04 May 2007

Attempting to kick my inner writer in the ass

I've determined that I have three major problems with my writing. And this goes for both fanfiction and my everyday fiction writing. I found this problem during my NaNoWriMo attempts. It annoyed the shit out of me:

1) Fear to actually put words on a page because I can't get my brain to wrap around the concept of a first-draft. My inner editor wants to correct everything in my head before I put a word to the page... so well, nothing gets written. ETA - Nothing, I should say, means that I've actually put about 20,000 words to paper, which is a hell of a lot more than most people can or will write. But I don't feel happy about probably half to over half, and I feel that I'm second- and third-guessing my ideas so much that I'm losing all of them before I get them into written text.

2) I'm getting seriously stuck in writer's block, due to not figuring out how to push my story forward.

3) Somewhere along the line, I've either forgotten how (or never quite mastered) the idea of plot and scene structure. I don't doubt it's causing the most of the writer's block problems.

So, in an attempt to work through these issues, I've done the following:

1) Searched for, and found, two lovely beta-readers for my fic writing. Both of whom I've loved reading, and am thrilled they're willing to work with me.

2) Bought three books at Barnes & Noble to help me do some inner-searching to work through my hangups:

- "Unstuck - A supportive and Practical Guide to Working Through Writer's Block" by Jane Anne Staw, PhD
- "Plot & Structure - Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish" by James Scott Bell
- "Scene & Structure" by Jack M. Bickham

Hopefully these will help a bit. Regardless of what I'm writing, I definitely want to have my writing improved. Right now, that means putting some damn words to a page.

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