Sometimes I worry that because I’m not writing 1,000 words per day (or whatever arbitrary number), I’m not really working on a novel. I feel guilty that I’m not forcing myself to sit down and write for a set length of time each day, even if the words that come out are meaningless.I think there is value in that approach, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. I’m still in the brainstorming phase. I have a lot of ideas, but I’m not ready to put them all together yet. I do have an outline, but it needs a lot of work.
I've been feeling like I need to rush my creative process so I don’t lose momentum. But as long as I’m brainstorming every day—and feeling like I’m making progress—what’s the rush?
It’s hard to know if I’m taking the right approach since this is my first serious attempt at writing a novel. If I’m able to make a go of writing I’m sure my creative process will change over time. But for now, I’m going to try to enjoy the brainstorming phase and not feel guilty about it.
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I've never managed the 1000 words a day thing, I find the whole idea daunting. I heard one successful novelist suggest you should aim for 50 words a day instead; much less scary to contemplate and sometimes - ooh look! you've done a couple of thousand words without noticing.
ReplyDeleteOr there's my tried and tested method: finally force myself to sit down and literally type one word after another; making sure all hyphenated words do NOT have a hyphen (this ups the wordcount). Sometimes you end up with one sentence (but at least you've done something) but sometimes the magic kicks in and you're rolling.
Nicky