Keeping Track of Your Word Count: Does It Work?

Last year, I did a lot of rewriting, but not so much new writing. So one of my goals this year is to keep the new writing flowing. It doesn't matter if I only work on something for ten minutes a day. My reasoning: even ten or twenty words is better than zero words. 

At the beginning of January, I started something I heard about on The Creative Penn podcast (Are You Meeting Your Writing Goals? Try These Productivity Tips for Writers). I stuck a tiny January calendar in my writing book and began keeping track of how many words I wrote each day. I didn't know if it would really help to keep me writing, but I'm happy to report that it has. Some of the benefits: 

1) Keeping the flow going. Maybe it's just the story I'm working on, but I do find it's easier to get back into the story for each writing session.

2) More pencil on paper writing. Sometimes when I'm tired at the end of the day, I'll realize I haven't worked on my story. And I feel a twinge of guilt because I haven't filled in anything on my chart. So I get out my writing notebook (going to the computer is too much trouble because at this point I'm probably lying in bed). Since I don't have a backspace key, I just write freely about something I think might happen in the story. I know I can always fix it up later when I type it in. 

3) Experimenting with the writing process. With my previous novels, I wrote all the scenes in order. But now I have this chart. I don't want to be stuck. I want to get something done so I record it, so I just work on whatever scene catches my interest. If I don't know what comes next, I skip to the next thing that I know is going to happen. I'm not sure what this will do to the end product but I'm finding that the process is more fun. I spend less time thinking about what I'm going to write each day. (It also helps that I have a plan with some major scenes and an ending so I know where I'm going.)

Would I recommend keeping track of your word count?

I'm not sure it would work if I started obsessing about the exact number of words I wrote each day. That'd be too much pressure. But it is motivating to write something on that calendar every day. It's okay with me if it's just a paragraph or even a sentence. Of course, once I get thinking about my story, it usually turns into more.

But What I Wrote Yesterday Was Better!

One of the hard parts about writing for me is starting again without comparing what I'm doing today to what I wrote yesterday.

The part I've already written always sounds pretty good (at least, before editing) and the part I'm trying to work on doesn't seem like it's even worth writing down. Maybe this is self-doubt creeping in, or some kind of writing perfectionism. Do you have this problem? Some ways to deal with it:

1. Don't go back and read over too much of what's already there. It's too intimidating. I just go back a paragraph or so.

2. Leave a quick note at the end of each day's work about where the story is going so I don't have to read the "better" part of the book over again.

3. Begin writing in a fresh document and copy it into the rest of the novel later (if it's good enough).

I know some writers don't write sequentially, so maybe that helps.

When I start a writing session, I always think my writing should flow seamlessly on to the next section. What I forget is all the re-writing I did of each previous section while I was writing it.

How Over-Thinking Destroys the Story

Sometimes I catch myself doing too much thinking about my writing. Of course I need to think about the character's goals, obstacles and what needs to happen to help the plot hang together. But sometimes I can get hung up on these things instead of actually writing.

It reminds me of how I can park my van perfectly if I pull into the spot and don't think much about it, but if I pause and wonder if I'm coming in at the right angle, I start having doubts. Sometimes I even end up driving right past a perfectly good spot because I thought too much about the mechanics of the process.

Does this ever happen to you? I get fixated on how a scene will fit into the overall storyline, instead of just writing it and deciding that later. Not everything needs to be worked out. For me, a lot of the good stuff emerges while I'm writing.

Why is Writing So Slow?

I'm lucky that writing isn't a race, because I'd come in dead last. I spend forever thinking about each little bit I write. What takes me so long is that I'm mentally living the moments with my main character and then deciding what I need to include to help my readers experience it too. (I'm also working on getting the words to sound right, but I'll leave my perfectionist tendencies out of this, I'm trying to ignore them.) 

It struck me yesterday that the perspective-taking I do as a writer isn't so different from what I do as a teacher, especially at the beginning of the year. I think about the school day from a student perspective and the details a student needs to know to succeed (from "Where is the bathroom?" to "What should I do after I finish my work?") Then I decide which ones I need to explain or show them first and which I can leave for later.

The difference is that as a teacher, I need to explain or show pretty much everything. As a writer, I have to be more picky. My explanations need to be more artful and less explicit. Once I'm inside the the perspective of a character, I need to extract the essential and the unique and somehow capture that on the page. That's what takes me a long time.

What slows you down about the writing process?

So That's What I Planned to Write About!

