Like a Virgin

This was always my difficulty. Like you, I had (still have) several condensed novels (love that imagery, btw!). In my case, I made myself commit to NaNoWriMo one year, but I didn't work on any of my "favorite ideas" because I wanted to learn how to do this thing right before I messed with those. In my mind, I didn't want to "waste" them, which is just another procrastination excuse. Anyway, I did an entirely new idea I developed strictly for NaNo, and 4 years (?) later, I had it in query-shape.

In the meantime I hung around AW a lot, learned a lot about the business, and found myself more and more motivated to participate in the actual getting my work out there part.

I don't think there's any way but to jump in, hard as it is. Maybe participate in the writing events here throughout the year, maybe post your work in Share Your Work to build up your critique-receiving armor, and definitely dive in there and critique. It's inspiring to help others, and to see some writers progress, others display their eye-popping talent. I learned a lot just following Share Your Work threads. You'll also start to gravitate toward people whose sensibilities speak to you, and you'll likely find some people who will be your cheerleaders, or for whom you'll cheer.

In the end, bottom line is...bottom time. Sit down and start poking the keyboard. Camp NaNoWriMo is on now. You could set yourself a goal there and start, even though it's partway done, if you're likely to be motivated by an external clock and goal.

Poke around AW. There are so many threads for motivation, and for those who are struggling to start. Camaraderie helps, too.

Just out of curiosity... you have eight historical romances in your idea folder. Is there anyway to connect them and create a series?

I only ask because I had several stops and starts, many of which were the result of writing prompts here at AW. It wasn't until one day I looked in that WIP folder and realized idea 1, 4, 5, and 9 all had a common thread-- their occupation. And, oh look, they could all be siblings. The same happened with a couple other ideas and a series grew out from that.

If those bits and pieces end up being part of a much larger picture, it might spur your excitement for the stories.

Starting a new book is always hard. Every writer I know says the very same thing. Even Stephen King said "The scariest moment is always just before you start."

Write. You say you have "synopses with scenes, dialog, character musings, historical research and plot points". Other than maybe scenes, none of these are prose. When you say scenes, I'm not sure you're talking about fully written scenes or outlines of them. If they're fully written, I think you're already on a good start. For me, if I start writing scenes, the characters will speak to me, and tell me what they want to happen. My process on my WIP has been like yours. I started with my favorite scenes. Then I got them close enough together that I just had to figure out what happens in between. At some point, there was a commitment to sit down and write in order, to make sure I had one draft from beginning to end. I frequently wanted to go back and add or rewrite scenes, but I disciplined myself not to until I was done with the draft.

Hi, Merri. Here are four practices that help me write.

I commit to sit at the computer, for a predetermined amount of time, and either write or do nothing. First, my mind wanders. This is good; this is creative. Eventually, I type, because it's less boring than merely sitting.

If that's not enough, I set a timer to write for a short amount of time. I make a deal with myself that afterward, I'll get a set amount of "break" time. For example: write 10 minutes, break 5 minutes. My low is write 2 minutes, break 15 minutes. A person can do anything for 2 minutes, right?

Usually, I get into my story and continue writing after the timer sounds. When I next hit a wall, I take the break, then reset the timer for another round. Gradually, I up the writing time and lower the break time. The key is to accept, truly accept, that it's okay if I write two minutes and break fifteen. That's two minutes more than nothing, which is what I was doing before.

I tell my "editor" brain to go jump in a lake. Every time I notice myself fixing prose, I redirect myself to getting the story written down. The "editor" brain kills the "creative" brain by judging. Drafting and editing are separate activities.

So, I decide to write the crummiest draft ever. I try to relish this certain outcome. The darlings in my head will emerge as a misshapen monsters, because first drafts are always terrible. Still, they're material to work with. Later, I will edit.

Best wishes.

MerriTudor said:

Yes, by scenes I mean full-fleshed out scenes, with setting, facial expressions, movement, complete dialog - the whole nine yards. In the one I'm most motivated to work on now, there are just two wobbly plot points - sort of like sketchy rope bridges hanging between where I am and where I mean to go. One is logistical, and my brain cramps when confronted with getting it pegged out. The other is an historical reality I'm considering fudging on if I can't work around it.

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Hey, I love sketchy rope bridges! Maybe because Indiana Jones and Bridge to Terabithia were influential in my childhood.

I mean, once I've got a sketchy rope bridge, the light's at the end of the tunnel. My mind will keep going back and forth over that bridge, and thinking, "Hmm, this part looks particularly sketchy. I better fix that. If somebody falls through that plot hole I could get sued." Eventually one morning I'll have so many repairs planned that I just have to sit down and write them before my head explodes.

I don't consider it a block if you're not writing because there's a problem you need to solve, as long as that problem stays on your mind because you can't ignore it. You're making progress even if words have stopped accumulating on the page.

Anna Iguana said:

I tell my "editor" brain to go jump in a lake. Every time I notice myself fixing prose, I redirect myself to getting the story written down. The "editor" brain kills the "creative" brain by judging. Drafting and editing are separate activities.

So, I decide to write the crummiest draft ever. I try to relish this certain outcome. The darlings in my head will emerge as a misshapen monsters, because first drafts are always terrible. Still, they're material to work with. Later, I will edit.

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For anyone who has this problem, I recommend writing with pen on paper. You can't edit. At worst you can cross out a sentence and rewrite it, but it's impractical to fine tune it with twelve different versions, sometimes changing your mind and going back to what you had before.

After doing this for a while, I stopped needing the pen and paper. I could train myself to use the same process on a computer. Just have the willpower not to touch the backspace key.

morngnstar said:

For anyone who has this problem, I recommend writing with pen on paper. You can't edit.

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This is a great idea, thanks.