Recently, I’ve been trying to finish Crimson Queen on Wattpad as well as The Vampire Prince goes to High School and Spirit Guardians. Despite the fact that financials and life got in the way, for the most part, I’ve been uploading chapters consecutively. This has pushed me to keep writing every day and to try to publish a chapter every week. Those weekly goals that I set for myself, not only helps me write every day but it also helps me finish my books.
For those of you who have been writing a story or multiple ones and haven’t really finished them for a while, it’s understandable. You’ve been busy. Whatever the case may be, here are a few things that I have helped me write every day and get me closer to putting the story down to rest. While this is my process and you might not upload to wattpad, the process can be applied to regular writing.
- I set a deadline for myself.
I made a Wattpad account a few years ago and I upload a few stories that I probably won’t ever traditionally published (though I might self publish after they’ve been edited). In order to get noticed on wattpad, I knew I had to be involved in clubs and commenting on other user’s stories. The amount of this varies from person to person. But the most important thing that I had to do was to upload chapters. So, I set a goal for myself. I would publish a chapter every Friday. With Spirit Guardians, I was able to have thirteen chapters up in no time. My story was progressing and I had gotten a huge chunk of my story out of the way. It got me closer to my self made deadline.
2. I made an outline.
Before I posted my chapters, I made a loose outline of what I wanted the chapters to be about. I broke down those chapters by scenes and each day, I wrote those scenes out until the chapter was finished. Being prepared and knowing what to write about helped the process of meeting that weekly deadline. Another outline was made about the plot of my story but plotting tips is for another day.
3. I didn’t panic.
Even if I didn’t have time to write a scene one day and type it up, I didn’t panic. Stressing out isn’t helpful. Making a daily planner with times blocked out for specific tasks helped me stay organize. I planned around events, lunch, school, work, etc. If I ever became overwhelmed, I took a deep breath and relaxed. Managing my day with life and writing was difficult which is why it took practice. I knew that I might not succeed the first time and that was okay. Practice makes perfect and once I got into the groove, meeting that weekly deadline got easier.
While there are more tips out there to meet deadlines, the most important thing to remember is that your story it your baby. Treat it kindly. If you need time to think about what’s going to happen next, it’s fine. Keeping a journal with all those notes helps a lot and sometimes new ideas can spiral from them. Stay positive and always remember that you don’t write a story once, there are many more drafts in the future. Don’t let writing become a chore.
What process, if any, do you use? Have you had to tweak it over the course of your writing?
Dabbling in the Art of Writing 