Tenacity To Write At Length
This is an insightful post about some necessary writing skills required to create AND finish adult-sized novels.
Before breaking into my short tips on how to maintain a prolonged mental state for large writing projects, let me say this, keep plenty of backup power on-hand and practice periodic saving every few minutes! (Technology failed me twice while compiling this article.)
Now that the tech-part has been said, let's move on.
Time for writing, only writing.
It's impossible to write an entire novel on five or ten minute intervals with the idea that the passages can be stuck together later and make sense to a stranger. They won't. Good writing takes more.
Novels require their writer's attention for hours at a time. It's not unusual for an author to sit and write for eight or nine hours without stopping.
I've found it takes about two hours to re-engage with the previous day's work, three hours of new, good material that follows it, an hour of twiddling around with the new stuff and another hour winding down, checking to see if what was written flows well.
Routine.
If you haven't already got a writing routine, find one. Sit at your table at a prescribed time for writing and stick to it. Make yourself do it. It'll be hard at first, but it gets easier as your brain reprogrammes itself. Eventually, your fingers will dance over the keyboard easily.
Fingers and brains love routine! That's where creativeness comes from.
Distractions.
There are two distractions that threaten to sabotage any writing project. One is external and the other is not.
Using my power problem as an example, this distraction was an external one and can be easily avoided. A phone call would be classified as an external distraction too, so would be a noisy neighbour and his leaf blower. Checking one's phone for anything/everything is called procrastination.
Self-induced distractions will kill a good write. Find a way to be alone with your soon-to-be-book and commit to it. Stop sleeping with your love's enemies and get it done!
Notes.
Carry a small notebook with you when you're NOT writing your book - to write down character / plot ideas. This will give your mind something to work on when you're away from your desk. (It's surprising how much content you'll gather for your story by the time you sit to write again.)
I DON'T use my phone for taking notes - too tempting to check notifications when it's in my hand!
Finish it!
Millions of authors BEGIN novels, few get to completing one. Finishing chapter two isn't completion either. A book is a book when it's all it's pages are done, first through to the last. (Some say it isn't one until the edits, proof reads, re-writes, edits, printing and publishing is over and it's title can be read from the spine while sitting on a bookshelf)
There ya go!
A little more wisdom from my desk.
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