.
If I could give one piece of advice that I’ve learned, it is this:
Even if it sucks, just write it. You can’t edit a blank page.
As we kiss 2020 goodbye (more like kick its sorry ass out the door), 2021 has a head start on being a better year for the simple fact that it’s a new year. We won’t get into the deets on why, that’s already been established. With a new year comes new chances, new adventures. And the dreaded New Year’s Resolutions.
To cut to the chase, this year I vow to write everyday—be it a sentence, a paragraph, an entire chapter. Every day I will write. Something. Even if it’s garbage. Even if it has nothing to do with anything.
At times, my writing may closely resemble this. (L, Death Note)
I vow I will write for ten minutes every day in 2021.
I will allow myself to break this resolution only in extreme circumstances—illness, special occasion, my birthday. This should be an easy resolution to keep. Every night I have my computer on my lap (I guess that’s why they call it a lap-top, duh). There is nothing keeping me from opening a new document and spilling out the digital equivalent of word vomit. Resolution met!
Read More
It’s gonna cost me precious writing time, but I’m gonna read more than I do already. I typically go through a book a month. I’m no marathon reader, for sure. This year, I’m going to try to double that.
So to meet that, what’s the first thing I did? I splurged. I bought myself a monthly subscription to a book box. I’m a bit bummed to see only YA available in monthly boxes, at least those that will ship to Canada at a reasonable price. So my monthly sub will provide my YA fix, and my monthly trip to the book store will have to continue to provide my Fantasy fix.
I chose FairyLoot‘s monthly subscription box, approx $36/month USD. Image owned by FairyLoot.
Dream More
80% of my ideas come in those long hours it takes me to fall asleep at night. Insomnia’s kinda a jerk that way. Since the pandemic began and I’ve been relegated to the confines of my house for medical reasons, my anxiety has shot through the roof. As a result, I’ve sometimes refused to dream up ideas for my novels.
This year, I’m going to throw that out the window. That is because I’ve figured out why I refused to dream. Fear. I was afraid that if I dreamed up a really good idea, I wouldn’t be able to write it. Working from home during the day means just that—I need to focus on the real world. I’ve learned that’s much easier to do in an office environment, but takes an effort at home where there are so many distractions.
My number one fear was getting a great idea and either shrugging off work to write it (and risk losing my job) or doubling-down on work and forgetting the idea completely.
Then I realized something.
Admitting my fear was the first step to getting out of this writing rut! From there, I could only go up. So once I get to spewing out the word vomit, I figure I also need to take care of the stuff I’ve already written.
Edit More
I have two novels that need to get out the door. They’re in rough draft-mode. I need to get them through self-edited mode and out the door to venture into the world of The Professional Editor. Dun-dun-dun.
Editing, especially the professional stage of the art, is something I’ve come to figure out is more like smoothing out the icing on the cake. It’s not meant to be hurtful or painful. It’s not meant to feel like you wrote a piece of crap. I’ve come to realize that I’m great at spilling out a story—I can mine the gems but I can’t polish them. That’s what my editor is for—polishing up the chunks I’ve dug out of my mind and organized onto paper, digitally speaking.
I need to get those novels out the door, and they won’t get anywhere until they’re edited. So above and beyond my reading and writing resolutions, I will also edit my novels and get them out into the world to be come grown-up novels.
Pay Attention to my Muse(s) More
Okay, okay. That is not grammatically correct, but nothing in my mind is. Least of all, my muses. And of those, I have an army.
Now, I’d like to think my army of muses is well-put together, mildly behaved, and perhaps just a little introverted. But in reality, they’re just as messed up as I am—prone to silliness, absent-minded, and definitely less mature than they should be.
One of the things I need to learn is how to organize my army into a strategic, plot-killing armada. When writing, I often pull out one muse at a time, put them through hell, and then put them back in their cage. I’m not too good with making them work together. Each muse is a one-man/woman-show. If my army is gonna write a novel, we all have to work together.
I suppose that means I need to start with organizing my own brain first. I’m far too obsessed with making lists, organizing things, and putting pen to paper. This is exactly the opposite of my pantser tendencies, and I’m fairly certain I do this just to procrastinate. So that leads me on to my last goal.
