A Response from Writer's Block

Okay, so I wake up, and I discover that writer's block has left me a wonderful response to my letter from yesterday. Here it is for the rest of you:

Dear Me,

Do you not remember those many days and nights in which writing at night was the time when you would write the best? We tried to force you to a daytime schedule; we would battle with your creativity at night knowing that one day your life would demand sleep at night. And now, you're a mother, wife, and college student who needs her nights to sleep, but what have you done? You've gone and messed up your schedule by strengthening your creativity with night time writings all your life. There's only so much we can do when you always send your little creativity minions after us. You write and write and write nonstop. Writer's block can only help you fix your schedule so much. You're the one that trained your body this way, not us. If you want our help, I suggest you start trying to write during the day. And for goodness sake, go to bed at a decent hour!

Trying to help,

Writer's Block 

 

Writer's Block has Horribly Excellent Timing...

I hate writer's block for a number of reasons. For one, writer's bloc always chooses the worst times to attack me. Like when I'm wide awake and wanting to write. Once I lie down to close my eyes and sleep, writer's block is lifted, and ideas flow through my brain like water through a strainer. I can't stop them, and I lie there tossing and turning, itching to write yet too tired to lift myself from my bed. So, as a little exercise to try and get writer's block to go away, I am going to write it a letter. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow's post will be writer's block's response.

Dear Writer's Block,

What gives? You are always bothering me at the worst times, and you affect EVERYTHING I do, not just writing. EVERYTHING. You make it difficult to work on homework because I read something for class, have to write something to reflect on it, and I have no reflections because I have a wall blocking me from my words. Then, the very moment I declare exhaustion and go to lie down, you sneak off like a wicked thief who's gotten away with a prize. At that very moment, my brain is flooded with ideas for this story and that story and "Oh, I should've written that in my school paper!" Why? What have I ever done to deserve your wicked punishment?

Sincerely,

Me 

 

Chapter 1 Writing and Editing -- Post One

There will be multiple posts under the same title during the writing and editing process of each chapter. Each one will be numbered "post x."


So, recently I have begun working on chapter 1. This began soon after my first post on this blog. It was soon followed by my mother willingly reading and editing the first few pages. She's trying to help me create the personalities for my characters, asking me questions about who my characters are, etc. to try and create dialogue that flows with their personality. I have problems with this a lot so her advice is really helping. Because I am actually hoping to publish this novel, I'm not going to be posting any of it on my blog. However, I might work on small exercises or even a side story to keep my writing skills up to par. Unfortunately, a few days after beginning writing, the rush of words soon fell flat once more. I am planning on typing up what I have so far then writing out the prologue as well as character sketches and back stories. Back stories will also end up making it into the novel, but I may post up the character sketches.

Why?

One of the things I tend to do is try to write for an audience, an audience that I don't know even exists. Will I publish this particular piece of writing? Will the audience I am trying to write for like it? What if they don't? What if they don't like the characters? There are several things I have recently discovered regarding this type of writing.

1. Writing with a specific audience in mind often makes me more nervous, causing the writing to stutter and then stop altogether. When I was younger, around 12 and 13, I simply wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote with no audience in mind. Now, I just decide what age group I plan to make this book available to and go from there. That age group can decide if the book suits them or not, no matter their personality or background, etc.
2. My characters go flat. I always have elaborate ideas in mind for my characters: the depressed 17-year-old living in a mental institute, the 17-year-old rape victim trying to pull her psyche back together, the 17-year-old drug addict trying to put his life back in order. After a few pages of the drama and background and insanity that is that particular character's life, they suddenly fall flat. They miraculously get better, they fall in love with this amazing guy without having any trust issues, or they just stop taking drugs simply out of sheer will-power that doesn't actually exist in this person's character. Talk about "god in the machine." My characters always manage to slip out of tight spots.
3. Worrying about publishing draws my writing to a stand-still most of the time. I worry if it's going to be good enough, if anyone will read it, and so on and so forth.

This year, I'm going to self publish because I recently won NaNoWriMo 2011. Along with the fabulous winner's certificate, I also received 5 free copies of my novel. The coupon is good until June 30, 2012. I have until that time to edit, proof, and publish my novel. And guess what? This year, I'm going to do it because I WANT TO. Not because I'm worried people won't like it. So, be prepared to join me on my journey to editting, proofing, and publishing my novel through CreateSpace.