Let me begin by saying that I love to write.  Most days I enjoy building worlds, creating unique characters and letting stories unfold.

Note that I said “Most days”.

There are times when I simply cannot get myself motivated to write.  Some might call it writer’s block, but not me.  For me it’s usually because I have too many things I want to write.  I kid you not, too much of a good thing can prove overwhelming.  That was the case the past 10 days or so.

I have no shortage of writing and projects on the go:  my fantasy novel rewrite, my Critters submissions, my Nano novel to plot, query letters to send out and the list goes on.  With that much to do you would think I would find the motivation to carve time out of my evenings (days are still claimed by work) to get things done.

Unfortunately, I found myself throwing my hands up in the air more often than not.  I kept telling myself “tomorrow”.  That was 10 days ago; a lot of tomorrows wasted.

During that time I had plenty of ideas to put down.  Directions for the rewrite that would make the story that much better, plot points for the Nano novel.  The problem was, I was only thinking about it.  I wasn’t getting anything done.  I wanted to be totally committed to writing or not at all.

This morning I decided I’d had enough.  No more stalling.  No more excuses.  I sat down before work and put all my ideas down on paper.  As I was jotting them down, surprise, surprise, more ideas came.  Before I knew what was happening, I had two pages of ideas written.

In a little less than 30 minutes I had written more than the previous 10 days.  Granted, none of the writing really moved my novel rewrite forward but it gave me more direction than I had in the past.  Now the book will be MUCH better than I had envisioned before.

Oh yeah, and I’m feeling motivated again.

I know that I could be further down the rewrite road but I’m actually glad I’m not.  I know if I hadn’t spent the time this morning I would be rehashing some old ideas.  Now I have new ideas to bring forward.  Still, that doesn’t really explain how I got past my motivation issue.

The answer is pretty simple.  I pushed all the anxieties I had about current and approaching projects and just wrote.  It didn’t matter what I wrote (although in this case the material is very useful for current and approaching projects), just that I put words to paper.

There have been days when I’ve been sad, or melancholy or angry and I haven’t felt like adding to my current projects.  That’s alright.  I should still sit down and describe how I’m feeling or talk about whatever thoughts are rattling around in my head.  That will still exercise my writing muscle and might even exorcise some of my motivational demons.

I’m not yet in a position where I have to rely on my writing for my monthly income, but I hope to get there some day.  If that does ever happen I have to remember that my writing output will directly affect my monthly income; I won’t be able to afford to have an unproductive day.  Now is the time to learn how to get past that and press on.

Good luck vanquishing your writing demons and bring on NanoWriMo!

I have trouble writing scenes.  Usually I feel that my description of the setting is too lean.  I like to let people use their imaginations, but I don’t think I give them enough to work with.

That is a far cry from how I used to write.  When I first started writing I was always trying to paint beautiful pictures that flew on wings of purple prose.  I thought I needed to be both poetic and thorough to be a good writer.  Somewhere along the way (during my writing course, I think) I did a complete 180 degree turn and went minimal.

Which way is right?  Looking at the writing I’m doing now I would say that neither is the right choice.  Neither method of writing accomplishes what I need it to.  Overwriting leaves me feeling like I’m wading through molasses while writing too little leaves me confused.  I need to find the middle ground.

It can be a hard place to find unless you practice but there are a few things you can do that will help.

To identify and reduce overwriting a scene look for a few clues:  (1) have you described more than a handful of items in the scene (hint, lots equals bad), (2) is every descriptive element important to the story (for example is it important to talk about the birds singing if all it does is add ambience?), (3) do you find that you are describing ever move a character makes (and where he/she makes it?).  I know I’ve done all three and been especially guilty of number 3.  I’ve found that when I start with the stage direction (describing every move), the writing becomes slow and cumbersome.  That’s my cue to cut past it.

Too little description can be identified easily too.  I know if I’m reading something and I start to feel too rushed, it’s usually because there isn’t enough meat to the writing.  Usually the addition of some beats in the dialogue and a bit more description of the surroundings fixes that right up.

Even if the writing is beautifully done with vivid description that augments the story, there is something to consider:  many readers today are used to quick moving scenes.  If the description slows the story at all the reader loses interest.  That happened with a book I finished reading recently.

I loved the way the author painted her scenes; everything was so vivid and alive I couldn’t wait to get to the next scene and live it.  I passed that book on to my daughter.  Her reaction?  Meh!  ”It didn’t really grab me,” she said.  Different generation, different expectation for the book.

I also read a portion of a story the other day, again with beautiful imagery.  Every color was vivid, every movement of the protagonist richly described… and I was thoroughly tired by the time I finished reading.  The story was very interesting, I just don’t think I have the energy to read 700 pages of it.

So, to summarize, remember the following to give your scenes enough punch to keep them interesting but not too much to make them tedious:

• only describe the elements of the scene that pertain to the story;
• do NOT describe every action a character makes;
• if the story seems to be too fast, add beats to dialogue and description to other passages;
• if the story seems to slow, cut what doesn’t add to the story.  If necessary, cut entire passages and cut to the next scene.

I hope that helps you out; I know that since I’ve adopted this approach I’ve been happier with my writing.

Personal Update

No news yet on my story submissions.

Rewrite of fantasy novel going well.  I’ve exceeded 10,000 words and have submitted the first 3 chapters to Critters.  If you happen to be a member, keep an eye for “The Goddess Renewed” the week of November 5 and send me some feedback.

I’ve begun plotting my NanoWriMo book.  I think I have an interesting twist to get it started.  Something the new media community will relate to.

Have a fantastic week!