Do you ever look back at your original notes for a story? When I do, I often find that my story has morphed into something completely different. So much for the preliminary synopsis and one-line summary that I wrote before I started.

The mental picture of Novel #4 that I had as I started jotting down those first, excitement-filled ideas is very different from the picture I have now, after all the cutting and layering and stopping to brainstorm "what if". Through the long process of writing and revising, the story I wanted to tell has changed.

It always surprises me when my stories always turn out to be much more serious than I originally think they will (even though I don't think other people would be surprised, since I'm a fairly serious person). Do your stories change a lot from the way you originally conceptualize them?

BTW, that other story? The one I initially dreamed up when I wrote the summary? It sounds really good. Maybe someday I'll write that one too.

How to Improve Your Writing

I'm always thinking about ways to improve my writing process. I want to write better stories faster. The whole process is so slow, and I keep thinking I can do something to speed it up (probably not possible, but I try).

The more I think about it though, the more it comes down to one thing. How much time do I spend writing or even thinking about my project? Not very much, lately. Improving my writing process and skills really mean nothing if I'm not spending time writing. (And that does not include blog posts.)

So, today, I encourage you to sit down in front of your computer and just start writing. It might turn out to be garbage, but at least you're writing something. It's weird to have to spell out something that's obvious, but I seem to need the reminder:  writers write.

What's In Your Writing Notebook?

On Saturday, I went to the art gallery, something I haven't done for ages, and happened upon an exhibit of some of the notebooks of contemporary visual artist Betty Godwin. It was fascinating to get a glimpse of someone else's notes and sketches. It made me think about all the stuff in my own notebooks - I have about 20 of them. My notebook has evolved from an ordinary journal to a space for working out writing ideas. Here are the kinds of things I have in my most recent one:

1. Lots of notes about what I'm working out for my latest novel
2. Ideas about upcoming blog posts for the ABCs of writing for middle graders
3. A list of interesting looking books I saw at Indigo
4. E-mail and query info for agents that I jotted down while web surfing
5. Especially useful blog articles on writing techniques that I've printed out and glued in for future reference
6. Personal notes on my life, my writing-related experiences and my feelings
7. Random notes about my novels that I write on scrap paper (e.g. old parking stubs) but have glued in here so I don't lose them
8. Weird made up words and lists of potential character names

Do you keep a writing notebook? What kinds of things do you put in it?

How Will It End?

I've heard lots of writing advice about how it's a good idea to have the ending in mind before you begin writing. I don't always do that, but for my still-untitled Novel #4, I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted the story to end. Except while I was revising, another idea called to me, one that seemed more fitting for my character, and I tried it out.

So now I have two different endings. Both work, but in different ways. Have you ever had to decide between alternative endings for your story? How many times have you changed your ending?

About Revising (Part 2): What I Love

In my last post, I talked about how revision gets me down, but honestly, I really do love it. Here are some of the good points:

1.Since I know the ending, it's clear what details I need to emphasize to set it up and can plant them gracefully, instead of throwing in everything relevant in sight.

2. I get a good laugh from some of the dumb things I put in during the mad rush to get something written. Why did I ever think they'd work?

3. I know more about my characters since I've seen them in action, so it's easier to get inside their heads. And it's interesting to see how they've changed my original plans.

4. Since I don't make lists of characteristics before I begin, my characters sometimes morph in unusual ways. They sometimes change their hair colour, height, or special talent, and, in one unfortunate incident, gender. These things are so easy to fix, it's a real confidence booster.

5. If the new section isn't working, I always have something to fall back on (assuming I remember to save the new stuff in a new document).

6. It's fun to develop more voice by drawing it out and exaggerating a little.

7. During revisions, I start to feel my jumbled words are beginning to turn into a book that someone besides me might actually want to read.


What about you? What do you like about making revisions?

About Revising (Part 1): What I Hate

Since I'm so immersed in revising, my next two blog posts are about the good and bad sides of the process. First, the bad stuff (I like to leave the best for last):

1. I love the idea of having that whole book sitting there waiting for me to be improved upon (it's written, yay!) but then about halfway through my revisions on the book, I have that same gigantic loss of confidence that I did when writing it. You know, the one where it all seems like crap. I thought the revision process would be different.

2. Problems that I thought I solved in my first draft somehow sneak in again. Sometimes, the solutions were not really solutions, or just bandaid solutions to hold it together so I could finish the draft. This is when I discover they don't work.

