Young Writers Society

So there you are all entusiastic about your new novel, can't wait to get in all out on paper. Chapter One bursts onto the page like a water balloon all over your best friends head, so quick, with so much ease. And you feel a great sense of accomplishment(c'mon who doesn't like soaking their friend?).

Then for the lucky ones, Chapter Two drags on and on and on. You feel doubtful, you start to forget why you even started this crappy novel you are writing. Then for the damned, it just doesn't come at all. And when eventually you write even a paragraph, you do just give up.

We all know how it feels. You've plateaued. Big style.


Me, myself, have tried to write countless novels, none of which have ever gotten finished. In fact most of them didn't get past chapter two(I got to six or seven once, a proud day that was). Currently I'm doing pretty well.
A prolouge, chapter one, chapter two.
And as for chapter three...basically I have started to loose all enthusiasm for the goddamn thing. Looking back at what I've written...I'm thinking. Why? Why the hell did I write this?

Although I wouldn't consider my current venture a love story, chapter three is the "First Kiss" scene(as cliched as it sounds, its vital to the rest of the story). Thinking back to my first kiss, it left me giddy, smiling all the way through my next class(it happened at break just incase you wanted to know), and at first I thought wow this is going to be such an easy scene to write, and so fun too. Eh no.
I haven't even started writing it yet, and I hate it.
I'm thinking what is this tripe.


So what do I do?
Well I thought, I could just write say ten words a day. I just spent fourty minutes, sitting there with a pen and paper in hand, and the it wasn't that what I thought of was rubbish, and I could have just wrote it down anyway. The words just didn't come.


Everyone here must have felt this way, the hell that is just after Chapter One. What did you do? Share your experiences please.

If your writing a romance, don't put the "first kiss" too early into the book: it should be about halfway through. This is because this is an important moment, a significant rite of passage. In screenwriting terms, it is "the point of no return" - the point when the lovers lose their innocence. Points of no return don't have to be as vital to the plot, but it must mean something special to the character.

This is sidetracking, however this does show the importance of having a rough outline for your story. Which applies equally well to the "Chapter Two" problem. Think about what you want to achieve by the end of the chapter, what the characters want to achieve, and how this part relates to the book as a whole. This will keep you focused.

Scriptwriter William Goldman suggests putting a surprise on every page. In novel terms, maybe not every page, but certainly every chapter. Ensure you pace your novel correctly, with a mixture of rises and falls in tension, but as the book progresses, remember that tension increases so the potential for a bigger fall increases.

Whatever you do, don't give yourself a time limit or word limit or anything like that. Don't think about writing 1,000 words a day or anything like that o_o

Trust me, I've tried that, and it never works out for me. The writing just ends up coming down as forced, and that's the worse thing ever. Because let's face it, you /are/ forcing yourself to write those 1000 words everyday.

Let your writing come when it comes. For me, I write in bursts, I never know when I'm going to end up writing the next chapter. I sit down on my computer and I'll be excited and inspired and everything, and then I pull up microsoft word and I'll just minimize it and I end up spending those 4 hours that I've put aside for writing the story, surfing the internet or downloading music or something =P

But then there will be times where I sit myself on the computer and I pull up my document and I just write...five hours later, I've got my chapter finished!

Sometimes you just have to sit yourself down and just forget about your critical side, don't think about how you you should 'show and not tell' or think about how your info-dumping or whatever it is you're doing wrong. Just don't think about writing like crap in your first drafts, cause then you'll never finish. Think instead about your story and your characters and really put yourself there and put your ideas out there. You can always edit all you want later. You can always come back and fix things. But for now, you have to write the story and you have to get to know your characters, etc. etc. It's not time to focus on the literary elements yet.

Just don't force yourself. Let your writing take you where it's supposed to go. Don't think about what you've already written, because when you do that you are setting standards against yourself. Think instead about what is going to happen in the next chapter...or what is going to happen at the end of the current chapter, because then you begin to anticipate, and it writes a whole lot easier.

For me, when I'm not writing, then I'm thinking about writing xD And all of that helps, because when I finally sit down to write, I know exactly how I want this scene to play out, and even still, sometimes my writing takes me by surprise and I end up with something completely different. But the point is, on your first draft, you should be writing the story and nothing else. No editing, no backtracking. The worse thing you can do while you're writing, is reading about the writing craft o_o That's the worse thing for your motivation.

I was in the middle of writing this one action scene once, and I found this article about action scenes and I'm reading this and I'm worrying like, 'Did I do this right? Is my pace too slow? Do I use intense language...? T_T That action scene took /forever/ to get done.

Anyway, I'm rambling. So I hope I've helped. =D

Ever hear of word wars? They're pretty fun. Find a partner (I'm always available,) and you both write for a set amount of time, usually about fifteen minutes. Then you combine word counts. If you're competative, it really gets you writing. If you have no partner, you can always try to beat your own score! (What I'm doing now. )

Also, if you're really looking forward to one scene, go ahead and write it. You don't have to write in order. I always knew that, but I still wrote beginning to end. For my latest story (short story, but about 5,000 words,) I did this, and it's so much easier.

Do you have an outline? If so, try to make it really detailed for one chapter. Then all you have to do is change it from bulleted form to written form.

Also, check out nanowrimo if you're really stuck. 50,000 words in a month - you have no time to edit! It really helps you push the words onto the page. It's a good way to make yourself write that first novel.

Remember, you can take years to edit if you want. If you don't push out the writing, no matter how awful, it will never see light. Once, I had a 100 word story that sounded like a child wrote it. I expanded it to about 4,000 words, and got great feedback on it - all from revising! (That's why I love Track Changes on Word - I don't stop until everything is red! )

Also, practice does equal better. (Not perfect, though, heehee.) My first drafts used to be awful! Now I can write a first draft, and it sounds like what my tenth draft used to sound like!

It'll get easier. Hang in there!

~JFW1415