Writers in the Storm

by Jenny Hansen

I've known many writers who give up before they cross the finish line -- the finish line being that place where they feel like they have the skill to tell a story and the know-how to release it to the world.

Some of them give up way before the finish line, for a variety of reasons. Maybe they find that they don't like the writing life or the process drives them bonkers. Maybe they just like keeping those stories tucked safely inside their heads. But today's post is about the writers who give up just before they cross the finish line. Those are the writers that make me want to grab their hand and give them the encouragement and resources they need to hang on a bit longer.

I hope you'll share a bit of your journey down in the comments.

Five reasons why writers give up.

Anyone who has been at the writing game for a while could list a dozen reasons to give up. Maybe two dozen. But the reason they keep going is hard to argue with: they love writing. Or, maybe they don't like the writing so much but they love telling stories. Here is a small sampling of some of the main reasons I've seen so many writers throw in the proverbial towel.

1. They didn't realize it would take so long.

This is a tough one. When you first begin, you don't know what you don't know. You want to share your story with the world, but you don't have a concept yet of what it takes to do that.

Then you find some writer friends or some blogs like WITS or some podcasts. You participate in some challenges like NaNoWriMo, and maybe go to some writing conferences. You listen to those published authors talk about their road to publication, and are maybe a bit surprised at how long it takes.

You write some more, and learn some more writing craft. Maybe you join a critique group or start entering contests. You might start querying at this point, or looking at indie publishing. And then you start to lament that it has been weeks, months, maybe years...and you aren't nearly as far along as you thought you'd be.

And sometimes this is when people get discouraged, and they quit. This is right when you are finally ready to take off with intention. You've made the connections, learned some solid skills, and started to figure out enough about the paths to publishing to set a more reasonable timeline for your goals.

This is what I meant when I said many writers quit just before they get to where they want to be. This is the time when you need to get whatever help you need to hang on a bit longer.

2. It's too hard.

I'm sure you've heard me say it before, but the writing life is not for the faint of heart. This is a profession where you will fall down. It's a profession where you will have to pick yourself up, probably many times. One of the reasons I encourage the collection of some awesome writing pals is that they will pick you up when your writerly legs can't possibly hold you up even one moment longer. Your writing pals will check on you and encourage you and commiserate with you.

And if you can't bear to reach out for help, I'm here to remind you (and myself):

We're writers. Writers persevere. Even if it's only one page at a time--hell, one sentence at a time--we keep going. We are mighty beings formed of stubbornness, creativity, and caffeine.

Perhaps you could jot down a version of that mantra above and tape it up in your writing space. When in doubt, just keep going. You've got this. You can do the hard things like a boss.

3. They don't feel they have anything else to say.

You're a creative badass. You always have more to say.

I have a very good friend who is a well-known musician. I talked to him about creativity a while back in this post. He's put out 20+ albums and always feels like he's said all he has to say. And then his manager books him some studio time and tells him to go write 15 songs. Somehow, he always does.

When I asked him his secret, he said:

"Jen, every year when it’s time to record a new album, I feel like I’ve done it already and those are all the songs I have to write."

He paused a moment and added, "Then I’ll hear my mother’s voice in my head like she’s right there talking to me: 'You said you wanted to be a musician; it was what you trained for and practiced at. It was the only thing you EVER wanted. So, get off your a$$ and write some music, and quit crying about it.'"

Sometimes, when you sit down to do the work, that beautiful song (or story, or character) will just spill onto the page. But only if you've dragged your uninspired self into your place of work to be ready to receive the gift.

4. All that constant change chipped away at them.

The one absolute in the writing life is that things will change. Quickly and often. Publishers will merge, agencies will fail, algorithms will shift, social platforms will wane. Marketing on those platforms and managing Amazon is enough to send many writers screaming.

In last week's post, "Marketing, How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways," Piper Bayard shared her immense marketing woes. She's talented in a million ways, but technology isn't her favorite thing. She'll work long and hard to master it. Now add in that technology changes all the time? It made her crazed.

Finally, she bit the bullet and hired help because, as she explained to me, it was either that or quit the writing life.

Even without technology adding to the changing landscape, today's publishing world is vastly different from what it was five, ten, twenty years ago. It is a lot for a writer to keep up with, on top of getting their stories ready.

