This Title Is A Work In Progress

Writing is a craft. It takes time for anyone to learn and improve. But there are some shortcuts you can try, maybe adapt to your own needs. Here are 11 writing problems and their solutions, or hacks.

Too many ideas syndrome

Problem: You have too many equally good story ideas and can’t pick just one to write.

Solution: Select your top 3 favorite stories and write the first scene of all three. If you can’t decide, write the first chapter. The right project will be easier to work with, you’ll have fun writing it, you will be daydreaming about the story, you will love the characters. So, give away three chances instead of one.

Outline spoiling the fun

Problem: Whenever you outline a story idea, it completely spoils your will to write it. The mystery is gone.

Solution: Instead of outlining the whole story, just make a clear goal on how your characters should end. Will they succeed? Will they fail? Will they be happy? Will they find redemption? Will they be wronged? Decide how your story should end and explore the plot as you go. Remember, no one will read your first draft, so just write.

Lost midway

Problem: If you are a pantser, you might get lost in the middle of the story, especially after the first plot point.

Solution: Give your story an ending. If you know where your characters will end up, you’ll have a better understanding of which routes to take. Always keep in mind how the story will end. Use it as the beacon of a lighthouse to guide you through stormy waters.

Creative block

Problem: You don’t have story ideas. Or nothing you have so far excites you enough for a novel.

Solution: Read a book or watch a movie completely out of your genre. This works like magic, I promise. I’m not a sci-fi person, but Akira has given me more story ideas than any movie and book from my own genre.

Writing anxiety

Problem: You are scared of writing, scared of starting a new story, or just scared of not doing a good job.

Solution: Write a fanfic. No one expects a fanfic to be a masterpiece (although many are). Fanfics are done for fun and for passion. So, write your book in fanfic format. You can even use fandom characters and aus in the process. When the story is completed, change back to original characters.

Editing as you write

Problem: You keep going back to previous paragraphs and editing instead of moving forward with your writing.

Solution: Write your novel by hand. This might sound like a lot of work, but it’s quite the opposite. The white screen of the computer urges you to review, to make it perfect, academic like perfect. The paper however, brings you back to the craft, to the urge of filling lines and pages. Handwriting also gives you the opportunity of sketching and doodling. 

Procrastination

Problem: Tumblr. Youtube. Email. Netflix. Bathroom. Fridge. Bed.

Solution: Go offline. Turn off your wi-fi. Use a device without internet connection. Or, if you keep fooling yourself and turning the internet back on, write your novel by hand. Give yourself a daily hour of internet, but live offline. And if you take unnecessary trips to the fridge or the bathroom, try the pomodoro technique.

Lack of plots

Problem: Nothing relevant is happening, your story looks kind of boring. Or the main plot is too weak for a whole novel.

Solution: Take a few days off. Just relax. When you are ready to go back, read what you have written so far. Maybe you were just tired. But, if the story really sucks, go back to basics. Ask yourself two questions. What type of story am I writing? How will this story end? Follow the answer like a map. Change what needs to be changed, even if you have to delete the whole progress. If you lack plots, don’t add fillers, just go back to basics.  

Weak main character

Problem: Your character lacks personality, voice and/or visuals.

Solution: Give your main character three things. An external battle. An internal battle. And an unique feature. The external battle is their goal, what they want to achieve, what they dream about. An internal battle is their fears, traumas, doubts, mental issues, prejudices and triggers to overcome. An unique feature is what sets them apart from other characters, maybe they have piercings, or tattoos, or pink hair, or lilac eyes, maybe they wear neon boots, or a mask, or mittens, maybe they are left-handed, or blind, maybe they have a scar, or a birthmark. Every amazing main character has external battles, internal battles and unique features.  

Depression

Problem: You have no will to write. The passion is gone. You feel empty.

Solution: If you don’t have access to medical help, reading is a good way to reevaluate your career and regain your passion for the words. Read lots of books. Don’t worry about writing, just read. Lose yourself in fictional adventures. Read sci-fi, romance, horror, fantasy, crime, family saga, classics, foreigner fictions, fanfics, shorts, poetry. Immerse in literature. Literature can save lives.  

Strange dialogues

Problem: Dialogues seem too formal, or too much like the narration, or characters lack individuality.

Solution: Read your dialogues out loud while acting as your characters. You can find a quiet empty room for that. Be an actor. Go for the emotions. Record your acting sections, after all, you might improvise at some point.    

You:

big sword 

big sheath for my big sword

Mario: Pictures of his friends

Dr. Mario: Mario’s side blog where he reblogs health and safety textposts

Luigi: Reblogs from Mario, long-winded passive-aggresive text posts, constantly reminds people to tag their ghosts

Peach: Pictures of food and cute things

Bowser: ALLCAPS SHITPOSTING, always reblogs Jr. and the Koopalings

Bowser Jr/Koopalings: Shitposting, memes, reblogs from Bowser

Rosalina: Photos of space, cute stuff for kids

Yoshi: Pictures of food, arts and crafts

Wario: Pure, unfiltered, nonstop shitposting, a ridiculous amount of Vines

Donkey Kong: Text posts that are only one or two words long, blog autoplays the DK Rap

Diddy Kong: Reblogs from all of the other Kongs, mostly from Funky

Mr. Game And Watch: Extremely old-school aesthetic, two-frame animations

Little Mac: Doc Louis reblogs, selfies showing off his guns, sponsored posts he contractually has to make

Link: Reblogs scenery and pictures of enemies, sometimes in black-and-white

Zelda: Very polite political blog

Sheik: Zelda’s side blog, reblogs resources for transgender people

Ganondorf: Made an account seven years ago, got banned for sending threatening messages

