Some Doās and Donāts of Writing
(From an inexperienced writer)
1. Itās okay to take breaks, even if itās just one day or maybe a couple days. Sometimes you need to step away before you get consumed by negativity and completely give up. When you take care of you and your mental health it reflects in your writing. Iāve noticed that even just doing chores helps my mindset because Iām being productive. Happy mind, happy writing. Iām actually taking a little break myself right now because this has been a stressful week between Christmas and everything else going on, not to mention the screaming toddler. Anyway, I might try getting back into it tonight or tomorrow because Iām feeling much less stressed since letting myself pause.
2. Going off of that, donāt write when youāre stressed because that will also reflect in your writing. Unhappy mind, unhappy writing.
3. Now sort of contrasting what I just said, write everyday. Iāve seen a couple people say this and completely agree. Even if itās just one little sentence or planning what will happen. Or, if youāre like me, organizing your notes and plans. Commit, practice, see results.
4. Take your time. As much as we want it to sometimes, and I am absolutely calling myself out here, books donāt just magically write themselves. And thatās okay.
5. Write what speaks to you, what you actually want to write. If youāre trying to write something and your hearts not in it, you wonāt like what you write. You will find something wrong with it at every turn. If you donāt enjoy writing it, donāt. Now maybe itās just a scene you donāt feel like writing in that moment, that is okay too. You can always come back to it. Just save it for later and move on. Which brings me to my next thing:
6. Your first draft doesnāt have to be complete. You can do something like this: [fight scene here] [spicy scene here] [so and so talk aboutā¦]. And that is perfectly fine. I use brackets in this way ALL the time, even if itās just my plan for the chapter.
7. Itās okay to have goals, but donāt worry too much about the word count. Itās about the quality, not the quantity. Yes, many readers like a long read. But just because itās longer doesnāt mean itās better. Iāve talked about this a couple times since joining Tumblr. Always, always, always quality over quantity. This goes for readers as well, just because a book or fanfic is shorter doesnāt mean it isnāt as good as a long one. Wrapping it all up in a short fic is actually hard to do, so kudos to you if you can. (Kudos to every writer as well, youāre doing great.)
8. Pacing, another thing Iāve discussed a couple times now. One thing Iāve noticed about really long fics is that the pacing is often SO slow. No hate, I like a long read too. But sometimes thereās too much inner monologue or descriptions and Iām thinking āWhereās the plot? Can we get a move on?ā I think itās great when a writer is so good they can hash out huge amounts of inner monologue and describe things. But donāt over do it. Donāt over describe something. Let your readers use their imagination too. Itās okay to cut things down. Again, quality over quantity. Over doing it can also lead to your work becoming repetitive. Iām not going to call anyone out but I have noticed this a couple times.
9. Itās okay to write out of order. Many of us, including myself, prefer to write chronologically. Which is good, helps your flow/pacing, but sometimes thereās a particular idea stuck in your mind that you have to write before you forget or something. Do it. Get it out. Free up your writing flow. Sometimes this helps the chronological writing too. The first, and one of the only scenes Iāve written for my OG so far, was literally the last scene of book one. The next ff I plan to write is literally built around (maybe) the last scene of book 1 as well.
10. Donāt be discouraged when your first draft sucks and needs MAJOR editing. Itās supposed to. Let it be the mess itās meant to be.
11. Going off of that, donāt edit as you write. Thereās plenty of time to do that later.
12. A little advice from my beta reader, but said a bit differently because I donāt feel like going through my emails rn, who may have noticed a couple familiar things already, when youāre stuck staring at your screen with nothing coming to mind, WALK AWAY. Do not sit there wallowing in your frustration. Do something else and try again when youāre ready. Your book will still be there later.
13. If youāre writing fanfic, which Iām guessing many of you are because this post is a little more ao3 targeted, or publishing chapters in a schedule and not the whole thing at once then write ahead. Have prewritten chapters before you post. Saves you the pressure of uploading on time, which will eat at your writing. Gives you buffer time, and obviously chapters ready to update for your chosen schedule. However it is good to have a goal to motivate you, so maybe you want to stay a certain number of chapters ahead. The author of a book Iām reading has a goal of 20 chapters ahead, which they did slip on because a certain part was ābeing a bitchā. That is okay and a prime example of the importance of writing ahead.
14. Which, another thing from my beta reader. You can update more than once a week. You also donāt have to update once every week, whatever works for you. And many of us binge read so maybe you can do double/triple updates once a week or upload a new chapter twice a week.
15. A little quote from Bluey: āRun your own raceā. Writing is not a competition. Donāt compare your work to someone elseās and get in your head thinking your writing isnāt good enough. 1, maybe your style and plot is JUST the thing someone was looking for. There is a reader for every author. Like, bookish soulmates if you get my drift. 2, you will get better as your practice. Everyone starts somewhere and we canāt all be Stephen Kingās and pop a book out like itās nothing and never be affected by writers block and that is perfectly fine. Run your own race. Which, just to be clear, it is in no way a race and never should be. Racing to finish your work could very well be the thing to kill it. And I say ākillā a bit loosely because again, ātaking your timeā will make your work better but just because you hurry to finish something doesnāt mean itās not good.
16. Lastly, Iām going to talk about trigger warnings. The mental health of your readers is very important, honestly, THE most important thing. Yours as well, authors can be affected by their writing too, so, take care of yourself and your readers. Part of my goal in my WIP may be to break my readerās hearts, with comfort after of course, but not their mind. So, Iāve decided to make a google doc with all of my TWs plus chapterly warnings for those who need it and also to prevent spoilers for those who donāt as I myself have accidentally spoiled a chapter for myself because I saw a trigger warning and this felt like the best of both worlds. Hereās the doc if youāre curious (I am still writing the beginning, so some/many things may be subject to change):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f8PoNmPYwEtSSH8-f0V1ql8xeDFtF4hymiffi9d_Hf8/edit
List of Trigger Warnings in The Black Snake As I am still writing it, more will likely be added to the list as the story goes on. I will let
If you have anything to add, Iād love to hear your thoughts. As I said, I am inexperienced and in no way an expert. These are just some things that I learned, which for some reason I had the sudden urge to share, and I am still learning.
