Hi Everyone, I'm a complete beginner, trying to piece together my first book. It's taken me six weeks to reach twenty pages due to the following: * I started writing in first person then changed it to third person as was struggling to show other characters thoughts and perspectives, etc. It's much easier now and flows better... but it was strange and distracting having to type out my own name and refer to myself in that way. I've decided to change my name in the book to make things easier and then correct it once the story is complete. On a positive note, writing in 3rd person has made it easier to be positive about my main character (me) without it sounding self-important, big-headed, etc. If you've experienced this, please let me how you handled it. * I forced myself to avoid written contractions (they're, aren't, it's) if 'contractions' is the right word for it. I painstakingly typed out the full words instead (they are, are not, it is) but it felt tedious and went against my natural inclination. I went over everything again, reverting back to 'contractions' for the purpose of consistency in writing. Is there a rule to this or is it OK to just use whichever way of writing suites me? * I become obsessed with perfecting each paragraph. It completely kills my creative flow. I've seen online that experienced writers advise on ploughing through, using highlights or side notes that you can come back to once you've completed the first draft. Problem is, by the time I've added a note, I may as well have just made the actual change. It's going to take a while but can't see another way around this, so just have to make do. * Intimate scenes are a nightmare... it comes out sounding like an instruction manual. It's taken me ages to make it sound natural. I had to share those sections with friends to get honest feedback (talk about feeling exposed) but any advice on writing future scenes of that nature would be appreciated. * I also really struggled with conversations - there was a lot of "He said, he responded, he asked" basically, very boring. It took a lot of rewriting just to get the conversations to flow and sound natural... and to inject pace or pauses/ breaks in dialogue, etc. I read SO much that I'm not sure why these basic things are such a struggle for me. It came as a very frustrating surprise. I thought the challenge would be things like, character development, story line / plot, etc. but I've planned that out easily enough. Anyway, sorry for the long post but any advice, guidance or just comments on things you are/ have struggled with when writing... and what you found to be a good solution, would be appreciated. I'm sure there are going to be many more hurdles for me along the way.
It's not so much whatever suits you, but it's whatever suits the voice of the story you're writing. I've written stories where I've deliberately used contractions in the narrative and others where I've deliberately avoided them. Using contractions makes the writing more intimate, and puts your reader closer to the characters - but that isn't suitable for all types of stories. It can also depend on the genre. I avoid contractions in fantasy or sci-fi. Read your conversations out loud. It may help to vocally act out the scene, to hear if it sounds natural. Try to use tags sparingly. You don't need "he said, she said" on every line when it's obvious who's speaking. A good rule of thumb is no more than 3 lines of dialog without a tag or a beat. And speaking of beats, learn to use these instead of tags, but mix it up. "Go away!" Bob slammed the phone down and reached for his whiskey.
What if you let your character be self-critical or self-ironic occasionally? That ought to counterbalance occasional excess self-praise. Idea: each time you go back to a past section of your manuscript and change something, write a note next to it to the effect of "I may not alter anything in this section before [now+12 hours]". (Or 6 or 8 or 24 or whatever suits you.) During that time, you are not allowed to change anything in that section, nor make notes about what should be changed. You must completely ignore this section and work on something else. When the mandatory waiting time has passed, and you still remember what you wanted to change and still want to change it, do it (and add a new note with the new clocktime now+12h). Would this work for you? (I predict that after you've practiced this no-more-changes-for-12-hours rule for a few months, your brain will have learned to not worry that things may not be too perfect and you'll be able to give up that self-restriction gradually.) Find an online dictionary of synonyms? Read books and underline words different from said/asked/replied writers have used in dialogues, and note them for yourself?
I think the advise of just writing to get the ideas on the page is a good one. It makes perfect sense, but not every writer follows it. And I'm not saying that some of us here just want to be too-cool-for-school rule breakers, but that there are definitely authors who are very successful editing as they go, and that can't just be discounted. That may be your process too. Elmore Leonard is my favorite from that category. There's lots of interviews where he explains his method, and it involves lots of rewriting paragraphs before he continues down the page. He said he would sit for an hour just working on a single paragraph, getting it just right (write?). I forget the quote, but he said he considered writing 3 pages a day pretty good, and then the next morning he would edit those 3 pages down to 1. And then he'd continue . . . So, heavy editing as the first draft came to life. He was extremely successful with that. His stories were basically explorations of character (that was his starting point, not plot), and he didn't outline. It's that last part that bothers me the most, but like I say, he made it work. There's many different paths to the finish line. Don't get locked into one. You might have to switch what you're doing now, or just add new techniques to it.