5. They let someone else's opinion matter more than their own.

It is normal to hate criticism, just like it's normal to be afraid that you're a hack. It's even normal to compare yourself to others. But when you start prioritizing other people's opinions or performance over your own, it's a surefire way to ensure a bumpy writing ride. Comparisonitis, as Johnny Truant calls it, is a sure way to take a fast trip to Anxiety-ville.

Especially because many of our fears aren't real. Fae Rowen, one of our founders at WITS used "fear" as an acronym to express this concept to her logical mathematician brain:

FEAR:
False Evidence Appearing Real

She put that gem up where she'd see it every day to assure herself that most of her fears and worries were not real. We ALL do that -- worry about things that aren't real -- because we're so afraid that they might be true. 

As hard as it is, you have to believe in your own story. You have to know with everything you have that it is valuable. If you don't believe it is worth telling, and that you are the only one who can tell it, it's a pretty solid bet that your story will never be told. And that would be a shame.

An a-Ha Moment in My Own Writing Journey

Back in 2004, I was a wide-eyed newbie. I'd been scribbling for a while, as we all do, but I didn't even understand the craft workshops I was attending enough to apply them. Eventually, it soaked in, but twenty years ago I was clueless.

I was lucky to attend an all-day event with uber-agent Donald Maass. He was so dynamic that I hung on his every word, knowing this was important material for me to absorb. But when he said, "Tension on every page was the key thing his team looked for" when they were acquiring books, I had absolutely no clue what he meant.

I snuck a few looks around the room, and all the more advanced authors around were nodding and chattering with one another about the brilliance of it all. I felt like an idiot because I had NO IDEA where to even start to understand.

Fast forward a decade to an Immersion Master Class with Margie Lawson where she shared Power Words and "how they bring tension to the page." I remember thinking, "Ooooooooh, this is what The Donald was talking about." I re-read all his books and I finally got it.

That's how this writing life works. Every learning experience and critique you get mortars another brick into the foundation of your writing craft. One fine day, the connections and information coalesce into knowledge that you can use.

All you have to do is persevere for long enough.

Have you ever thought seriously about quitting your writing life? Was it for one of the five reasons above, or something else altogether? Do you remember an a-ha moment when a complicated writing concept became clear and changed the way you write? Please tell us your story down in the comments section!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny Hansen provides brand storytelling, LinkedIn coaching, and copywriting for accountants and financial services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

Find Jenny here at Writers In the Storm, or online on Facebook or Instagram.

Article images from Depositphoto

by Colleen M. Story

How is your story going? Is it on fire with lots of excitement and drama?

Or is it limping along at a lackluster pace with little emotional impact?

If it’s the latter, consider this: You may not be paying enough attention to your antagonist.

I was guilty of this in my early writing. I focused so much on my hero that I neglected the poor bad guy (or girl).

When your antagonist isn't getting enough of your attention, your entire story suffers. I’d go so far as to say your story will fail if you haven’t given just as much of your heart and soul to your bad guy as your good one.

If you’re unsure whether that’s happening in your story, look for these five signs of antagonist neglect.

5 Signs of Antagonist Neglect

1. You’re in the middle of the story and you’re stuck.

It’s easy to get stuck in the middle of a novel, and there are several reasons this may happen. One of the most common is that your antagonist isn’t doing enough to get in your hero’s way.

Go back and review your story so far. From the beginning to the end, your antagonist should fight for what she wants, which should be in direct contrast to what your hero wants. Make sure you know what your antagonist wants, what it means to her, and what she is going to do to get it. Then make sure that with every move she makes, she’s making it harder for your hero.

If you do that and build both stories as you go, you’ll have so much going on that you’ll be much less likely to get stuck.

2. Your pacing is slow. (A.k.a., "This is boring.")

I've grown to love antagonists because they are the ones that make the story fun to read and write. If your story is boring, or if you feel you have to drag yourself through chapter after chapter when you’re writing it, sit down and have a chat with your antagonist.

Imagine pulling up a chair across from this person and asking them a few questions. The first, of course, should be, "What do you want?" The second should be, "What do you think of the hero?"

After you ask, listen. Write what your character "says." As long as you're learning, keep the conversation going. Find out why your antagonist feels misunderstood or why he or she should be the hero of your story instead.

