How to form a daily writing habit

In my quest to become a better writer, I've taken classes, read dozens of how-to books, kept a journal, and joined local and online writing groups. After all this time, I've learned there is one habit that will improve your writing more than any other:

Write every day.

It seems so simple, yet any writer knows it's rarely as easy as it sounds. You come up with excuses -- you don't have enough spare time, the laundry needs to be done, you need to organize the files on your hard drive, you're tired after a long day at work -- and you tell yourself you'll write something tomorrow. And when tomorrow rolls around, you come up with new excuses to justify why you aren't writing.

Believe me, I've been there. I've also discovered the biggest drawback to that mindset: The longer you go without writing, the harder it is to get back to it.

If you don't write regularly, the words dry up. The blank page becomes even more intimidating than it already was. The longer you put off writing, the more your talent and skills will atrophy.

The self-loathing also kicks in and you start hating yourself for not writing. You sink further into a pit of despair and doubt. You're frustrated and maybe even depressed, so you don't feel like writing, which means another day goes by and the frustration and self-loathing grows stronger. This cycle continues, feeding on itself and intensifying, until eventually one of two things happens. You give up altogether and set aside your dream of being a writer, or you sit your ass down and write something.

Here are a few things you can do to ditch the despair and develop a daily writing habit you'll actually stick to:

Stop waiting to feel motivated to write

I used to think I lacked motivation, until I realized motivation isn't some mystical force the universe bestows on those who are worthy. Don't wait around for motivation. It isn't going to arrive on its own. In fact, stop thinking of motivation as a necessary condition for writing.

Instead, think of writing as something you're required to do every day, like eating, sleeping, or brushing your teeth. You don't need to be motivated to do those things. You just accept them as part of your day.

Stop waiting for inspiration

William Faulkner once said, "I write only when I'm inspired. Fortunately I'm inspired at 9 o’clock every morning." It's tough to find a better way to convey that point.

Write something every day, whether you feel creative or not. If you're staring at a blank page and nothing comes to mind, write about how you're staring at a blank page and nothing is coming to mind. Write a description of the room you're sitting in. Write about your plans for the day. Just write something. After you've been writing for a few minutes, the resistance will break down and the words will start to flow.

Find ways to remind yourself to write

Keep the idea of writing always in the forefront of your mind. Stick post-it notes in prominent places -- the bathroom mirror, your computer monitor, the refrigerator door, and anywhere else you're guaranteed to see them. Change your reminders every few weeks. If you don't, they'll become part of the scenery and you'll stop noticing them.

Place a note in your wallet where you'll see it every time you reach for money or your credit card.

Use a site like HassleMe to send yourself automated reminders via email to write something every day.

Work on your self-discipline, but be gentle

Start with something small. Write for five minutes every day, or write one paragraph each day, or write 100 words per day. Create a goal that's easy to meet. Every time you meet your goal, you'll feel like you've accomplished something worthwhile. This will keep you coming back for more.

Build up to one hour per day, or one page per day, or 500 words per day, but do it gradually. Don't push yourself too quickly to set higher goals. Wait until you've met or exceeded your current goal for at least a few weeks or more before you set a new goal.

Don't hate yourself if you don't meet your goals. Forgive yourself and start fresh the next day. Research indicates self-blame is counterproductive and you’ll procrastinate less if you forgive yourself. Remember what I said earlier about self-loathing? It's a vicious cycle, and if you're not careful it can spiral out of control. You can end the cycle by putting the past behind you and focusing on the writing you're going to do today.

{ 6 comments }

Giving yourself the freedom to fail

Fear of failure is something that keeps many people from writing. They dream of being published but hold back because they're afraid their writing isn't good enough. They worry other people will read it and think it sucks.

Sometimes this fear is enough to stop a writer from sending her manuscript out to agents and publishers. Sometimes it's enough to stop her from writing anything at all.

In my experience, there is only one surefire way to overcome this fear -- give yourself the freedom to fail.

Give yourself permission to suck. In fact, don't just give yourself permission. Expect your first draft to suck. That's why it’s called the first draft -- because it's the first in a planned series of drafts, each hopefully better than the last. Even bestselling authors don't turn out perfect prose on their first try.

One screenwriter I know refers to her first draft as the "vomit draft", nicknamed as such because the process involves spewing forth the words as quickly as possible without letting the messiness of it all slow you down.

Give yourself the freedom to write crappy material. Don't worry about how it sounds. Don't worry about grammar or spelling errors. Don't worry about anything other than the fact that if you don't try, you'll never know. If you don't write, you'll never publish that novel. You'll never sell that screenplay. You'll grow old thinking and wishing about what you could have done.

Turn off your internal editor and just get the words on paper.

This is more difficult than it sounds. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, your internal editor just won't shut up. When that happens, take a five-minute break and have a friendly little chat with it. Tell it you value its opinion, you're grateful for its help, and very soon it will have its time in the spotlight, but at the moment your goal is to give it some words to play with later. The operative word here is "later". Not now, when your only objective is to get through the first draft.

So don't just give yourself permission to write badly. Plan it. Tell yourself, "This draft is going to stink, and that's perfectly fine with me." When your first draft is finished, it probably won't stink nearly as much as you expected it to, but if it really does stink, that's okay. It's a learning experience. Every chapter, scene, and draft is one more step along the path.

