Writing can be so easy when the muse kisses you and you write and write and forget the world around you. But a lot times you don’t have the luxury to wait for the muse to come kiss you and you still have to write. Here are some of the things I do to motivate myself to do what has to be done.
How to motivate myself to write more
The 100 Words Challenge
Set yourself a specific amount of words that you must write every day. 100 words doesn’t sound like that much, but even if you only write them every day and not anything more you still wrote 3,650 words that year. Better than nothing and definitely helps to get back into writing, because it motivates you to write even more and helps writing on a schedule.
+ it also works with a specific amount of time
The Inspirational Jar
Grab some pieces of paper and write down prompts you saw on the internet, song lyrics you like, characters you like to write about, quotes from books or movies, or just random words or situations. Fold them and put them into a jar or a box. Now you can just open it and grab one of the papers which you use as the basis for your writing that day. It’s great for getting back into writing and finding your own writing style through different forms of writing and different topics.
+ doesn’t have to be a real story, try other forms of writing, like a poem, a stream of consciousness, fanfiction, dialogue only, texting only, a retelling, no dialogue at all, a song, a diary entry, a character description,…
+ try to spice things up by using two or more inspirational slips of paper
Set a writing time
By setting a specific writing time you can trick your mind to shift easier into the mindset you need to write. You can write just after waking up or right before going to bed or somewhere in the middle. Try it out and find out what works best for you.
Block your phone/laptop
The luxury of having the world at your finger tips is great but it’s also distracting. Use apps (like Forest or Selfcontrol) to block your phone for the time you need to write. Or use something like Cold Turkey Writer so you have to write a specific amount of words or time before you can use your computer again.
Choose a writing place
Where do you write your best works? Choose a specific place to become your writing place, so you can trick your mind (like with the writing time) to get into the right mindset.
+ switch it up from time to time and go somewhere else. Go to a library, a coffee shop or a park to get fresh ideas and then go back to your routine
Music
Try to find music that stimulates your brain to concentrate more on writing or use music that fits the scene you’re about to write to get the right mindset. Music is great to feel like you are in a specific situation or have specific feelings - that’s why it’s great to have a soundtrack to your stories (and it also motivates you to finish it, so someone can buy the rights and make a movie out of it and use your Soundtrack - or is that just me?).
Ask a friend
Ask a friend, a family member or someone else to give you a setting, a word or a character that you try to incorporate into your already existing story or write something short and new.
Exercise
When you’re stuck and suffering from writer’s block with a scene, just stop and go out and work out or do a couple exercises at home. It clears your mind and you feel better after, so that you can sit down again and concentrate. And exercising is also a great opportunity to think your story through and work on solving existing problems.
Make a calendar
Write down whenever you wrote something in a calendar or use a habit tracker. It makes it easier to keep track on what you achieved so far and where you can still improve.
Reward yourself
Don’t punish yourself if you haven’t wrote in a long time or didn’t finish on time. Rewarding yourself is much more efficient. Choose some form of reward (when I write today I can… watch the new episode of my favourite show after, call my friends and go out, order a pizza, buy a new books, etc.) and stick to it. Even if it is a really small reward, getting to recieve it will fill you with joy and pride and makes it more likely for you to do it again.
I hope this helps everyone who struggles to motivate themselve to write. Good luck to you all!
I’m only giggling a little bit at being asked this as I’m just starting to come out of a long writing hiatus. Let me impart the best wisdom I’ve slowly gained over time.
Consistency: Write on a schedule if you’re not sure you’ll stay motivated. I try to write every single night (see visual below where I log my words written each day). I think just keeping up with it is a whole job sometimes, so getting yourself a routine will help you “getting in the writing mood.”
Confidence: Don’t stress yourself out unnecessarily. The more you write, the harder it is to do without second guessing all your work. Focus on just getting words out because you can edit later on once the story is on the page.
Organize: Outline as much as you can because it will make your life easier. “Winging it” works for some people, but if you’re just getting started, I recommend planning individual chapters and the overall plot so that you don’t get yourself lost. I’m constantly changing my own outlines in the middle of fics, but it keeps me on track.
Persevere: Don’t give up when it gets hard. Sometimes you just need to take a break, sometimes you need to rewrite some things. It can be overwhelming, but giving up is not a solution that will accomplish anything. Get a friend to look over it, open a dictionary, do some research!
