Guest post by Mark Welker, a first-time novelist from Perth, Australia. In his blog, Hello There, Mark Here, he writes about the challenges writers face when they take on a novel, or for that matter, any significant writing project.
Writing a novel is the most complex task you can take on. Completing one is even more so. Each page you write, each sentence you pen, each gap between words is a chasm of doubt. You must leap this gap constantly–or not. Exercise your talent—or give up.
I have a talent for giving up. I have never been taught this talent, yet it’s something I can draw upon without hesitation, and with amazingly accurate results.
Giving up is one of those talents that sharpens the more we tend to rely upon it. It is our brain’s way of dealing with situations where the probability of failure is high enough that the psyche must act to avoid the damaging emotions of loss of confidence and humiliation.
Self-doubt can seem, at first, effortless to overcome, particularly at the start of a project, when momentum is high. But over time, doubt builds up. Gaps between where you are and where you want to be seem larger, feelings of inadequacy more certain. Each measure of doubt you overcome doesn’t dull the sharpness of the next anymore. Your will slips. The project fades into nostalgia. Days between writing sessions become weeks. The original ideas seem distant and childish. The project is vaporized. You cannot find it on your desktop. You cannot find it in your journal.
You have given up.
Every writer experiences this battle. So when the momentum slows and giving up seems the best course of action, what can you do? Here are some tips:
Give up – writing is hard. Maybe you’re not cut out for it.
Give up for today, revisit tomorrow. Not all problems can be solved in a single writing session. If you have reached a block in your momentum, take a break. This break could be as short as a day or as long as a week. But when you give up, mark in your diary exactly when you are going to pick things up again.
Write less, more often. Increasing the frequency of your writing sessions over the number, keeps writing blocks or challenges from developing and unraveling inside your head. New York writer Jack Cheng says 30 minutes a day is a good start. Cheng suggests, when you’re trying to develop any new skill, the important thing isn’t how much you do; it’s how often you do it.
Introduce a Character Characters often have your best interests in mind. They are products of your imagination, hence utilising them to explore your creativity often leads to surprising results. Use them to lead you to new places, then get rid of them once their use runs out.
Reduce Distractions. Losing focus is far easier if you have something “better” to do. That Internet icon on your desktop is as much “distraction on tap” as it is “research on tap”. Take your writing outdoors, to a cafe, library or even your workplace. Try to relocate the act of writing somewhere where there are few enjoyable alternatives.
The feeling that you want to give up is a sign you are about to face the most significant challenge yet in your project, and significant challenges take time, so don’t rush the last yard.
Nobody said “giving up” had to be permanent. Extraordinary work is the product of extraordinary effort. But do not be fooled into thinking extraordinary work isn’t given up all the time. You are not alone.
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