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Hello friends! As the title suggests, I’ve kinda hit a rough spot with my writing.
Not in the way you’d probably think, it’s not the dreaded writer’s block. Rather the opposite, I’m in that blissful state every writer longs for where word counts are being hit, the words are flowing, the story is taking shape, and writing is fun.
However, in the past few months, I’ve noticed that my writing has kind of stagnated. Or, it feels like it has.
So, my first question is, how do you know when your writing skills are plateauing?
I’ve often seen with published authors when they’ve published a few books, they start to fall into a pattern. Their writing starts going down in quality and starts getting somewhat repetitive. I don’t think this is something they’re usually aware of.
I’ve always been scared about the same thing happening to me without noticing it. Like, on the growth curve, I feel like I’ve gotten past the beginner stage. I even feel like I know what I’m doing most of the time, and I think that’s part of the problem. I don’t know what I don’t know anymore. I feel like I can’t find new stuff to learn, and I don’t mean that in a ‘I know everything’ way, more ‘I don’t know where to find new ways to improve because I’ve learned everything I can find to the best of my ability’.
I think some contributing factors are that I’m currently rewriting, for the second time. So, I’m in the polishing stages, where I’m already very familiar with the story and it’s no longer rough or unformed. I’ve also been working on this story for a long time, but I don’t want to abandon it, even though my growth has been stuck. I want to finish it, I really love it and I’m motivated to finish even though I don’t want to publish it. I also just want it to be done so I can move on with other things, and I don’t want to jump around and not finish it.
So, I’ve been doing the same thing for a while, out of pure necessity of working on a long trilogy that takes a lot of time.
I’m getting critique on it as well, but a lot of it feels like minor polishing things, so not any big writing things that I have to learn about and improve on. The story is just genuinely pretty good and pretty polished. I feel like there’s so many things I don’t know, but I don’t know where to find them.
I’d be really interested in hearing if any of you have experienced anything similar, and if anyone has any ideas for growing through it! Or, if it’s just a part of the editing process where the story is pretty polished and you just have to push through it and enjoy the peace while it lasts? XD
Some tags:
@anyone! I’d really appreciate the feedback!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Hello there, Rose! (@rose-colored-fancy)
First off, I have a few questions that may seem unrelated, but I will tie them back in after asking.
What kinds of books have you been reading for fun, lately?
What kinds of books have you been reading for research (story related) lately?
What kinds of TV shows or movies have you been binging on lately, if any?
A lot of times we writers think in terms of our writing output, but too often we fail to consider what our inputs are.
Take the Dead Sea, for example.
It is highly mineralized and very valuable for being so, but it is called The Dead Sea because it has no outflow. It merely receives the flow of the rivers that feed it, but there is no pass-through.
Sometimes we writers can feel a little stagnated or even drained because we are either only taking in, or only flowing out and the content of what we take in, may affect what flows out of us.
One thing that is most important, is making sure you are spending some daily, quality time in fellowship with The Creator, and are ingesting His Story so that it can breathe life through your story.
God wants to bring you into intimacy with Him so that your outflow is life-giving to others who will read your works.
Also, I am just wondering why you feel anxious about publishing your work. Sometimes the very thing that ministers to us and grows us and stretches us, is also beneficial to others. We don’t live in silos, and neither were we created to.
A seed must be planted and released from the hand of the sower, to produce fruit that returns nourishment to those who reap its diligent watering and planting.
Every story told is a seed planted. Allow a little “Son-light” to express Himself through your gifts.
Another thing to consider is are you varying what you intake from time to time. If you tend to consume the same old stuff, it may make you feel plateaued, because you are not exploring paths that renew, expand and revitalize your circles of interests.
Those are just a few thoughts to consider.
I would love to know what you think.
Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.Thank you so much for your reply!
Sometimes we writers can feel a little stagnated or even drained because we are either only taking in, or only flowing out and the content of what we take in, may affect what flows out of us.