Enjoy: It sounds so obvious, but don’t lose the plot of why you’re writing. We write for a purpose. Don’t be so focused on numbers and engagement that you forget to write something that makes you happy. Yours is the only opinion that truly counts when it comes to your own work. If you’re happy, don’t makes changes just to please others.
If you need help with specific processes (beta reading/editing, formatting, titles, tags, ratings, moodboards, summaries, etc.) feel free to ask and I can go into more detail!💛
ouuuu I think the biggest thing I struggle with personally is just like... the overbearing weight of expectation that isn't necessarily even there. Like, expectation to do everything right all the time, to never make mistakes, to never fall through on promises, to never break any 'rules' (real or imaginary) and most of all, for everything I do to matter in some big, recognizable, memorable way - but the steps to that goal aren't defined, I just know what the goal looks like, with no clear path as to how to get there, and so it often results in me aiming at my own "best guess" and then beating myself up for not hitting the target LOL which is completely unfair to myself and my own work!
What I try to regularly remind myself of is that I am one person, who is only capable of what one person should reasonably be able to accomplish on their own, no matter how much my auDHD tries to convince me otherwise that I "should" be able to handle more than what's reasonable. And in that same sense, there isn't any more pressure on me to put out something perfect than there would be on any other person. I am not Atlas carrying the fate of the greatest work known to mankind on my shoulders - I'm a chronically online dweeb making stuff that's interesting to themselves and sharing it in the hopes that even just one other person will like it too. That isn't a diss on myself, that's me embracing what I am so that I can keep doing it better and more confidently each time.
Though I don't know if this exactly applies to you, I'm gonna say it just in case: I know when it comes to balancing multiple projects, it can be hard not to go "oh well I SHOULD be working on xyz!" but at the end of the day, you're not a failure for preferring to work on something else or needing space from projects that used to thrill you and have now become monotonous. In fact, it turns out that's how it is for most neurotypical people too! I know they make a lot of shit look easy, but even they have shit they loathe doing - they just don't have to deal with the unique hurdles of being neurodivergent.
Always remember to set boundaries with yourself and your work. Remember, just because you're really excited to work on something, doesn't mean you have to work on it all the time. I've learned to appreciate those moments when I'm stuck doing my day job and I'm excited to get home and work on my passion project, because it means I can actually look forward to it and it'll feel all the more rewarding when I finally get to do it! Pushing yourself too hard to fulfill that excitement all at once right off the bat often just means you're gonna spend it all way too quick, and that won't feel good because then you'll be left wondering where all the love went.
Set little goals for yourself. Stuff that's manageable and achievable within a reasonable amount of time. I know we tend to dive into thinking huge right off the bat, because that's what's exciting to us, but when it comes time to actually do the work, those smaller goals can keep us moving forward far better than the big, far off, ambiguous goal hiding somewhere off in the horizon. While it's good to plan ahead, not setting smaller milestones for yourself can burn you out faster because it's really hard to work towards an "end goal" that might be too far away for us to even conceptualize. The small goals allow us to reward ourselves along the way, and they do ultimately still build up to the bigger picture in the end, even if it feels like we're "not doing much". It can be anything like "get to this chapter that I can finish in the next few weeks" or "fully write out this scene that's been living in my head rent-free".
As for the overthinking... yeah, I wish I had some magic solution to that, but it's really just about learning what you enjoy doing vs. what you don't, so that you can have confidence in knowing when your creative decisions suit the project you're working on. This is something that gets better with practice and experience, but I feel like it's better tackled by reminding yourself that any project, no matter the outcome of how popular it gets or whether or not it "takes off", is an opportunity to learn and grow. Treat every project as a learning experience and you'll hopefully find the process itself more enjoyable, which will subsequently buff up your confidence. It's all a process of honing in on what works for you, what you excel at, and what you enjoy doing; while learning what doesn't work for you, what you could improve at, and what you don't enjoy doing.
Finding a writing buddy or someone who's willing to read your work and give you feedback is super helpful for this, too, because sometimes it takes another perspective to help us navigate the fog of indecision and find a solution.
And again, remember - you are one person, and you are under no obligation for any of your projects to be some perfect, infallible holy grail. You will write stuff that you will inevitably look back on with disgust and cringe. You will create projects that you will eventually outgrow or move on from. That does not invalidate the time and effort you put into those projects - it's proof of experience and growth. Embrace the growing pains, find peace in the process in whatever way you can.