Toon Link: Photography blog: 95% selfies, 5% scenery

Samus: Scenery from alien planets, text posts about saving endangered species, pictures of cute animals

Zero Suit Samus: Samus’s rarely-updated side blog for selfies

Pit: Bad puns, aerial photography, hot springs

Dark Pit: Has Pit blocked, but his blog content is almost exactly identical

Palutena: Puns, memes

Marth: Political blog, entirely in Japanese

Roy: Pictures of swords, occasional clueless text posts (in Japanese)

Ike: Blogs for his friends

Robin: Shipping trash, stays up until 4 AM crying about their OTPs

Lucina: Marth RP blog

Duck Hunt: Pictures of cute animals, gifs of people getting hurt

Kirby: Pictures of food, sloppy but enthusiastic drawings

King Dedede: Selfie hell, sloppy text posts about himself

Meta Knight: Motivational gifsets

Fox: Desperately trying to clean up after Falco

Falco: Makes snarky responses on other people’s text posts and starts fights

Pikachu: Pictures of other Pikachu

Charizard: Reblogs dragon-related posts and tags them with sad emojis

Lucario: Weird spiritual blog that nobody understands

Jigglypuff: Posts their own enthusiastic covers of popular music and their own unapoligetically shitty drawings

Greninja: Anime trash

Mewtwo: Long and well-researched text posts about preventing animal cruelty

R.O.B.: All posts are tagged as ‘seizure warning’

Ness: 90′s aesthetic and music

Lucas: Cute pictures, sad text posts hidden under Read Mores

Captain Falcon: Pictures of cars, reblogs from official F-Zero accounts, sponsored posts he contractually has to make  

Villager: A chaotic mix of pleasant gardening posts and shitposts, posts every single day without fail

Olimar/Alph: Extremely relaxing nature blog

Wii Fit Trainer: Fitness blog

Shulk: Reblogs from nerdy engineering blogs and all of his friends, always adds something unnecessary like “Yeah, that’s awesome!” whenever he reblogs something

Sonic: Basically the official Sonic Twitter, a perfect mix of memery and self-awareness

Pac-Man: 80′s aesthetic and food

Mega Man: Reblogs every single post that Dr. Light makes and nothing else

Mario: Pictures of his friends

Dr. Mario: Mario’s side blog where he reblogs health and safety textposts

Luigi: Reblogs from Mario, long-winded passive-aggresive text posts, constantly reminds people to tag their ghosts

Peach: Pictures of food and cute things

Bowser: ALLCAPS SHITPOSTING, always reblogs Jr. and the Koopalings

Bowser Jr/Koopalings: Shitposting, memes, reblogs from Bowser

Rosalina: Photos of space, cute stuff for kids

Yoshi: Pictures of food, arts and crafts

Wario: Pure, unfiltered, nonstop shitposting, a ridiculous amount of Vines

Donkey Kong: Text posts that are only one or two words long, blog autoplays the DK Rap

Diddy Kong: Reblogs from all of the other Kongs, mostly from Funky

Mr. Game And Watch: Extremely old-school aesthetic, two-frame animations

Little Mac: Doc Louis reblogs, selfies showing off his guns, sponsored posts he contractually has to make

Link: Reblogs scenery and pictures of enemies, sometimes in black-and-white

Zelda: Very polite political blog

Sheik: Zelda’s side blog, reblogs resources for transgender people

Ganondorf: Made an account seven years ago, got banned for sending threatening messages

Toon Link: Photography blog: 95% selfies, 5% scenery

Samus: Scenery from alien planets, text posts about saving endangered species, pictures of cute animals

Zero Suit Samus: Samus’s rarely-updated side blog for selfies

Pit: Bad puns, aerial photography, hot springs

Dark Pit: Has Pit blocked, but his blog content is almost exactly identical

Palutena: Puns, memes

Marth: Political blog, entirely in Japanese

Roy: Pictures of swords, occasional clueless text posts (in Japanese)

Ike: Blogs for his friends

Robin: Shipping trash, stays up until 4 AM crying about their OTPs

Lucina: Marth RP blog

Duck Hunt: Pictures of cute animals, gifs of people getting hurt

Kirby: Pictures of food, sloppy but enthusiastic drawings

King Dedede: Selfie hell, sloppy text posts about himself

Meta Knight: Motivational gifsets

Fox: Desperately trying to clean up after Falco

Falco: Makes snarky responses on other people’s text posts and starts fights

Pikachu: Pictures of other Pikachu

Charizard: Reblogs dragon-related posts and tags them with sad emojis

Lucario: Weird spiritual blog that nobody understands

Jigglypuff: Posts their own enthusiastic covers of popular music and their own unapoligetically shitty drawings

Greninja: Anime trash

Mewtwo: Long and well-researched text posts about preventing animal cruelty

R.O.B.: All posts are tagged as ‘seizure warning’

Ness: 90′s aesthetic and music

Lucas: Cute pictures, sad text posts hidden under Read Mores

Captain Falcon: Pictures of cars, reblogs from official F-Zero accounts, sponsored posts he contractually has to make  

Villager: A chaotic mix of pleasant gardening posts and shitposts, posts every single day without fail

Olimar/Alph: Extremely relaxing nature blog

Wii Fit Trainer: Fitness blog

Shulk: Reblogs from nerdy engineering blogs and all of his friends, always adds something unnecessary like “Yeah, that’s awesome!” whenever he reblogs something

Sonic: Basically the official Sonic Twitter, a perfect mix of memery and self-awareness

Pac-Man: 80′s aesthetic and food

Mega Man: Reblogs every single post that Dr. Light makes and nothing else