3. Cutting out great writing sucks. But as Gail Carson Levine recommends in her book Writing Magic, I always save the bits I cut. You never know. (Except I think I do know. They'll sit on my computer until one day four years from now when I'll find the file and say, "What did I save this junk for?")

4. Getting stuck shouldn't happen because I have the whole first draft sitting there but it does anyway. Why isn't it easier? I know the book needs work. Another case where I thought the revision process would be different.

5. It takes a long time to get the revisions right, even longer than writing the first draft. Sigh.

Okay, these are all the negative thoughts I have about revising. You can share your own gripes too -- but don't worry about adding encouraging remarks, because I'm going to write about the good stuff on Wednesday. So spill it. What do you hate about revisions?

Revising With a Plan

Taking time to plan my revisions for Novel #4 has been incredibly helpful. After breaking down my novel into sections and thinking about which parts contribute to the plot and which really don't (see my previous post for details), my next step was to decide what I needed to do to the existing book to make the new structure work. For each section, I wrote down what I needed to do.

For example, "Change part about chocolate so Maya refuses chocolate curls". By listing all the changes I need, the process has become less overwhelming. I can focus on one change or one section each time I get a chance to work on it. And then I get the satisfaction of crossing it off my list once I've accomplished it. We'll see if this process leads to a stronger book.

How much planning do you do for your revision process?

Going Beyond Lists of Character Traits

From time to time I do more reading about the writing process to work on developing my skills (aside from the great stuff I find on everyone's blogs). Right now I'm reading The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman, since I always seem to have issues with my plots. The first chapter is about characters. It essentially helps you to create a list of traits about your character. I've never done too much of this in the past, because I always thought I'd "discover" more about my character as I write.

But here's the thing I never understood before: once you have that list of descriptions of your character, the way it really helps your story is to think about how each one of these traits could affect the plot. Time consuming? Yes. But, wow, it really helps you get a deeper understanding of your character's world.

Getting Past a Stumbling Block

I'm trying to question everything as I revise my novel and sometimes my questions get me stuck. For the past week, I've been faced with a plot problem that stopped me from moving ahead. But this weekend, instead of revising words and phrases, I went back to my scene summary to look at the bigger picture. What a great idea that was!

It's much easier to see the whole novel with brief descriptions of each scene. Since I'm not looking at my "beautiful" writing, it's also easier to make changes to the storyline. Making a few changes gave me confidence to make more. Here's a few things I want to remember:

1. Nothing is set in stone, just because the words are on the page.

2. It's easy to open a new file to save changes in to avoid messing up what I wrote before, in case I need it later.

3. I make the rules for my own story (as much as the characters might want things to go their way).

4. Sometimes it's okay to do what is convenient for the plot. Not everything has to be a new twist.

What I Learned This Week

My brain is stuffed so full of what I'm learning about teaching (I teach kindergarten and I'm trying out some new approaches this year), sometimes it doesn't feel like there's any space for my writing. It's hard to get a good balance between writing and the rest of my life sometimes. That's why I love reading other people's blogs to help me focus on the writing process. Here's some great things I learned this week:

1. What it really means to start a story with action. In a recent blog post, Jill Corcoran discusses how intriguing the reader is not the same as being thrown into the middle of an action scene.

2. How writing for different age groups might affect the process of getting an agent from Mary Kole over at kidlit.com.

3. Some benefits of going to a writing conference. Between getting the time to do it (anything that happens during the school year and involves travel is out) and the cost, I always let them pass me by. But after reading this blog post by Jennifer Hubbard, I'm thinking about it again.

4. It is possible to get past Chapter 2 in revising Novel #4 (still no title). What I needed was someone to talk with about my ideas and help me to feel okay about taking the simpler, more obvious path instead of a more complicated, less logical one. I'm learning not to create unnecessary complications for myself when writing a story.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating this weekend!

Moving at a Snail's Pace

One of the things I find hard about the entire novel writing process is how slow it is. It can take months for a first draft. Then months for revisions. More months while my critique group gives me their valuable opinions, chapter by chapter. More revisions. When it's finally ready for submitting, there's the waiting for responses to queries.

Sometimes I feel very impatient. I'm tempted to rush through my revisions (I'm only on Chapter 4 of about 20 chapters), because I wanted to finish them by the end of September.

But as I'm working, questioning what I've written as I go, I notice things I have to go back and add. Or sections I need to clarify. Places where my character's voice isn't right. So I won't rush. I'll change my goal to completing my revisions by the end of October. I want the novel to be the best that I can make it. But grr! Sometimes the slowness of it all is really frustrating.