Ease up on the journalling
I have five writing journals. FIVE! I’m certain they’re enabling my procrastination and lack of actual writing. This year, I’m going to retire three of them and allow myself two: my reading planner and my writing-journal-slash-bullet-journal.
I’m keeping my reading planner as a way to organize my reading. If you’re interested in one, you can find one in your local book store, or download templates for free with a simple internet search. This planner is something I couldn’t come up with on my own (that, and I just love the quality of a mass-market planner).
I’m using OwlCrate’s 2021 Reading Planner, $14.99 on OwlCrate.com
I’m also keeping one of my writing journals for the sake of jotting down ideas when I get them. This journal will also double as my bullet journal to track my day-to-day. Keeping my writing journal whittled down will force me to type out more of my thoughts rather than writing them out by hand. I have so many ideas stuck in my journals that organizing them and typing them out is taking away from my actual writing time.
This one was a pleasant surprise for me. Although 2020 was the first year in a long time I didn’t complete NANOWRIMO, I did keep the wiki on my latest WIP alive and growing. One of the hurdles of picking up an old work and continuing it was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing in the first place. What is this character’s motivation? Why did I make this bird talk? Was Number Five really the shooter on the Grassy Knoll?
When I kept my wiki up-to-date, I found I wasn’t back-tracking as much to figure out what in the world I was thinking when I wrote scenes or chapters. It was also a place to keep track of the little details, like eye colour. As I wrote my scenes, I’d take notes on the purpose of the chapter, where I wanted to go, and any little Chekhov’s Guns that may need to be fired somewhere down the storyline.
I use an open-source product called wikidPad, available at SourceForge, which I think I’ve mentioned before. I believe there’s a scaled-down Android version but I haven’t used it. In any case, I love it to pieces. In place of my library of notebooks, I’m going to strive to use my wiki more often. Keeping things digital instead of analog will be a challenge in itself as I love writing things by hand. My pens and pencils will need to take a break this year.
Wrap it all Up
Finally, since I’m putting all my eggs in one digital basket—aka my computer—I’ll need that most important of regiments, the backup. With a Gmail account, that’s easy. Google Drive is an easy place to drop off files I’ve been working on. With that I need to keep in mind that Google’s cloud storage isn’t infinite as they’ve recently implemented an inactivity trigger.
My Android tablet will serve as a secondary back up and will also double as a portable version of my works should I find myself stuck in . . . well, I dunno. In the “new normal” will we still be allowed to loiter in doctor’s offices and watch our children in karate classes? Those are questions for future me. For now, I’ll consider that as a ‘piece of mind’ back up.
I’ll set a schedule for these backups. Depending on how much I write, I’ll backup to the cloud at least once a week and backup to my tablet once a month. Backups won’t be limited to just my word files. I’ll back up my wiki and any Photoshop files I have on the go, such as cover art ideas and maps—betcha didn’t know I do my own cover art! Five years in website design before my current adventure in environmental services has taught me well.
Have you set your goals for 2021 yet? My advice would be to not go all-out. Start small. Make a small goal you know you can meet every day or every week. Write ten words a day, or write for ten minutes a day. Do ten sit ups a day or exercise for ten minutes a day. Small things. Baby steps. I find if my goals are too big they start to feel like work and obligations. My inner teenager rebels against those societal strangulations outside of my adult world and actual paying job, in which I thrive on deadlines and obligations.
Plot holes are the absence of ‘how’ a character goes about the plot, or ‘why’ an event takes place. Plot holes such as E.T.’s ability to fly a bicycle but not fly to his ship, an illegal kick to the face that wins The Karate Kid, or the mishap with time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban can be avoided with a little thought and preparation. But fret not! Even some of the greatest writers succumb to the treacherous plot hole, and they can be hard to avoid. But try these tricks:
1. Allow your character to fail
Convenient skill is a major plot hole. A convenient skill is having your character face an obstacle, like climbing a rock wall, and your character is suddenly an expert free climber.
Now, if you need to climb that wall to move on, the best way to bust that plot hole is to allow your character to fail first. Scramble up the wall and fall once or twice. Knock a few stones down. Have your character pause and panic a little. Remember: failure is always an option!