Once you can connect with your antagonist, go back and make sure that person gets equal emphasis in your story. Then things should get more exciting.

3. Your main character is too happy.

I recently saw the new “Hunger Games” movie (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). I had read the book beforehand and appreciated how closely the movie followed it. And I enjoyed the show, enough that I’d see it again.

But if you think about it, it’s one misery after the next. Our hero, Coriolanus (who later becomes the villain in the original Hunger Games trilogy), goes through heartache after heartache in a series of difficult events with the amazing Viola Davis as the antagonist behind it all.

If you’ve seen the movie, think about it—Coriolanus is never “happy.” He moves from misery to misery, all the while trying to reach the goal he’s set for himself.

Compare that to your hero. If he is too happy in your story, it may be because you haven’t paid enough attention to your antagonist. This person should put your main character through hell chapter after chapter, with things only getting worse as you go.

Yes, it’s hard to see our heroes suffer, but that’s the hallmark of a good story. Be honest as you’re assessing yours to see if your antagonist needs to be a little harder on your main character.

4. Your synopsis reads like “blah blah blah.”

Writing a synopsis is something most authors dread. It’s so difficult to summarize an 85,000 novel in 1,000 words or so.

If you haven’t done it yet, try it now. It’s a great exercise, and it can show you where you may have holes in your story structure. If you’ve done it right, you’ll have a very clear plotline with your hero and antagonist butting heads all the way, and only one clear winner in the end.

On the other hand, if your synopsis reads, “this happened, then this happened, then this happened” with no increase in stakes, drama, and dread, it’s time to go back and see if you need to further develop your antagonist. Often, giving this person more character and more action can force your hero into a situation where he or she must lay it all on the line to win.

5. You don’t love your antagonist…yet.

I’m so grateful to all of my antagonists. They make my stories come to life. I don’t agree with what they do, but I feel for them as people. I understand them.

If your antagonist is only the “bad guy” or “bad girl” so far, you haven’t gotten to know them well enough. This should feel like a real person who you’re rooting for initially, but who chooses the wrong path.

It’s this person’s actions that force your main character to adapt, shift, take action, suffer, get up, and try again. Without the antagonist, your main character stays the same. And as we all know, character change is the key to an excellent novel.

I loved the movie “Unbreakable” with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s a great study of how critical the antagonist is to the hero's growth and change.

Samuel L. Jackson plays Elijah Price, the antagonist to Bruce Willis’ David Dunn, the hero. This quote comes at the end of the movie when Price—who is speaking to Dunn—finally reveals who he really is.

“Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I'm not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they're friends, like you and me!” (emphasis mine)

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen's series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Connect with Colleen at the links below.
Free chapters | Writing and Wellness

Note: Colleen offers affordable, individualized coaching plans. Prices are going up in the new year, so if you’d like some help on your story, sign up now. Find more information here!

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

To strengthen your story, look at each scene as a reader would.

We writers spend a lot of time looking at our work like, well, a writer. We study plot and structure, pace and tension, character and dialogue, but how often do we think about how the reader is going to react to our story?

One of my critique groups is a “critique as we write” group. Every week, we turn in two chapters of our first drafts or whatever draft we’re revising. It’s a great way to keep our writing momentum going since we have people waiting for pages, but it’s had a much better benefit than we realized when we started the group.

We get real-time feedback about what readers expect to happen next.

This has utterly changed the direction of two of my novels so far, and both for the better.

We don’t turn in our comments and line edits until after we’ve met, so our group discussion focuses on the big picture issues and what the author is trying to do with the story.

Which means, when I set up certain situations that really hook the reader, my critique partners tell me they’re excited about what’s going to happen next. If I didn’t plan for anything exciting, I know I need to figure out something and meet those expectations.

This pushes me to dig deeper and think outside the box, as well as take advantage of anything I might have accidentally done or inadvertently set up.

Example One: Make the World Building Matter

I have a magical storm in my middle grade WIP that was originally just colorful world building. It was approaching the town, and would hit and be scary and cool, but I’d never intended it to be more than just “magical weather” to show how the magic in this world works.

But my critique partners were excited about it, and one was convinced that the storm was going to cause something awful that would have a significant impact on the story.