If you give yourself the freedom to fail, every page you write will bring you closer to success.

{ 2 comments }

How to direct your script without camera angles

As screenwriters, we're constantly told to "think in film" -- to imagine each scene unfolding in our mind as if it's being played out on the big screen. To complicate that sagely advice, we're also told not to use camera angles or shot descriptions in our scripts.

So what can you do?

Simple: skip the camera directions and find better ways to convey the same imagery.

Here are some examples:

Let's say you're writing a script about a [click to read more]

{ 3 comments }

Generating creative story ideas

At one time or another, every writer searches her heart and mind for a great story idea and comes up short. The muse is silent. The motivation is gone. The driving force that compels her to write just isn't there.

At this point, the writer has two options. One: wallow in self-pity, bemoan the situation and dwell on the lack of creative flow in the hopes that some interesting tidbit of an idea might magically present itself. Or two: take action and find something to get those creative juices flowing again.

While it often seems like the best ideas just appear in the mind — usually popping in at the most inconvenient and untimely moments — those ideas don't [click to read more]

{ 1 comment }

First-person vs Third-person point of view

In working on my novel, I’ve discovered one of the less talked-about differences between screenwriting and novel writing: point of view.

I never realized what a luxury it was to be able to write without having to worry about which character’s point of view should be used for a particular scene. In screenwriting, the point of view belongs to the audience. Even if the main character is present in every scene, the story still unfolds from the audience’s point of view as they watch that character in action. In a movie, all the characters could be on-screen together in a single scene, but the screenwriter doesn't have to consider which of those characters' points of view should be used in the script.

With a novel, the reader is your audience, but the story is told from one or more points of view. If several characters are present in a single scene, the author needs to decide which of those characters should be the POV character, and the author needs to determine whether that character should be granted the POV for that scene alone, for several scenes or chapters, or even for the entire novel. Screenwriters never have to wonder if a scene should be written from [click to read more]

{ 8 comments }

To outline or not to outline

There is a lot of debate in Authorland about outlining. Some writers prefer to outline a plot before tackling the process of writing a novel. Other writers prefer “pantsing” -- writing by the seat of the pants, with no map to point the way.

Is one method better than the other? Does one alternative lead to better results? Those are the questions I’ve been pondering lately as I write my novel, and this is what I’ve discovered:

The answer depends on who you ask.

Lee Child, bestselling author of thirteen novels in the Jack Reacher series, never uses an outline. At Thrillerfest 2008, he described his writing process as beginning the story with a question, and then asking another question, and another, and so forth, keeping the reader in suspense and carrying the story forward until those questions are resolved.

John Grisham takes the opposite approach. He writes lengthy outlines -- sometimes fifty pages or more -- to map out the major plot points. Jeffery Deaver also creates a detailed outline before writing a novel. He describes his process in this video. Deaver has been known to spend up to eight months researching and crafting an outline to map out each plot twist and red herring.

In her How to Think Sideways online course for writers, Holly Lisle explains her process of writing a loose outline using a separate index card for each scene, making it easy to shuffle scenes around as needed. (The course is definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for ways to jumpstart your writing.)

Some writers don’t outline on paper but instead map out the story in their mind ahead of time. They know how their story begins and how it ends, and they have a few important events and plot milestones planned before they write a book.

My approach to outlining falls somewhere in between all the methods described above. I create [click to read more]

{ 3 comments }

Neil Gaiman’s advice for aspiring writers

{ 0 comments }

Show, Don’t Tell

Whether you are new to writing or have been around the block a few times, you've probably heard the writers' mantra: "Show, don't tell." Unfortunately, most how-to books don't do a very good job of explaining exactly how to go about showing rather than telling.

Holly Lisle recently created a terrific little video demonstrating the "show, don't tell" maxim in action. She walks viewers through the process using before-and-after examples to improve a sample piece of writing. If you enjoy this video, check out her Writer Crash Test site for more videos about writing.

{ 2 comments }

Having the discipline to write every day

Writing in a journalEvery writer has her own style and approaches writing differently. Some write in an office while others write at the corner coffee shop. Some have time to write non-stop for hours each day, while others can squeeze in only an hour here and there. Some have a strict routine while others take up their pen on a whim.

No matter what your style, applying discipline to your writing habits can go a long way toward improving your writing. While some might say following a routine squelches creativity and prevents the writer from fully succumbing to the muse, the evidence says otherwise. The top writers in the world — best-selling authors and screenwriters alike — consistently mention the routines they adhere to in order to get their words down on paper.

Getting the words on paper is what makes the difference between just saying you're a writer and actually being a successful writer.

The key to adopting a disciplined approach to writing is to [click to read more]

{ 0 comments }

How to Create Realistic Characters With Depth

Clustering is a simple brainstorming method you can use in a variety of ways. Its biggest benefit is that it helps you push past your analytical mind and reach into your subconscious mind for ideas that resonate on a deeper level. A single clustering session can produce dozens of great ideas.

In The New Diary, where I first encountered the technique a few years ago, author Tristine Rainer presents clustering as a journaling method for personal transformation. In the How To Think Sideways course, we used clustering to explore ourselves via a process that generated a wealth of material to mine later for story ideas.

The potential applications for clustering are numerous, but today I'm going to describe how I've been using the technique to develop realistic characters with depth. [click to read more]

{ 13 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →