Break Time

Yesterday was a post about what motivates me and how a continue on through a novel project from inception to its end. Today, however, I am expanding a little part of the conversation towards the end when I spoke about taking breaks.

As I said yesterday, writing a novel is like running a marathon. So it is important that the writer pace themselves and not over due it. For me this comes in the form of taking breaks. I take frequent breaks throughout the novel depending on the situation. Each project is different and so I take breaks accordingly.

For example, a novel where I know most of what’s happening, when it will and should happen will warrant less breaks during the writing. This is because knowing a novel that intimately means that I have momentum and that’s something I don’t want to lose. So in this case I’ll usually write a chapter a day, sometimes pushing through it when I know I should take a break during writing the chapter. In most cases, however, I’ll take a half chapter break then come back to it and finish out the chapter. Again, keeping momentum without over doing it is key.

If I don’t know the story as well and the future scenes are a mystery or perhaps they need some construction work, then I’ll take more frequent breaks. This is to help me form the story more, work out the setting and aid in world building (especially when building one from scratch). In this situation the story and some of its elements aren’t as organic as I would like it to be. So breaking and brainstorming becomes the tightrope in this situation.

What do I do in these moments when it’s break time?

I do a number of things. I’ll focus on other writing projects most of the time. If I’m taking a break from all writing projects, then I listen to music or read. I’ll watch tv, play videogames and/ or watch old movies (which I love. I especially love Turner Classic Movies). Or I’ll simply just relax, maybe shoot pool, bike ride or something like that. A lot of the times when taking these breaks, inspiration comes and it’s back off to the races. Sometimes not, and a break is just that, a break.

Break time is different for each writer/author and so is what they do during those down times. At any rate, the goal is the same: to not only restore the creative juices but also to refresh the creative flow. This gives a new and fresh perspective to the author so much so it’s like receiving a new pair of eyes. You see clearer than before.

So breaking is important in my opinion. Sometimes it can feel like a set back cause it’s like you get a good pace going then you hit a block. This is usually where frustration kicks in. Writer’s block can happen before, during or even towards the end of the project. To have that momentum only to slow down or completely stop? Yes, it can be frustrating. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. It’s just break time. Use it wisely 🙂

Another thing I do is write at certain times in the day. I’m a morning person, so I’ll usually write in the early afternoon (after going through my morning routine of getting ready. Yes, I get dressed and everything). It’s more comfortable for me to write in clothes-clothes instead of PJs. This is different for each person too. Now, when I was writing in college I couldn’t do that. I had to write at night or into the wee hours of the morning because I had classes during the day. On top of that I could only write on nights when I didn’t have class the next day.

Now, if I’m really urging to write, then I’ll pull a late-night if I don’t work the next day. This happens especially if I have my laptop already set up and the next scene is revving to go. So my writing schedule vacillates a little more than it has in the past but I try to keep it consistent as much as I can. It’s not something I worry about though and neither is writer’s block. I just use it as a break and occupy my time with something else until I meet that project again.

-Peace.

 

 

 

From Beginning To End

If we think of writing in terms of running you might say that writing a novel is a marathon. I certainly do. Whereas a poem is like a hundred meter dash and a short story more like a four hundred meter dash. Novels take more time and endurance. That translates into requiring more care and preparation as well. All forms of writing, regardless of medium, require everything a novel does. Novels, however, I think are a different beast though in that everything is drawn out.

The writing is drawn out, the brainstorming, the editing, revisions, everything. It’s like that because, well, it’s a novel and not a poem. It’s not a short story where things can take and sometimes do take less time. Even the incubation period for novels are longer (and I’ve had poems with some long incubation periods). Bottom line is this: novels are marathons.

In being so that also means that the writer/author must endure, pace, and stay motivated to persevere the novel. This was a topic a friend and I talked about before. They asked me how I kept motivated through the novel. At first I was stumped as to how to answer (which is always the case) because I never thought about what keeps me motivated. I never thought about why I stay motivated or what things I do to overcome burning out or giving up altogether.

I’ve been writing stories since I was a child in middle school, maybe even before that, but middle school is my earliest memory of writing. I love it more than I did then and I loved it then too. I think you have to love writing to actually gain joy from it because it’s not the most interesting thing in the world to do. It’s not the most exciting activity and yet it is. Well, at least not to those looking from the outside in but I digress.

So, the question is what keeps or how do I stay motivated from beginning to end when writing a novel?

I think I’ve said this before in a couple other posts but it’s the excitement of the idea. When an idea hits me one of two things happen: I get really excited beyond reason or I don’t. If I’m on the fence about it it’s because I really like the idea but there’s something about it that doesn’t jive quite right. In this case I’ll let it sit and if I can make it work, then I go for it, even if at some point I’m not feeling it. Because things always take a turn in the course of writing a novel so why not? And if I don’t like it at all I can always just hit ‘delete’.

It’s that excitement that springboards me. The more I work on it and progress through it the more possibilities pop up. Each possibility brings another level of excitement. Sometimes they don’t and it’s like ‘never mind back to the original story’ but just because the level isn’t raised doesn’t mean I lose the excitement. It just means something didn’t work out but the story, characters, settings, etc. are still cool. See, I have to believe that the story and plot is cool, fresh, fly, dope and off the wall for me to even be interested in writing it in the first place. That belief in the story, plot, characters is what I look for. I have to believe in it to write.I have to believe in it enough to see it through to the end. Otherwise, why am I writing it?

So my passion for writing is why I write novels. Believing in the project is what carries me through the writing from beginning to end. Boiling it down my motivation is: passion and believing in the idea. As for how to keep from burning out, I take frequent breaks and these breaks vary. If I’m on a good writing streak then I’ll take a break from all writing. If I’m not and I’m only writing in spurts then I make use of the down time in between. Even when I am writing, I take breaks during writing that particular project so I don’t wear myself out. Writing can be tough if one doesn’t pace their frequency of writing.

-Peace.