A Little Introspection Does A Writer Good...

Well it does for me.

Every three or four years I find myself getting to a sticking point in my writing and that's when I find a little in-depth analysis useful.

The last time I did this I decided I needed to learn to use description more effectively, and also try plotting a little more on my longer length stuff- even though that wasn't the natural writing process that I began with. 

When I decided that I wanted to write a novel-back in 1999- I had an idea, a few characters and occasional plot points along the way, plus the ending. (I'd set out not to have a happy ending, in fact it wasn't even going to be a romance).

I put a lot of time in and got to 40,000 words. At this stage I'd reach the end point of my original idea and it had turned into a romance. I realised that there was still a lot more story to write, but I also understood that I still had a lot to learn about the skills I needed to make the novel work.

So I set it aside and promised myself I would come back to it, then I joined my local writers group.

A few years on, more books in my chosen genre read, more experienced and able to write better I looked at that first novel again, but I just couldn't get back into it. So I started new projects instead, including another novel.
(That's where the plotting and description targets came in.)

So now I'm at another of those decision points.

I think I've just about got the description issue more or less sorted from my last set of targets. Plotting- much better but could still do with work.

Now I need to work on my characters more. I've learnt that I can't write to any extended length with just one viewpoint character- so multiple person VP is my preference for novel length.

As I mentioned on an earlier post I had flat character issues. I also realised that I'm writing stories more from a male viewpoint, whether it's a short story or longer pieces.
Admittedly I grew up with older brothers, and my own children are all male too so perhaps that explains it.

So one of my targets this time is to use more female viewpoint characters in shorter stories. And I need to work on rounding out my flat characters.

Finally, persevere.

I think that's enough targets to work on for now.

To Short Story or Not To Short Story...

I'm having one of those moments. It's a bit like those self-doubt moments but not as bad.

When I first started writing short stories (seriously, rather than just for fun) it was as much as I could do to make 1000 words. The thought of a 2000 word story would have had me shaking my head in disbelief.

Over the years I've gradually increased that figure. First it was 1200, then 1500, 1800, 2000. But now my problem is trying to keep to under 2000 words. Basically I'm failing. I think my brain and fingers are working to their own plan and consider 2500+ quite okay.

My other difficulty is that my ideas just don't stay small enough, they keep wanting to turn into much bigger projects. Okay I won't be short of ideas but it isn't helping me write shorter stories.

Perhaps I let my imagination run away with my ideas and I need to exert more control.

Maybe I need to work on one of my longer projects for a while- it's happened that way before.

Perhaps some writers are short story writers and don't want to produce a novel, so it's not unreasonable to assume there will be some for whom the reverse is true and those who want to do both.

I want to do both, but I'm realistic enough to know that if I can't get the short story right, then a successful novel is going to be even more difficult.

Well, back to the short story editing.

One day, one day...