I learned so many things while writing this story. Actually, I'm not sure learned is the right word. I knew some of them already, but I guess needed a big reminder. I doubt I can even begin to list everything in one blog post. I will probably mention some of the things in this post and then go back and expound a little more on some of them later. That's my plan anyway.
1) (And probably one of the most important) I can do it!! That one statement might really sum everything I learned up in just a few words. There were so many times while writing this story that I doubted I could do it. There were so many times I couldn't think of what I wanted to say or what I wanted to happen or even what words I'd use to describe it. Getting from page one to the end can be very intimidating. But I did it and now I know I can do it again.
2) You HAVE to listen to your characters.
I can't speak for every writer out there, but this pretty much explains the reason I have any block I've ever had. It's not a block, it's my characters telling me I'm being stupid with them. For me to write anything that's halfway good, I have to really be in my characters mind. I have to know what they are thinking and how they would react. Sometimes it takes days of thinking about the character and knowing them. My favorite part of a story is when I get so deep into the characters that I get a thought and I know it's not really my thought, it's theirs. That might sound crazy to someone who isn't a writer, but to me it's amazing! I always jot those thoughts down as quick as I can because that's when the writing gets good! (for me anyway)
3) Procrastination is BAD!
When I first found out about this contest I KNEW I had to do it. It had deadlines. I need deadlines. I need to know that I have to have something done by a certain date. If I don't have that, I mess around and make excuses. Excuses are probably procrastinations best friend. I hope I'm done with that. Now I know I can do it, but only if I quit procrastinating and making excuses. Even with the deadlines, I pushed my limits. When they announced who was going on to the final round of submitting a full, I barely had four chapters finished. I had the book plotted out and knew what I wanted to happen, but I had very little writing done. Did I turn in my best possible work? Probably not. Should I have taken more time and and given myself plenty of time to edit and polish in the end? Definitely! Will I ever do that again? I hope not. Procrastination is bad people, bad, bad, bad!!
4) Bad writing can be fixed!!
You hear it said so many times. I knew it even before I started writing. But I still don't think I'd given myself permission to write total crap. Writers are a strange lot. Even though we know we can fix things that are terrible, it's very hard to turn off that inner editor that is yelling in your ear while you write. It's so hard to keep going when you know the words you're putting down on paper are really pretty sucky. I had a lot of that. Hopefully I fixed the sucky out of most of it, but there was a lot. So many times I didn't even know what to write and just filled it in with blah, blah, blah - this has to happen but I don't know how right now. At least I had words. By the time I pushed my way painfully through the scene, I had a much better idea what I wanted or needed to put in place of the blah, blah, blahs.Those are just a few of the things I learned. I know there was so much more that I'm not remembering right now. If it comes to me later, then I'll have another blog post. Writing is often a learning experience every time you do it.
Meanwhile - What are some things you have learned in your writing experiences?