It's not a question of right or wrong - it's asking yourself what feels true to you and your voice, and finding out along the way.
If you haven’t been around Dreamwidth recently, you may have missed a great post at GYWO! All links are member-locked, so if you’re not signed up for the challenge, you won’t be able to access them.
How Do You Level Up?: Figuring out what to focus on and how to develop are only the first steps to improving as a writer. Let’s chat about what can help in your writer growth
Picking Character POV: Things to consider when choosing the POV character for your story or scene
What Are You Working On?: Fill out the question form and leave a comment to let everyone know about your current work in progress
Mindful Participation in Fandom: Whether you’re a fandom old or a newbie, we’ve got you covered with ways to interact with fandom and keep your cool
The Duck Pond: Are you stuck on a concept? Not sure where to go with a character? Just need help making a decision? Talk to a rubber duck and find a solution!
Bold Kitten Publishing: a Bold Kitten Guide: You, too, can publish like a Bold Kitten—learn how to gather your peeps, and repeat, repeat, repeat, as well as why bold publishing works
Writer Kindness: a Bold 🐈 Kitten’s Guide: We writers need to remember that kindness isn’t always just for others—it’s also for ourselves! Here are some ways we can show kindness to ourselves as writers
Pep Talk: If you’re behind in your pledge, you may be thinking about quitting. The mods are here to tell you (with data-backed evidence) you are not alone! Continuing to try is a success all by itself
Submission Soirée
Submission Soirée: Prepare a manuscript for submission with support from the community
A reminder to all my lovely fellow writers: progress is progress, even when it isn’t. Writing four thousand words in a session is progress. Writing a hundred words in a session is progress. Removing an entire scene because it doesn’t flow well is progress. Rethinking your plan for the plot in order to get unstuck is progress. Development looks different for every writer and every story.
Suffice to say that writing will always be tough work, and the challenges will never evaporate, only change. When we are new, pre-published authors, we are literally in the process of learning an incredibly difficult skill. While having talent is definitely an asset, it’s only one piece of a giant puzzle.
As we grow in our craft, the challenges shift. We might publish our first novel and it’s well-written. But then we have to write the next novel and the next. Then there is creating an author brand, sales, social media, formatting, covers, research, revisions, edits….AHHHHH.
Thus, writing can get really overwhelming and, if we fail to develop good habits, laziness definitely can be at the root of writer’s block. It’s just SO much easier to repaint the house than it is to knock out a thousand words, right?
I wouldn’t call it laziness but writing is indeed hard work and it’s only natural that we sometimes want to avoid doing the hard stuff.
Kristen has a lot of advice in this post on how to actually do the hard stuff.
When you’re writing your first draft it’s not always easy to notice how many times you have already used a particular word. Especially when it comes to body language, we often use the same words over and over - like “he shrugged”, “he lifted his eyebrows”, “she rolled her eyes”, “she furrowed her brows”.
Other words that might show up too often: “suddenly”, “very/really”, “probably” and so on.
Revising tip: Sit down and create a list with synonyms or similar expressions that you could use instead of your “favorite” words.
While revising, you can easily use CTRL + F to locate a particular word you know you have used too frequently. Switch the word with one of the synonyms you listed, or change the expression. You obviously don’t have to switch the word every time, just observe how many times you have actually used it and if it’s too often, try to change it or change the whole sentence.
Some books do have the same expressions many, many times and it can become a bit irritating, so revising your frequently repeated words will definitely improve your writing a lot.
Many writers are all too familiar with rejection. You pour your heart and soul into a piece, imagining how it might sound to readers, only to face the crushing reality of a “no” in response.
For writers, the publishing world can feel like an endless uphill battle paved with setbacks and self-doubt. It is enough to make even the most steadfast question whether it is all worth it.
The truth is that hope is what keeps you going. While rejection is part of the process, so is resilience, and learning how to maintain that resilience is key to flourishing as a writer.
absolutely love abusing the power that comes with 3rd person limited pov and just ignoring things and being vague sometimes. does the character know all the details? no? then I don’t have to either.
In film formula, each plot point has a very specific role. This post is a follow-up to the previous you can read here, where we talked about how every plot point should contribute to your protagonist’s arc. Now, we’re going to look into what these plot points are, and how they contribute to your protagonist’s arc.