Which, um, yeah, it wasn’t gonna do that.

I was in quite the quandary after that session, because I knew the next chapter would let my readers down. Clearly, I’d created a great hook and they were anticipating what might happen, which raised the tension and stakes in the story. Even though the storm wasn’t that big a deal, I saw how it could be.

Not following through on reader anticipation would have missed a huge opportunity to deepen my story and make the world richer. I brainstormed how that storm could play a larger role, and that changed the course of my entire novel.

It was still the same story, but the storm created a situation that brought the core conflict into play in a much more impactful way than I’d previously planned. It went from being a world building detail to the bridge between the inciting event and the second act of the novel.

Which was super cool.

How you can use this in your own novel:

If you don’t have access to critique partners or beta readers, look at your scene as if you’ve never seen it before and have no idea what is going to happen next. Ask:

• What events have you set up that could go somewhere more interesting than you originally planned?
• What are the moments that will pique reader curiosity?
• What currently doesn’t lead anywhere, but it interesting? Could you make it lead somewhere?

Pretend this is the first time you’ve seen these pages and put yourself in the reader’s shoes. If you do have access to a beta reader, give them the chapter and ask them what they expect will happen, and what parts they were excited or curious about. If they line up with what you did, awesome! If not, can you use that knowledge to improve the story?

Example Two: Move Things Around for the Strongest Impact

In the science fiction detective story I’m revising, one of my critique partners noted that she was ready for my protagonist to “go to the cabin.” It was something I’d been teasing for the first half of the book, but it was originally intended to be part of the epilogue. I never planned for my protagonist to go there before the plot was resolved, as it was something that was part of his backstory, and a subplot for the series.

Well, after her comments, I obviously needed to re-think that. I’d dangled too big a carrot and now I’d set reader expectations that I wasn’t going to deliver on. That would lead to unsatisfied readers.

I’d been trying to deepen the protagonist’s personal story, and I realized that if he did indeed “go to that cabin” in the midpoint, it combined the two main conflicts of the entire novel. It solved a problem I’d be struggling with, and did it in a way that cranked up the tension and mystery, as well as brought the personal story arc into the plot arc.

My critique partner was right—that character had to go there, and everything I’d done during the revision inadvertently set it up so readers were ready and anticipating that trip. If I didn’t do it, they’d get annoyed about all the focus I was putting on something that wasn’t going to play a big role in this book.

And just as my magical storm had changed my MG fantasy, this visit to the cabin changed my detective novel, and made it oh, so much richer.

How you can use this in your own novel:

First drafts are great dumping grounds for solid ideas and half-formed ideas. It’s the half-formed ones that often sneak in at odd times, totally out of order, but they bring something compelling to the tale. Move them around and you might wind up with an awesome twist you didn’t realize you had. Ask:

• Am I holding back the “good stuff?”
• Is there anything in the story that would have more impact if I revealed it sooner? What about later?
• What are the things readers are going to be most curious about?
• What have I been teasing readers with all book? Is there a payoff for all that teasing?

Don’t be afraid to cut and paste events and see how the story flows. Moving things around can tweak your pacing and tension, and add a more compelling layer to the story.

There’s a fine line between doing what readers expect and satisfying reader expectation, and the trick is to skirt that line.

When we do it well, readers anticipate what’s to come and eagerly look forward to seeing it happen. When we do it poorly, they know what’s coming and the story feels stale and predictable. If you can get a sense of what readers expect as you write (or in an early draft), you can play with those expectations so they’re satisfied by what happens, and surprised because it’s not the way they thought it would be.

Do you have beta readers who share thoughts on works in progress?

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author and founder of the popular writing site Fiction University, where she helps writers improve their craft and navigate the crazy world of publishing. Not only does she write about writing, she teaches workshops across the country, and her blog has been recognized as a Top Writing Blog by Writer’s Digest. She also spins tales of adventure for both teens and adults, and firmly believes that doing terrible things to her characters makes them more interesting (in a good way). She loves talking with writers and readers, and encourages questions of all types—even the weird ones.

Find out more about writing at www.Fiction-University.com, or visit her author’s site at www.JaniceHardy.com. Subscribe to her newsletter to stay updated on future books, workshops, and events and receive her ebook, 25 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now, free.

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