On Writing: Get your hands dirty

So, I write.

Sometimes it starts with an idea that was growing in my subconscious for quite some time, and sometimes is just sudden inspiration from a sound an image or a glimpse of a character that demands to be heard. Once, a paragraph was ready in my mind, all the way to the tiny detail, so I only had to write the words down.

Whatever is the case though the result is the same: I write.

And every single time I feel like flying.

Currently in my forth novel, I find myself leaving the comfort zone behind and stepping on new ground. I’m writing mystery, a genre that I love reading, but quite difficult to write, in my humble opinion.

My first novel, Dazed, is what I call my first experimental novel and a novel I will hide deep somewhere in my computer. And in my house since I have printed the first draft. For sentimental reasons, you know. Dazed is a pure mystery novel, written in third person and using multiple POV’s. It turned out to be a very long project since I wrote 101K words and then I started cutting and editing and re-writing. Everything I needed to do to give the story the shape I had in mind.

It never made it to the story I wanted to be, but through that process I learned a bunch of stuff about writing that I didn’t know before. I learned to build tension, the proper way of writing dialogues, the difficulties when writing in third person POV and past tense, but most of all I learned how to write a novel.

Reading about writing techniques is extremely useful, but I strongly believe it must be combined with writing. So don’t be afraid to let it out and write it down. If you don’t do it, if you don’t try it out, then how would you know if you can apply all the cool stuff you’ve been reading? Practice is the only way to learn. Either if it’s about writing or baking or learning programming.

You have to get your hands dirty.

And I did. Again and again, learning more rules about writing, more little things that I didn’t notice before. And I have to admit that writing the other two novels, felt easier and more fun than ever. Maybe because I was writing fantasy and so I was able to make stuff up and put my characters in unimaginable situations. Honestly, most of the times I had no clue how they would escape the new obstacle I put before them, but it was a challenge. A challenge that was vanished the moment I was sitting to write again because the answer was right there, like someone whispered it in my ear while I was asleep.  

Divided and Damaged are two parts in my Wandering Souls series and as much as I want to write the third and final novel, I just stopped. Meg is still in my head, hiding somewhere in my subconscious murmuring ideas for the final book, but her voice was not strong enough. Because another voice was yelling louder, making my head buzz. So I had to listen.

I don’t know about you, but every time I start writing a story or I get lost inside one, I think that: That’s it. I can’t write anything else, I have no inspiration. This is the only book I’ll ever write. I said that after finishing Dazed, after finishing Divided and the last time I said it was a couple months ago when I finished Damaged.

Will I saiy it again when I finish this one? I don’t know, since I still can’t believe that this project will be completed.

What am I trying to say here, I’ll say it using a quote. “Never give up. No one knows what’s going to happen next.”~ L. Frank Baum

It’s true, no one knows, even you don’t really know. All you know is what you want to do, where you want to be and if you walk toward that destination … I bet you’ll get there.

But in order to get there you have to write. So write. Don’t make you head dizzy with questions, don’t ask too much, don’t seek all the answers. That is when editing comes and for that part you’ll need to have a novel to edit.

So, write.

Put some  music on and write like the world depends on it!