Everything is Hard (or... Managing the Novel-Writing Project)

When it comes to writing, art, anything, I am notorious for biting off more than I can chew. It never fails that, at some point in every project, I am overwhelmed with the scale of the project and have doubts about being able to finish it.

For example, when I made decided to make a quilt for my daughter, like the idiot that I can sometimes be, I chose an intricate quilting pattern that would will take forever to finish.

In my art class, my classmates often look over my shoulder and say, "That's hard," but their paintings are hard, too. It doesn't matter if I'm painting trees, flat objects, perspective, water, whatever.  It doesn't matter if you're drawing or painting, using watercolor, pastels, or oil. Everything is a new challenge. One of my classmates said, "I think I've got this. I've mastered it." Someone chuckled across the room.  A few minutes later, she sighed and said, "I don't think I've mastered it." It's even hard to do a repeat of something you did perfectly once before.

When someone says, "But it's hard," my art teacher will respond, "I know. Everything is hard." She shows empathy and helps us face the challenge by focusing on one particular thing. Somehow, admitting everything is hard seems to magically put everything on the same level, no matter what the project. So, it's just a matter of breaking it down into small, manageable steps.

I have managed to complete every picture I've started in class. It may not be my favorite one, but it gets finished, and, having learned something from my experience, I move on to the next challenge. Challenge is just a way of life, and it's especially the way of the artist or writer. It also helps that my teacher makes me finish them, whether I like them or not. :)

Somehow, admitting everything is hard seems to magically put everything on the same level, no matter what the project. 

Writing is the same way. Every project has its challenges. One author, K.M. Weiland, suggests having a dedicated journal for every novel. In her article, "Why Journaling Conquers Writing Monsters,", she writes about the doubts and fears that she inevitably faces with each project and how maintaining a journal provides tangible proof (that she can read about while facing similar struggles later) that this wasn't the first time she had faced such doubts.

I've seen two of my own novels through to publication, from conceiving the original idea, reshaping it, developing the plot and characters, formatting, styling, and even illustrating. In the next few days, I'll be sharing parts of my writing process and things that I've learned through the process, but, before I go, I'd like to share the first piece of the puzzle.

Knowing my Destination

In order for me to finish a book to completion, I have to know where I'm going. I have found that the biggest roadblocks to finishing a novel have been that I simply didn't know where I wanted to go with a story. In my early days of writing, I just loved the idea of writing for the sake of writing. I would start a story that would be compelling, but I had no idea what to do with it. I wasn't at a level of maturity where I could see the whole project from one end to the other.  I could only the beginnings of a story with no idea of how deep or how wide or how long this river of thought could be.

In my first book, my plot originally had my main character winding up with an entirely different person. I was having a problem with a particular aspect of the plot that was supposed to show the one character's bad side, and, as I started mulling it over, I began to have sympathy for this character who, on the surface, did not appear like the typical "winner". He wasn't wealthy and didn't have the pedigree. It occurred to me that my original idea for that part of the plot was predictable, and I questioned my choices. I delved deeper into the unwealthy, unpedigreed character and found redeeming qualities. I made that change to the plot, and the pieces fell into place without resisting. During the early stages of your writing is the time to question your choices and determine if your plot and its outcomes are too predictable and whether a better idea lies hidden, waiting to be discovered.

So, when the first seeds of an idea start, I may write those ideas and any details about them down in a brainstorming document (like K.M. Weiland's journal)--I may even have some specific scene details that I put into this document--but I won't really be ready to write until I know the book's destination.