Writing projects for 2023: plans and support

[GrandMarnierChocolate]

Anyone else making new plans for creative writing in the new year? My 2022 plans fell apart, as usual 😭

So, 2023 is the year I finally publish something. This was my 2022 goal too… 👀

I intend to log my progress here to keep myself accountable. I’m leaving novels aside for now and am aiming to write a short story every week for the year and to publish at least ONE of those on Amazon so that I can learn the whole self-publishing process. Ideally I’ll publish 12 short stories in the year and, most importantly, get some feedback to help me steer my writing.

Short history: I’ve written about 5 or 6 novels over the last 30 years, taking years to edit each of them, swap critiques with writer friends, revise, polish and proofread, and finally submit to agents, only to abandon them eventually (two requests for fulls in all that time that went nowhere). I know my weakness is plotting, so I’ve been reading how-to books on that, plus I’m armed with Plottr software now, which I’m pretty sure is going to change my life.😜

I’d love some company on my journey. Anyone else ready to check in for support, advice, encouragement, all the things?😅

haha! And the cat looks proud of its work!

My writing week went well enough. I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked but I got a story down. I worked on one idea, which morphed into another, and another, and is now a mishmash of all the versions. It comes in at 4K words and needs a lot of work, but I feel it has potential. I'm hoping that I can come back to it later and make it into something better. Now, I'm going to do some reading and hope to come up with a new idea for the coming week.

How is everyone doing?

Well done @GrandMarnierChocolate !

I'm writing every day, but sometimes, like today, I'm writing like a complete wanker and feel I might as well give up.

The only reason I don't give up is that I know from experience that if I just keep going, at some point it will all start feeling good again.

Or at least, I hope it will! It's hard to believe, when it feels like this.

That's exactly where I am too. I've flitted between projects and ideas for too long. Now I'm playing the persistance game (unless I give up). Keep going until it's done...

Flitering too. This editing malarkey is going to do me in. Going through for characterisation now. Writing not great at all.

Morning all. My weekly check-in:

Not a very productive week really. I did write about 3.5K words but they'll all be trashed if I ever come back to this story. I did spend most of my writing time working on the plot instead, which might make it a novel rather than a short story. So, at least there's that.

Gonna read a short story today to figure out why all my efforts keep turning into novel outlines...

Anyone make good inroads this week? Or even mediocre ones?

I've written 3 chapters out of 36!

Yah!

I've tried sending one of mine off to a copy editor. I'm excited and terrified in equal measure.

I'm hoping that it will give me something to work to as I'm not good at editing.

Absolutely. I'd be terrified too but it will probably give you something definite to focus on. Will be interested to hear how you get on.

Nearly finished plot and character editing act 1 (save the cat act 1). Will finish this week, print off and ensure hold together before moving onto act 2. Feel like some of my scenes are actually OK. That's a big change from thinking it all sucks. I am devouring writing forums and various technique books.

Hope you all have a good week.

I came across this today and think it's a useful resource.

Just wanted to post and share a bit of a cliché, which is surprisingly accurate - the only difference between an unpublished writer and a published one is that the latter didn’t give up. I’ve been part of an online writing group for over ten years and those of us who stuck with it are now all published authors. Between the ten of us who made it that far we’ve sold well over 2 million books. My biggest piece of advice is just to keep going. Get that first draft finished, no matter how much of a train wreck you believe it to be, because you can’t edit a blank page (cliché number two, but also true!). Wishing you all lots of luck, but it’s hard work and determination that will get you there if you want it badly enough. Having a supportive group of like-minded people is also essential and this thread is a great start.

Thank you for the encouragement, @TheStoriesWeTell! 😊

I'm on Draft 2 and it's becoming so much easier than Draft 1. What's made the difference for me was working out a detailed plot structure and delving deeply into understanding the theme. So, unlike Draft 1, I now have a very clear idea what I'm writing and why, and what each scene needs to achieve. In future, I'll never work any other way. Writing spontaneously out of the blue just results in boredom and an empty head/page, for me. I don't get these sudden rushes of inspiration unless I'm already very clear what I'm trying to say.

The other thing is that I am starting to really like the book and enjoy working on it. I had very mixed feelings about it before. I think it takes time to get to grips with it and stop seeing it as a miserable collection of insurmountable problems 😁

Can you recommend any online writing groups? I live in the middle of nowhere, outside the UK, so joining something local is impossible. I have looked online but can never decide what's worth doing.

Alcemeg, I keep coming across mentions of Emma Darwin and I keep ignoring her. Maybe it's time I read some of her stuff 😂Thanks for that.

@TheStoriesWeTell Thank you for your encouragement. Yes, yes, yes! I sent off my first complete novel in about 1995 but never got a reply (I sent it to ONE agent, as you had to do in those days – printed out, snail mail that cost a fortune, stamped addressed envelope...🙄). I sent another two to manuscripts to agents over the years. Multiple submissions for the last one – I got two requests for a full, followed by rejections (to add to all the others). Then I gave up for a good few years.
Now I'm back... 👀

Alcemeg, it sounds like you’ve identified a great approach that works for you and that’s the most important thing. There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to writing. I know writers who are detailed plotters, others who are pantsters and lots who are somewhere in between.

