Does anyone else get hung up on technical stuff before they start writing

[SouthWestmom]

I want to write a children's book. I have ideas and characters but I keep becoming side tracked by word counts - I can't find a definitive guide anywhere and this is holding me back! Unknown it's nuts but I seem unable to just get one with it !

[HarrietVane99]

What age group/genre are you planning to write for? Go to a bookshop or library and look at a few books that are similar to what you're thinking of writing. You can do a quick, rough wordcount calculation by counting the number of words over five or ten pages, averaging it and multiplying by the total number of pages.

That said, there are no hard and fast rules - the most important thing is the number of words you need to tell your story. And you might not know that until you've written it. The best advice is nearly always BOCFOK - Bum on chair, fingers on keyboard.

[SouthWestmom]

I know! I have lists everywhere, it's like a form of procrastination really. Does anything stop you writing?

[HarrietVane99]

I sometimes get stuck on a scene that won't go quite how I want it. I end up either procrastinating (which at least gets the ironing done!) or massively over thinking and making it far more complicated than it needs to be.

This hot weather doesn't help, my brain tends to shut down in very hot weather.

[SouthWestmom]

I know what you mean - I end up with diagrams and notes and no actual words!

[NinjaLeprechaun]

Not quite what you're talking about, but I did spend about 4 hours today Googling early 18th century oil lamps before deciding that what I really wanted was a candle - which is what I had in the first place. Total word count for the day: two.

[SouthWestmom]

Ninja that is exactly what I mean - distracted instead of writing. Better luck today.