Wednesday 11 March 2015

I don't have a title

So I'm trying to start writing again (I know, again) and I'm finding it really difficult this time. I think the reason it seemed a lot easier to get started in the past was because I wasn't doing it right, I wasn't planning it properly. It's been mostly silly stories up until now and I tend to just dive right in and try to start writing from page one with no idea what my plot is, who my characters are or what kind of a back story they have. I've never been able to write more than two short chapters before, which is alright I guess with no planning, and I think that's because I had no idea where my stories were going so it was all just meaningless dialogue and description scenes. Boring. I don't know how I expect to do any better this time, I mean I can't even write an engaging post here, but planning has got to help. So that's what I'm doing. I've been tagging a few posts about writing advice on tumblr for the past few months, and I've finally got them together to help me make out a clear and concise plan, and they help me make sure I know what I'm doing at every stage.
So far I've got a plot, my main characters and what drives them. Also some of their secrets and ulterior motives and what's going to change them throughout the story. I haven't got any names for them yet, but that will come later. I'm currently trying to write out a detailed timeline of the plot, and it's really difficult. The most annoying thing is I now know where I want the story to go, but I don't know exactly how to get it there. And do you know what's even more annoying? I don't even have a concrete title for this thing yet. I have a few ideas floating around in my head, but I just don't know what to go with or whether any of them are even that good.
One thing I know for sure is that writing is never going to be easy. But my problem has always been my inability to keep going when it gets particularly tough. It's so easy to give up and I always do. But I found some advice on tumblr from Neil Gaiman, and one particular point stuck in my head;


That's what I'm going to do. My goal this time is to finish writing this story, no matter how bad it seems to me. All I need is to get a first draft finished and I'll have something good to work with. I can fix any flaws at a later date. I get so excited when I think about sitting down to write this story, so I guess I'd better go finish writing out that timeline...