The type of writing group you might want to join will probably be influenced by your genre, but the website below has some useful starting points. Good luck!

writersrelief.medium.com/connect-with-other-writers-through-these-online-writing-groups-fc1dacf9f127

@GrandMarnierChocolate your story sounds quite similar to mine. I wrote a book before I had my eldest but couldn’t find a home for it, despite some encouraging feedback. Then life with young children got in the way of writing for about eight years. I’d just started writing again when a cancer diagnosis made me realise it might be now or never. That was 12 years and over 20 books ago. I even found a publisher for a reworked version of that original book in the end. Keep going, it’s the only way to make that dream a reality.

@TheStoriesWeTell
I find the first draft the easiest, any editing or rewriting I find much harder, so I envy you!

I use Scribophile as an online group, and have found it really good. You basically have to do around 3 critiques of others to post one of yours, but the system is set up so you should get 3 critiques at least back. People are generally pretty good in the critiques. They may have some major criticisms but they're given in good spirit and will normally engage with you if you message them to ask further.
Some of the most helpful things I've had on Scribe have been groups where you agree to go through each others' novels chapter by chapter and the consistency of someone reading all is very helpful. But equally well I've had good advice from what are called "drive-by crits" where they do one random chapter in the middle of the book.
I've made some good online friends there, and it's definitely helped my writing. We have a not-very-active Mumsnet Writers group there which you're welcome to join.
There are other on-line writers groups out there. I tried a few before I stuck with Scribe. It suited me. There's someone here who sometimes comes on after someone has recommended Scribe and says how dreadful it is and recommends another, but that's just her opinion. Try and few and see which suits you best. Everyone's different!

Thank you @MargaretThursday !

Re Draft 2 being easier, I've spent many years working as an editor so that side of things comes naturally to me! It's the actual writing of the bloody thing that is more difficult. But I spent Xmas/NY thinking deeply about the theme and structure, and now I really feel it's kind of writing itself. I wake up with the sentences running through my head and have to rush to write them down before all my work emails start pouring in 😁

The "sit down and see what comes" approach will never work for me, I've realised. I'm just happy to have found my method, because this book is something I've wanted to write for at least 20 years 🙄

Completely agree with @MargaretThursday that you need to try a few groups to find out what works best and who you click with. There are also some great New Writers’ Schemes with organisations like the RNA, if you write women’s fiction or a sub-genre of it, which will provide you with both a professional critique and a built in network of both aspiring authors and industry professionals.

I’ve got to say that writing the first draft is my happy place, but I never edit as I go. I just get the 80k to 100k words down then sort it out as best I can before it goes on to the editing rounds with my publisher. These days I don’t use beta readers, as there’s no time because I’m contacted for three to four books a year, but they were invaluable before I got my first contract. If you’ve got friends who love reading the genre you’re writing for, I’d recommend using them for feedback too - especially if you can trust them to be honest and they can trust you not to take it personally! They can be more valuable than critiques from fellow authors in some ways, as they are looking at the book from purely a reader’s perspective and that’s quite a different thing.

I think we work in a totally opposite way @Alcemeg .
When I'm writing I write as it comes out, normally around one chapter a day until it's finished. Sometimes I know how the chapter is going to pan out, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I think I do until I'm writing and then things change as I'm writing. I don't generally go back over what I've written unless something comes out which alters an earlier bit.
I know roughly how the story ends ("The good ends happily, the bad unhappily" is a good start off!). I tried once outlining, and I think I'd gone a totally different way by chapter three!

I'm okay on editing grammar etc, that tends to come out when I read it out loud, but I find it really hard to see whether a more major change is better or not. I can fiddle with words and little bits for ages, but I find it hard to pick up the bigger parts.

Week 4 check-in: I wrote the beginning of a very disturbing short story this week (a little over 2000 words) but I'm not sure I want to continue it. I also pulled out one of my previous stories and expanded it from 6K to 9K words. Happy with my progress.

How is everyone doing?

Nothing new to report, I am just sticking to 2 hours a day (sometimes more), determined to complete Draft 2 by summer. I think I've found the approach that works for me. I don't know how you dream up new stories all the time - very impressive!

Downloaded and started using Plottr. I am only at the basics at the moment and for the first time I am using a structure (Snowflake Method) instead of trying to "be cool" and pants it!

Its working so far. I know what the basic story is. I just need a couple of decent dramatic plot points for the middle and end and I will have the bare bones to build from.

Really pleased to see everyone progressing. The best advice i've had was "whether you write one word of 3000 words in a day, you ahve written something!

Alcemeg, I'm reading a lot of blurbs on Amazon looking for inspiration. I've also just signed up for activatedauthors.com/flash/ (in case anyone else is interested[ and am hoping that their daily prompt will give me lots of ideas.

Zorrita, Plottr gives you a nice visual, doesn't it. I use it to plan out a story, although I nearly always go off track eventually. But I still keep my character profiles, notes, etc. in there. It's helping me to keep track of all my short stories too. Hopefully, when I want to go back and find one, I'll be much more organised that I used to be (have hundreds of Word docs on my computer and no idea what was in any of them[.

Hi, can I join?

Been writing on and off since my teens, totally wasted my twenties (big regret), now trying to make up for it - but it's harder to find the time with a toddler!

I've written two 150k-word manuscripts so far ('practice novels' really as I don't think they're publishable), currently working on my third (around 35k in) and this is the one I'll be polishing up and querying.

It's YA Fantasy, outlined and had planned for it to be 80k words, but I'm massively overwriting as usual, so I'll probably be trying to cut around 20k words from the first draft somehow...

Hoping to finish the first draft by the end of April and then begin editing - in for the long slog! I reckon I could start querying it maybe late 2023 or start of 2024.

Good luck to you all, look forward to checking in as we progress.