Stabby Stab Queen✨ INEJ GHAFA

Stan Pez for clear skin.

Id: A drawing of Pez Okonjo from Red White & Royal Blue. He is a black person and his hair is a short, black buzz cut. He is wearing a pair of round sunglasses with golden rims and pink glass. He is wearing pink lipstick, pink eyeliner and gold eye shadow.

Your most recent emoji describes your mother’s thoughts when you were born

#180: Will It Work?

Writers face this question at every stage of their creative journey. Whether you’ve been writing for two weeks or 20 years, the challenge remains the same. Will the time that I put into this project pay off? Will it do what I need it to do?

When you’re just starting out, most of the uncertainty centres around if you can even finish the story, and if yes, will it be any good? Later on, as a published author, you may wish for your book to hit the bestseller lists. As a best-selling author, you might want to be shortlisted for various awards. And when you’ve won everything there is to win, you will worry about your work being at least as good as what came before. The struggle never really ends.

Writing books is particularly uncertain. When starting a novel, you’re months, perhaps even years away from the finish line — more than enough time to question everything about the project. The more words you write, the stronger the voice in your head becomes. Is this the right thing to work on? Is it going anywhere? The majority of would-be authors quit at this stage.

Other writers struggle before they start. They keep analysing and researching, trying to convince themselves that this is going to work. But no matter how good your idea is and how many notebooks you fill with notes, the uncertainty will never go away. How do you deal with that?

The only way to figure out whether a project will work is to start writing. For smaller projects like short stories and novellas, just power through the first draft. The first draft will tell you more about whether the story has legs than any amount of advance research ever can.

Thinking about writing a novel? There are ways to do this too. Take what you expect to be the most dramatic scene of the book and write that first. Get a feel of the characters, the setting. If you’re a pantser, try writing a short story with the same characters. See how you feel about it. Any red flags?

Thinking about writing something and actually writing the thing are two very different things. If you never start or never finish, the question will remain unanswered forever.

Will it work? Writing it is the only way to find out.

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Past Editions

#179: Throwaway Stories, January 2021

#178: Progress Over Perfection, January 2021

#177: Change Is Good, January 2021

#176: Start Before You’re Ready, January 2021

#175: Writing Without Expectations, December 2020

some studies of my cat

i updated ella's lore and it's 👌💯💯 chef's kiss

My favourite (UNDERRATED) writing techniques | Authortube

Did y’all catch last week’s upload? I chat my top ten (underrated) writing techniques, including some that I made up lol! What are your favourite writing techniques?

“i complain about tumblr but i refuse to leave unless the site itself deactivates” squad