God so totally me, and I genuinely had no idea this was even a thing beyond my own head. So many beginnings it’s embarrassing. The cringe is one and the same as ‘what genre do you write?’ because the answer is anything and nothing in equal parts.
Hattie, I am with you. I hate being asked that question (and also feel like a dolt when it comes out of my mouth to other writers). Something I've been thinking about recently is whether my writing projects would benefit from a better answer to that question.
In my professional life I have to write pitches for journalistic stories so always have a succinct question to "what are you writing?". I'm going to try writing a short pitch for some of my short stories to help me a) answer the question, b) but also to keep me true to my intention for a story.
Where this system will fall down of course is when the story goes in a very different direction, as it so often does.
Really like Rob's idea of self-imposed deadlines where external ones aren't available as I definitely suffer from liking the beginnings/the writing of the the thing. The "not finishing" bit for me comes when it's at the editing and redrafting stage.
Ooh that's a really interesting idea. When I did my screenwriting module at Birkbeck, our tutor talked to us about the 'logline' – basically summing up the premise of your film/show in one sentence (so the example he gave us for Gladiator was, 'When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek his revenge'). It's obviously simplistic but I found it really helpful in clarifying my idea for a screenplay. Maybe that is a helpful exercise here, and it doesn't really require you to know how the story turns out?
My wife calls me half-a-job Bob because I never finish anything. My life is full of half-finished projects, mainly design related, being a designer by day. So when starting to write at the tender age of forty-something, I wasn't expecting to actually complete anything. But four years later, I'm two books into my sci-fi trilogy and starting the third. No one's more surprised by this than me. I'm not 100% sure how I've managed to break a habit of a lifetime and complete a thing, but I think it probably comes down to the accountability thing you mentioned.
I chose the indie route to publishing, so never had an agent waiting eagerly for my manuscript. But I did pay for a professional editor before my manuscript was ready, and I put the book up for pre-order online to give myself a hard deadline. As a perfectionist, I know I would have polished and tweaked endlessly without that deadline, and it would never have been released. So for me, accountability did the trick in the end.
I've not finished the trilogy yet, but I'm over halfway, so my wife needs to find a new name for me now :)
(Edit - I should add... my wife is my biggest supporter)
That's brilliant Rob – well done on the two completed books! Giving yourself external deadlines/pressure can be really smart, I agree. Then again, some people find too much pressure paralysing and can only make progress by telling themselves that no one will ever see it, so I guess it's about figuring out what works for you. We'll call you Two-Book Bob round here (until the third one is done) :)
It certainly felt paralysing at times and didn’t do my anxiety levels any favours. But the relief once it was done was bliss. Two-Book Bob I can live with :D
God so totally me, and I genuinely had no idea this was even a thing beyond my own head. So many beginnings it’s embarrassing. The cringe is one and the same as ‘what genre do you write?’ because the answer is anything and nothing in equal parts.
Hattie, I am with you. I hate being asked that question (and also feel like a dolt when it comes out of my mouth to other writers). Something I've been thinking about recently is whether my writing projects would benefit from a better answer to that question.
In my professional life I have to write pitches for journalistic stories so always have a succinct question to "what are you writing?". I'm going to try writing a short pitch for some of my short stories to help me a) answer the question, b) but also to keep me true to my intention for a story.
Where this system will fall down of course is when the story goes in a very different direction, as it so often does.
Really like Rob's idea of self-imposed deadlines where external ones aren't available as I definitely suffer from liking the beginnings/the writing of the the thing. The "not finishing" bit for me comes when it's at the editing and redrafting stage.
Ooh that's a really interesting idea. When I did my screenwriting module at Birkbeck, our tutor talked to us about the 'logline' – basically summing up the premise of your film/show in one sentence (so the example he gave us for Gladiator was, 'When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek his revenge'). It's obviously simplistic but I found it really helpful in clarifying my idea for a screenplay. Maybe that is a helpful exercise here, and it doesn't really require you to know how the story turns out?
My wife calls me half-a-job Bob because I never finish anything. My life is full of half-finished projects, mainly design related, being a designer by day. So when starting to write at the tender age of forty-something, I wasn't expecting to actually complete anything. But four years later, I'm two books into my sci-fi trilogy and starting the third. No one's more surprised by this than me. I'm not 100% sure how I've managed to break a habit of a lifetime and complete a thing, but I think it probably comes down to the accountability thing you mentioned.
I chose the indie route to publishing, so never had an agent waiting eagerly for my manuscript. But I did pay for a professional editor before my manuscript was ready, and I put the book up for pre-order online to give myself a hard deadline. As a perfectionist, I know I would have polished and tweaked endlessly without that deadline, and it would never have been released. So for me, accountability did the trick in the end.
I've not finished the trilogy yet, but I'm over halfway, so my wife needs to find a new name for me now :)
(Edit - I should add... my wife is my biggest supporter)
That's brilliant Rob – well done on the two completed books! Giving yourself external deadlines/pressure can be really smart, I agree. Then again, some people find too much pressure paralysing and can only make progress by telling themselves that no one will ever see it, so I guess it's about figuring out what works for you. We'll call you Two-Book Bob round here (until the third one is done) :)
It certainly felt paralysing at times and didn’t do my anxiety levels any favours. But the relief once it was done was bliss. Two-Book Bob I can live with :D