What Revisions are Really About: Getting to Know Your Story

A lot of the time spent in the revision process involves getting to know your characters and story on deeper levels. I've noticed that it takes me a whole draft to get the story, then maybe two or three sets of revisions before I really know the characters. It's good to know I'm not the only one. In responding to my post on when to stop revising, here's what some of my commenters said:

Tabitha Bird: "I know to stop writing when I can write a good query letter. When I can sum up the book and I know what it is about and the whole thing makes sense, then I know I am there."

Karen Strong: "I can't even began to tweak my pitch or query until I'm almost near finishing revisions. I just don't really know yet until it's at that point."

I suppose that's why some people  make character sheets, setting descriptions, highly detailed plot summaries etc, before they begin writing. But until I put my characters into situations where they have to act and react, I don't really know them, or the surprises they will bring to the story.

What a First Draft Reveals

Writing a first draft really shows up your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Have you ever noticed how some parts come easily? It shows where your writing is strong. For instance, when I write dialogue, it seems to flow naturally. Later, I probably won't need to do much editing of the dialogue (unless it relates to the plot, of course). I'd say it's one of my writing strengths.

On the other hand, I'm not so good at establishing the setting (among other things). I've been writing so fast, concentrating on bigger things, like the story, that my characters are practically floating in the middle of nowhere. Not always a bad thing, but if your character is in a market and suddenly walks into their bedroom...well you can see how that could cause problems for the reader. My critiquers often point out that I need to add more setting details. Sometimes, they say my settings are too much of the same and need variety.

Have you ever thought about your writing strengths and weaknesses? It's useful sometimes. If you're aware of your weaknesses, you'll have a great starting point for what to tackle when it comes to revision. And it shows where you can do more reading or exercises to develop your writing skill.

WIP update:  In case you're wondering, I'm still plodding along with my first draft, with about two chapters to go. Then I'll have to go back and make sure my characters aren't floating around with no sense of time or place.

Aack! I'm Stuck!

It’s not writer’s block. My brain and fingers are raring to go. But I’ve written my main character into a dungeon tower and I’m not sure how to get her out. My outline (which I slaved over months ago) is a little vague on what’s supposed to happen now. Maybe I thought I’d come up with a good idea by this point? Some ideas that have crossed my mind:

1) She unwinds her long hair and…oops! Not my story. Anyway, her hair is messy and tangled and the window is too small.

2) Friends rescue her just in time and—wait! She’s the main character so that’s cheating. She needs to do something to get out by herself.

3) ???

Since I’m stuck on this part, I’m going to skip ahead. I usually write in sequence, so it will be challenging for me. (I'm looking at it as another chance to grow as a writer). I just hope I don’t end up with a big hole in my story later.

What Do You Want From a Story Ending?

Now that I’m getting close to writing the ending of my first draft, doubts are starting to get in the way of my writing. The ending is tricky. What do I want it to do?

1. Achieve something significant for the main character. As one of my MG readers pointed out, “The mystery should be solved.” Even if there isn’t a mystery, feelings of suspense and tension need to be released. Loose ends need to be wrapped up.

2. Make sense. The solution shouldn’t come entirely out of the blue. For me, this means the main character needs to have a key role in resolving the problem.

3. Include something unexpected. Even though I want the ending to follow logically from previous story events, I don’t want it to be predictable.

4. Leave the reader feeling positive. I don’t think MG readers like stories that end with too many unresolved issues. Readers in this age group like to have something good happen to the main character at the end.

What do you want from your ending?

Pause/Stop: Time to Think

I’ve made it to Chapter 18 of my current work-in-progress, and I feel like I might actually accomplish my goal of finishing the first draft by the end of June. Now that I’m coming into the last third of the book, I’m excited to see how it’s going to end.

Yikes – did I just say that? I should already know how it will end, after all the outlining I did before I started. Except that since then, my characters have taken over the story in ways I didn’t expect. The specifics of the ending are changing. Yesterday, instead of writing, I did a lot of thinking about what’s going to come next. What I noticed:

1) Now that I know my characters better (and which minor characters have developed a stronger role), I have a better sense of what they’d do in a given situation.

2) I discovered some details that I need to weave in and/or bring out earlier in the story. Like in the part I’m writing now.

3) Some of the questions I had at the beginning of the story are starting to get answered, and some still need to be answered, but at least I know which ones.

4) Taking a mini thinking break gives me an energy boost.