2. Don’t take the direct route
Trapped in the enemy’s lair and the protagonist can’t escape… but he needs to escape! Or maybe they’ve lost a very important artifact. Whether searching for a way out/in or an object, don’t lead your characters right to their goal. Instead, lead them down the wrong path, look under the wrong rock. Make this a challenge.
If time is of the essence and your characters have to locate something quickly or find their way out sooner rather than later, you can still get around this plot hole. Present the exit to your characters, but have them pause and wonder about the convenience of it all. Is it a trap? Is this the doing of Evil Bob? But oh no! Here comes the dragon to roast our hindquarters! Darn it, we have no choice! Still a plot hole, but concealed.
3. Allow some questions to go unanswered
Nothing spoils a plot twist more than reveling too much of the twist before hand. Half the fun for your readers is figuring things out for themselves. Drop only subtle clues – sounds, colours, smells. If the main goal of your characters is hiding right next door, don’t let anyone know! Otherwise, reveling too much of the plot can poke holes in the plot itself and make your writing seem weak and unimaginative.
4. Just the facts, ma’am
Plot holes can also come about by giving to much information, or providing incorrect information that you then need to cover up later. There is a trick to throwing your reader off the scent, but if you purposely mislead them, they’ll abandon your novel once they figured out you’ve taken them on a ride. To avoid this, present your reader with just the facts as the characters know them, and allow the reader to decide what to do with those facts.
5. Stay away from the rabbit hole
Leading readers down a subplot that has no bearing on the overall arch of the story is another plot hole. Are your characters trying to fight evil? Keep them constantly moving towards that evil and don’t stray into back stories and ‘once upon a times’ that distract the reader from the real plot.
6. Convenient flashback is convenient
You see this used in anime all the time; two arch rivals are about to go toe to toe in an epic battle. Just as they’re about to exchange fisticuffs, the author realizes they haven’t had enough time to explain why the arch rivals are going toe to toe. To cover their gaff, they throw in a flashback that conveniently answers all the why’s, when’s, and how’s.
Readers hate flashbacks. Period. They bring the story to a grinding halt. If you haven’t had enough time to explain why your characters are about to enter the battle of a lifetime, then you’ve failed as a writer. Go back and start injecting these tidbits into the story earlier on to avoid the potential flashback.
7. Eradicate irrelevant sub plots
Also known as filler, irrelevant sub plots are attempts to provide some character building for supporting characters who you just couldn’t be bothered to build up in the first place. A supporting character’s issues with their mommy, or their everyday trials and tribulations… no one cares. If your side trip characters are not contributing to the overall plot, do not give them an adventure.
8. Remember to catalogue the journey!
If in scene #1 your protagonist slays the baddie and then in scene #2 he’s pimp-walkin’ outta that castle, you’ve got yourself a plot hole, my friend. A journey through a plot relevant location must be addressed. That castle’s a big deal to your characters, so at least give them a page worth of finding their way out.
Now, a stroll through a grassland just to get to that castle may not necessarily need a narrative. But when the characters encounter resistance relevant to the plot, take on plot-relevant injuries, bond, or explain the need to get to said castle, only then does the journey need to be explained.
9. Kill Your Darlings
This is a term referring to killing scenes and not characters. Sorry George RR Martin fans. Your Darlings are scenes you’ve written and have absolutely fallen in love with it, but in the end those scenes do not drive the plot. Sex scenes are notorious darlings that must be killed, not unless the outcome of that romp in the sheets drives the plot (such as Bella Swan’s sparkly and likely very cold romp in the sheets that gets her preggers with a baby that tries to kill her).
Always keep the plot in mind with your darlings; if you’ve written a great and spanning scene that does not drive the plot, unfortunately you must get rid of it no matter how much you love it. Readers will get side tracked and confused as to what they need to pay attention to if you leave these scenes in your work. When readers get confused, they’ll put down your book and move on to another.
10. When in doubt, re-write
And last but not least is an odd technique that new and budding writers don’t like to do: rewrite a scene. Sometimes it has to be done; you’ve gone down the rabbit hole, you’ve created a side story, your Darling is growing into a problem child. You don’t have to abandon the scene fully. Simply open a new and blank document and write the scene again. Sometimes you discover nuances you had not realized before, and sometimes you just may find your way through that plot hole!
I hope you enjoyed these tips and tricks. Check back often for more updates! And until next time!
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