Before I get started with my first contribution to the Insecure Writers Support Group, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, I want to let you in on a little secret. I have been following a wonderful writer since I started this blogging experience. The first Wednesday of every month she would post something with the IWSG Logo. Every month I went to her page expecting to see a sample of her WIP and every month I was disappointed. Instead, she wrote about the process of her writing. At the end of the post, she posted a link back to the IWSG and suggested that we see what other writers were doing. Now, each month I thought to myself, "I don't want to read THEIR Work In Progress. I want to read YOURS. Every month I come to your page expecting to support you by giving you encouraging comments on your work and each month you write about your writing and then suggest I visit OTHER PEOPLE." Mental head smack.
It took me about a year to figure out that IWSG wasn't about supporting the writing, it was about sharing all of the stuff that goes on with the writing. My friend wasn't doing it wrong as I had thought for so long. Hahahaha. As par for the course, I didn't understand the concept of the group.
I just started novel writing again. I never finished my first one. I didn't burn it or anything. I am not sure that I will ever get back to it, but I decided to move on. I vacillate between being frustrated with my writing and thrilled that I can put any sort of story together. In my head I know that rough drafts are... rough. The point is to get through them with the concept of the novel and then go back and polish it up.
I spend as much time thinking about this novel as I do writing it. Some characters gel easily for me in terms of who they are, how they think, what they want. Others are vague. What helps you get a grasp on these sorts of characters? More thinking time? Or do you spend some time just writing and it comes out in a stream-of-consciousness-sort-of-flow? This material is not necessarily writing that would be included in the novel, but gives you, as the writer, the sense of who they are.
I suppose this all comes back to being stuck and getting unstuck. How do you unstick yourself when a character, scene, plot device, or any other aspect of your story is not moving for you? What do you do?
Here is a link to the IWSG main page. You can see a list of everyone who is participating in this event. I hope that you will drop in and offer up some encouragement to some aspiring writers. Lord knows we all need it!
