It’s been awhile since I’ve done a WIP Talk and that’s probably because I haven’t really been writing my WIP! Whoops!
I’ve started to get back into it and I realized that my story’s beginning is really stagnant. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m used to the whole screenwriting ideology where the inciting has to happen at the first 15 pages or if my short story writing has also been blocking me from doing things right.
It turns out, I don’t know how to write a novel. I’ve read several novels in my lifetime and for some reason setting myself down to write one is extremely difficult. I don’t know if I’m just overthinking the whole thing… but I’m pretty sure the first chapter is supposed to ignite the reader to… keep reading.
I did start writing my WIP a while back and it’s taken me, oh, I don’t know, about three chapters before I get to my inciting. And I’m wondering if I should just smoosh those three chapters together to make it one. They also aren’t really that long, but I am writing for YA fiction and I’m not sure the formatting on those just yet. Like I said, I HAVE read a ton of YA fiction in my lifetime, but I never paid attention to how long the book/chapters were. Now that I’m writing it, I’m becoming more aware. Plus I’m using this awesome software that doesn’t tell me how many pages or words per chapter I’m writing and that’s a bummer. But I still love my software so I’m not willing to part with that just yet.
So, I asked around my fellow authors and was wondering how I can make my inciting a little more… inciting. Turns out I didn’t even know what my story was about. So, now I’m going back to the outline and redoing pretty much my entire thing.
I do know what my story is about now — well sort of — so now I just have to attack it.
I’m a little behind on this one and I’m feeling the pressure. I don’t know if need to take a step away from the story all together and try something new. I’m really attached to the main idea so, that’s what I’m torn about.
Hopefully making a new outline will be beneficial and I can start writing again.
In the meantime… I have my short story collection coming out in about a week and my novella needs some loving and time to get ready for its release. I’ll be pretty busy for awhile.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi
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