#author problems

okay so try to picture this: you're deep in your manuscript, probably three coffees past reasonable human consumption, and you're writing this villain monologue. you know the one, where they explain their master plan and you as the author get to flex your "look how evil and wrong they are" muscles.

except.

except they start making points.

good points.

points that have you staring at your screen like "wait… are they… are they RIGHT?"

this happened to me last month and i'm still recovering. my villain, let's call her vera because i'm not ready to say her real name out loud yet... was supposed to be this corrupt politician type who wanted to tear down the magical council system in my fantasy world. classic power-hungry antagonist, right? wrong. (i promise you the plot is good, it sounds basic, but its good.)

turns out the magical council system i'd built was actually a bureaucratic nightmare that perpetuated class inequality and suppressed innovation. vera wasn't power-hungry, she was FRUSTRATED. she'd tried working within the system for decades and watched it fail people over and over again.

and suddenly i'm sitting there at 1am realizing my protagonist has been defending a broken system this entire time just because it's "traditional."

soooo the thing nobody tells you about writing morally complex villains is that sometimes you accidentally write someone who's more ethically consistent than your hero. and that's when the real work begins.

because now you have options:

option one: rewrite vera to be more obviously wrong. add some puppy-kicking or unnecessary cruelty. make her methods so extreme that her valid points get overshadowed. (this is the coward's way out and also boring)

option two: lean into it. let vera be right about the problems even if her solutions are questionable. make your protagonist grapple with the fact that the world they're trying to save actually sucks for a lot of people.

option three: the galaxy brain move, realize that vera isn't actually your villain. she's your protagonist's wake-up call. maybe the real antagonist is the system itself, and both your protag and vera are just people trying to navigate it.

i went with option three and it changed everything. suddenly my story wasn't about good vs evil, it was about different approaches to change. my protagonist had to evolve from "defender of the status quo" to "person who recognizes that sometimes revolution is necessary."

but here's what really broke my brain: i started agreeing with vera more than my protagonist. like, significantly more. to the point where i had to step back and ask myself if i'd accidentally written the wrong person as my main character.

(spoiler alert: i had)

the weirdest part? this made my story SO much better. because when your villain has legitimate grievances, your protagonist can't just sword-fight their way to victory. they have to actually engage with the problems. they have to grow. they have to earn their hero status instead of just being born into it.

so if you find yourself nodding along to your villain's speech, don't panic. you might have just accidentally written a story with actual moral complexity.

just maybe don't tell your beta readers you're team villain until after they finish reading.

trust me on this one.

It builds character!

make sure its the right idea and right time

you might get a new exiting idea every day and start planning it, promising yourself “this is the one im going to finish” but still ending up abandoning it for another one by next week because it either stopped being exiting or you ran into an issue which convinced you its too difficult or just wrong

you can fix this by reflecting and using your revelations to choose the right project

what do you like? what do you like reading about? what do you like writing about? what do you know a lot about? what are you good at writing about?

accept that there may be ideas you like as concepts, maybe you’d like reading them but not writing it into a book yourself.

is there an idea/theme/anything you’ve had in mind for a long time and havent abandoned? why is that different? list things you’ve liked for a long time. doesnt even have to be writing related

there are many new exiting things to put your focus on for a week or maybe even month but if you truly want to be consistent, its time to look at what you’re able to be consistent about

at what point do you usually abandon projects? why? whats the furthest youve gotten? what got you there?

its really important to understand the reason behind abandoning your previous projects to do your best avoiding that in the future

whats your favourite part of the writing process? which one do you struggle with the most? which part do you simply dislike? is it possible that maybe you only like the idea of writing a book or having written a book? why do you want to be a writer

when choosing a project, consider how much you’d get to do the parts you like about writing and how much you’d have to face the parts you dont

what do you usually do when faced with a hardship during the writing process? what could you do better? if someone came to you and told you all of these problems, what advice would you give them? do you think you give up too easily? what makes you give up exactly (a feeling, a thought, a mindset, a trait, etc)? what would happen if you never changed any of this? would you even finish a book ever?

the writing process isnt easy. there isnt a single author that didnt go through writers block or a plot hole that seeemed impossible to solve at the time. this is why its inportant to have the right project that is worth fighting those hardships for while enjoying the journey

try to understand the difference between something not being right for you and something simply being difficult at the time

is this project you?

is this the project you’d like to be known for?

why this project? what does it mean to you? what do you like about it?

is this the project you see yourself writing about, every step of the way? it could be helpful to make a list of everything you’d need to do in order to finish this specific project—researching a specific topic needed for the worldbuilding, coming up with all the characters, etc

which parts of this book would you enjoy writing about? which parts would you not? is it worth it?

if you find that this project isnt right, revisit the first reflection list you made and choose some key elements you’d like to include in your books, be known for, and write about. revisit your book ideas and put together a book idea that includes these elements and do reflection on that one too

whenever you feel like giving up, ask why. is it because you no longer like the project or is it just difficult? why? maybe the problem is not the project but what it has become? try going back to the very start and core of the idea and seeing when it turned into what it has become? if this is true and you realise you dont like your project anymore, go back and change the entire thing. its totally okay and happens to writers all the time. this isnt wasted effort, this is you discovering yourself as a writer and what you want your project to be. its never too late to change up everything about your project.

to solve this, make a mindmap of every possible path your story could take. write down everything and choose 2-3 you like most. then write them all down separately and reflect on which one would be the best. list the pros and cons of each one. remember: reflection is so important in every step of the way

before giving up

lets say you found yourself stuck again. everything seems difficult and you want to give up. remember that you’ve come so far. remember that its okay. and remember how many times this has happened in the past. you’ll most likely run into this moment with every single project and multiple times at that.

do all of those same steps again. reflect. change it up.

what exactly is the problem and how could it be fixed? (yes, it can be fixed but you might be looking at the problem the wrong way. you need a fresh perspective)

if you still feel like giving up, tell yourself “i can give up if i still want to after this step”

let go of all pressure and think of whatever you’re stuck on. maybe its a plot hole, maybe you cant figure out what should happen next, maybe your characters arent working with you how you want them to. now, without any pressure (just let go, maybe take a break, meditate) just think of the stupidest solutions. think of this project as something that barely matters to you. like it belongs to your friend you’re giving advice to.

i was totally stuck on where i wanted my book to go because no matter what i chose, there was an impossible plot hole i had to solve. that was until i let go of all the pressure and a totally unexpected solution just found me. something id never have come up with if i kept on cracking my brains to the point of hating writing, myself as a writer, the project itself, and everything else for that matter. i took a break, i looked over what i had with a fresh perspective and the starting idea it all sparked from. i realised that i could just switch up some things that i never even thought i could change because they were part of the starting point of the idea. i did what i feared would ruin the entire idea but in reality, it saved the entire book.

remember youre not alone, there have been millions of authors feeling the same way you do now. and you can use that to your advantage. look for other peoples stories and advice. look at interviews of (your favourite) authors (or artists in general), look for tips, reflect on everything, learn through trial, error, and reflection