That’s a very interesting point, and one I hadn’t really thought of. I have been reading and watching a variety of new genres and discovering new things about writing through it, but I haven’t really been applying any of them. I think it might be a part of editing, because the story already exists, so it leaves less room to apply new techniques.
I think I’m going to look into writing shorter fiction, even if very brief or unfinished, just for a change. I have a different project I’m outlining that I’ve been putting aside to focus on editing, I may start working on it a bit more to try out the new things I have learned.
Or even just flash fiction and short stories, anything that has a different voice and perspective from what I’m currently doing.
One thing that is most important, is making sure you are spending some daily, quality time in fellowship with The Creator, and are ingesting His Story so that it can breathe life through your story.
Amen, excellent advice always 🙂
Also, I am just wondering why you feel anxious about publishing your work. Sometimes the very thing that ministers to us and grows us and stretches us, is also beneficial to others. We don’t live in silos, and neither were we created to.
That’s a good point, and it is something I’ve been thinking about. I don’t think my choice not to publish (soon) comes from a place of anxiety anymore. It definitely did at a time, but as I’ve grown as a writer that has kind of disappeared. I don’t feel worried about how people will recieve the story anymore.
I’m not currently planning to persue publication within the next few years, but that’s not to say I never will with this story. I want to get the story to a point where I can put it aside for a few years, write something else, and circle back to it with a more mature perspective. I’m in no hurry to publish, and I still have a lot of time, so waiting a while won’t hurt 🙂
Another thing to consider is are you varying what you intake from time to time. If you tend to consume the same old stuff, it may make you feel plateaued, because you are not exploring paths that renew, expand and revitalize your circles of interests.
That’s great advice, and it’s something I’ve been focusing on recently! I still tend to get stuck in familiar patterns, so I have to remind myself to try new things too.
Thank you so much for your advice, it definitely gave me a new perspective on the problem and a potential solution!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Ahh this is such a biggie for me too, almost as much as having zero interest in my stories. XD Have you tried writing in a genre so astronomically different from your preferred one? If you write fantasy, try writing a contemporary. Or if you write romance, try sci-fi from a 10-year-old’s perspective. Maybe you write a wide variety of fiction. Try your hand at a non-fiction. This can prompt a whole new learning curve – and be lots of fun too. 😛 Or maybe it’s time to take a break from learning about writing and start learning about the other aspects of being an author – stuff like marketing and query letters and the pros and cons of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing.
Or you could test your betas and write something as badly as you possibly can, then hand it over and see what they have to say about it – if they just fix the polishing things or go after plot and stuff as well. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hey Joelle!!
Have you tried writing in a genre so astronomically different from your preferred one?
That’s an awesome idea, I’ll be working on that! I actually have a book like that currently in the outlining phase, so I think I’ll start spending some more time on that!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
I feel ya, but just sayin’, that is not a big deal at all. Worry about that when you’re line editing and in between books. Of all the problems to have, free-flowing, but mediocre prose is an awesome one. I’m over here wavin’ goodbye to 10k words a week because I’m either lazy or uninspired or both. 🙂
I feel ya, but just sayin’, that is not a big deal at all. Worry about that when you’re line editing and in between books. Of all the problems to have, free-flowing, but mediocre prose is an awesome one.
Honestly, that’s very encouraging XD I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts XD
I’m over here wavin’ goodbye to 10k words a week because I’m either lazy or uninspired or both. 🙂
Now I’m going to turn around and be the one giving advice XD That’s totally okay. You don’t need to write quickly, even if you used to. (I’m honestly just mostly talking to myself XD) Recently, some days I can’t get more than 400 words, sometimes without any particular reason. That’s okay too, it’s still progress. Even if it feels incredibly slow, it adds up, and faster than you’d think probably!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Yeppers. But it still stinks when a book takes 3 months longer to write than it was supposed to. 🙂
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