Intro:
To begin, we can’t see how a character grows by the end if we don’t know how they started. The very first point of your story should be what we call the “normal world”. Within this point, there should be a small conflict for the protagonist to overcome to demonstrate their strengths and hint at their weaknesses, and should ideally foreshadow the inciting incident.
For example, in Tangled, Rapunzel argues with her mother about going out to see the floating lights on her birthday, and we see that she is thoughtful and kind, but also naïve and bullied by mother Gothel.
This smaller conflict foreshadows the inciting incident, where Flynn will break into the tower and she’ll bully him into taking her to the lights.
Inciting Incident:
This point is the beginning of your character’s arc. It is something that happens to your protagonist (so not a choice that they make, yet) and completely flips their world on their head, pulling them outside of their comfort zone. It is the start to conflicts they will eventually have to face, forcing them to change.
Following our example, Flynn breaks into the tower (something that happens to Rapunzel), and agrees to take her outside of her tower (quite literally leaving her comfort zone by venturing out into the dangerous/uncertain world).
First Act Turn:
This is the first choice your character makes. This choice is spurred on by the inciting incident and relates directly to how your character wants to achieve their goals/objective.
Fun and Games:
Rising action, typically with an undercurrent of success. In Tangled, this is the part they’re exploring the world and getting closer. They’re still facing conflicts (running from goons, getting trapped in the cave, etc.) but they are succeeding.
Midpoint:
I tend to think of this as the “beginning of the end”. This point is another thing that typically happens to your protagonist that is a direct result of the choice they made at the first act turn. It looks first like a success—where the protagonist has achieved their objective—before it is reversed and they lose everything. This point is the largest raise of stakes in the story.
In Tangled, this is the point Rapunzel gets to see the lights and is just about to kiss Flynn when the goons catch up to them, and she believes he betrays her. It is a victory, followed by a devastating loss.
Things Get Worse:
Rising action but with an undercurrent of everything going wrong. Rapunzel is brought back to her tower, Flynn is locked in jail and set to be hanged.
Second Act Turn:
This is another major choice your character makes responding directly to what happened at the Midpoint. What’s important here is that the character takes a new strategy to fulfill their goal. This choice should feel desperate and offer a slim chance of success.
In Tangled, Rapunzel confronts her mother and chooses not to return back to her life in the tower.
Crisis:
Responds directly to the choice the character made. It places them in a dangerous situation (high stakes, physical or moral jeopardy) where the probability of their failure is high. This is the point the protagonist recognizes their unconscious need.
Rapunzel is locked up in the tower and Flynn gets stabbed trying to get to her.
Climax:
One last decision! The protagonist is confronted by their worst fear and must act, usually requiring some sort of sacrifice and reveals to us who they have become over the course of the story. This choice will also determine your theme.
Rapunzel tells mother Gothel that if she allows her to heal Flynn, she’ll stop trying to get away from her, obvious sacrifice. Then, Flynn decides to cut her hair, sacrificing his own hope of survival while killing Mother Gothel for good to save Rapunzel.
Resolution:
Shows the consequences of the choice made in the climax (good and bad). Draws remaining questions to a close, and demonstrates the way the world has changed due to what happened. How the world is now (good or bad) carries a statement on whether the character made the right or wrong choice—which is the lasting impression of your theme.
In Tangled, Flynn is healed and Rapunzel reunites with her parents and takes on her role as the princess.
If you’re stuggling with trying to figure out how to get everything done in your writing, you need to break it into sessions, days and weeks. Maybe you have very little time to work, so you break that time (if it’s more than like, twenty minutes, and even then, maybe you could work in micro-sessions of five minutes + leftover to write notes for next session) down into pieces.
I have my weekly sessions broken up, and then I keep to my writing time on Saturday and Sunday, with a twist: I can work on anything related to the story that I want. So Saturday is for working on music for the band one of my MCs is in (got a six-song album planned). It may never actually be part of the book, but it might, and it keeps me interested in the world, the character, her bandmates, and helps me multi-task by practicing songwriting, etc.
Maybe Sundays I’ll do visual art, playlist, read related books, do research.
If you’re trying to fit everything you need to do in every writing session you have, it’s not going to go well.
Your time needs structure just like your books do.
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