Maybe Instead Of Making Another Post About Hugo Or Tolstoy Or Whoever Who Went Off Onunrelated Tangents

maybe instead of making another post about hugo or tolstoy or whoever who went off on “unrelated tangents” in their books instead of focusing only on charaters and plot development… why dont we take a step back? maybe dont believe the book editors on twitter who are trying to persuade you that books need to start a certain way (in medias res -_-), that you must cut out 90% of your adverbs, that you need to cut out every scene that doesnt ‘fit’ your narrative perfectly etc since all these people are only saying this because theyre paid to discover new hunger games or w/e. 

novels are genuinely so much more than snappy YA books you can read in a single afternoon… why are you so afraid to just. indulge. engage. why do you mind reading the war scenes in a book called. war and peace. why do you mind victor hugo taking you on a trip through paris history. why do you expect every book to hold your hand and walk you through a Sharp and Well-Defined Plot with no side quests? live a little, babe!! 

“Writing is like a spiritual manifestation of something deep within us we don’t really know is there.”

— Joyce Carol Oates

How to Get Out of A Writing Slump

Feeling a writing slump approaching you and your story? Get ready for some tips by guest writer Aamna to help get you focused and ready to continue your writing goals.

So writing slumps. Wow! Isn’t that a big can of worms? This little curse can descend upon a writer, no matter a beginner or published when they least expect it. And for several reasons. The most common instance can be when you are right in the middle of a story or a first draft. So here are some methods that I have come across in my writing journey, and have seen work really well for either myself or others.  

1) Take a break from your current project. Let your subconscious do the processing.

Sometimes you’re just not feeling your current project. How do get your heart back into it again? Drop it and do something else. What I would recommend doing in this situation is, write a short story. Or a poem. Or fanfic. It doesn’t have to be related to your WIP. It will get your conscious mind out of a rut, but it’ll still be processing in the back of your brain, and later when you come to your novel, Voila! You have a fresh set of eyes and renewed vigor for your story. 

2) There’s a reason NaNoWriMo has pep talks.

By far, the thing that has worked for me the most is listening to other writers speak. Even if it is just a writing buddy and not a published author, there is something truly magical about listening to a storyteller gush about their story with the passion of a hero ready to save the world. The incessant urge to create something just as beautiful or being on that high of imagination that washes over me as I listen to them has worked for me several times when I feel myself falling into a slump.

Go through the NaNoWriMo pep talks, listen to author interviews or podcasts, or find a writing buddy. Remind yourself how fun it is to write. 

3) Go back to the synopsis of your story to see what made you excited to write that in the first place. Rejuvenate the love! 

I have personally seen that doing this little can trick can give you that dose of motivation you need to get back into a story. It takes you back to that place when you loved that idea and gets you excited to work on it again. 

My ideas come to me in the form of something like a Goodreads synopsis, so whenever I want to get back to working on it again after a break (maybe because of upcoming exams or tests), I have seen that going through the “hook”, helps to re-ignite that love and excitement about the idea. 

4) Make a mood board or playlist for your characters or setting.

A writing slump may not necessarily be a complete turn-off from working on a story. It can also be that you are just in a position that you are not able to get the words out, but that doesn’t mean the only way to effectively work is ‘words.’

Creating aesthetics and playlists can be a very fun, entertaining exercise to do, and make the writing process seem less like a chore. 

5) Allow yourself the break. Don’t push yourself back into writing full-length novels or projects. 

Every time you take a break from writing does not have to be called a writing slump. Sometimes it’s way better to take a mental health break, or just put a pause for no other reason that you don’t want to, and you’d rather work on something else. 

You should know when to shelve a story or let a project go. It’s completely okay to stop in the middle of a WIP and delve into a new idea instead of forcing yourself to brainstorm and drag yourself through a story that you are not interested in anymore. A lot of the time that’s exactly what pushes you into a slump in the first place. 

6) Remove the pressure. Don’t let perfectionism hold you back.

Editing as you write is not the most advisable course of action, especially when you’re a new writer. And fretting about things like sentence structure, word choice, or minute grammar errors shouldn’t be the focus while you’re writing. The first draft of anything is a mess. This is when you should turn off your inner editor, and let your perfectionist inner-self take a back seat. Little things like these, even though you may not realize it, do a lot to demotivate you and take the away joy of writing because you feel that nothing you write is ever good enough. Don’t compare yourself to published authors. Their books have gone through developmental edits, copy edits, beta readers, and whatnot. 

Constantly expecting and beating yourself up for not being as good as someone else can push you into a slump faster than a boring story. 

Aamna (she/her) is a young devourer of books, stories, and any other form of words you can give her. More often than not, you can find her either reading, daydreaming about her seemingly never-ending WIP, or working on her blog. She likes to say that words are her superpower, and has a weird obsession with Marvel, ice cream, really bad art journaling, and Scrabble. She lives in India and is currently working on a Turkish-inspired fantasy novel. You can also follow her on IG.

Top Photo by Ryan Snaadt on Unsplash  

Yeah I’m a writer. By that of course I mean I daydream scenes and never write them down

Things to bring back in books:

Chapter titles

Actually having a synopsis on the back instead of reviews no one will read

I *needed* sad and dark stories when I was younger, they had an actual place in my life, I needed to read stories about grief and loss and illness and pain and revenge.

People confuse the fucked up nature of the publishing industry at the present moment, where one story exists at the expense of another and one writer gets to publish at the expense of another (a situation created by industry problems and by franchises dominating half of the shelf in genre and kids’ works now), with a broad statement on the whole about what stories should exist, and that makes me sad. And mad.

We need all kinds of stories. And when I was younger, I didn’t just read mainstream works you could find at the bookstore. I also read out-of-print books, old books, and underground books. And now I also read self-published books… lots of them!

Really! The answer is just MORE STORIES!