Young Writers Society

Hello, this is CesareBorgia,

On YWS there has been many novels published and completed, I just want to ask those novelists a couple of questions:

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[b]What motivated you?[/b]
[b]Name of your Novel[/b]
[b] How did you exit Writer's Block?[/b]

That is all. Your answers will be featured in the Weekly Writer.

P.S. I need this by Friday.

I jump around WAY too much. I lose interested but end up going back. I wrote half of one though. So far it is 150 pages I think.

I'll bite.

What motivated you? My reviewers/readers! They were so supportive and awesome, even when the book really, really sucked. I felt obliged to continue it just to wrap things up for them more than me, so they'd know how it ended and wouldn't feel 'cheated' in any way. That was my main motivation.

Name of your Novel: Vampiric.

How did you exit Writer's Block? I only got writer's block a couple of times while writing it, and most of the time it was a short-lived thing—one second there, then gone. Whenever I did get it, I wouldn't put pressure on myself to write another chapter. I'd try to wait it out and instead just focus on planning the next chapter. Other times, I'd will myself to write, and though the chapter would usually come out horrible, the rewrite would be much, much better.

Hey ... glad to help you. (Might I ask why, though?)

What motivated you? The fact that I had a good story and that other people seemed to agree (plus, the high word count later on made it impossible to quit).

Name of your Novel The Lost Legend (At the moment, I'm working through my second draft and have decided I need a new name).

How did you exit Writer's Block? I don't. If I catch writers block I just live with it. However, my story idea is based off of a large, important part of my life and is easy to come back to.

What motivated you? My writing teacher . She told me I had the potential to become a novelist, so I gave it a shot.
Name of your Novel It's called Vampirial, I'm writing the second draft.
How did you exit Writer's Block?I didn't… I never had it while I was writing Vampirial.

What motivated you?
The thought that I had a good idea that I wanted to express to other people. Also, having a solid character, through who I could communicate these ideas and the inclination that the words written in the novel could actually be helpful to someone.

Name of your Novel

The name of my novel is Mitchell's Help Guide. Inspired by the one-eyed polar bear who co-authored it with me.

How did you exit Writer's Block?

I thought of ways of being original and outrageous, and jotted down all my ideas before starting writing. That way, when it came to actually doing the thing, the core of it was already down on paper and I just had to find the words to put the point across.

My novel isn't on YWS as it was done for NaNoWriMo and is hiding in a rather destroyed laptop, but nevertheless...

What motivated you?

A few things. I did mine for NaNoWriMo, so certainly the challenge was a motivator. I was also horribly sick during November and writing helped take my mind off of the pain I was in (and, you know, I wasn't sleeping, so that was a plus in extra writing time!). I had a friend also doing NaNoWriMo and thus the two of us sort of competed, which motivated me to finish it more... And, of course, I'd always wanted to finish a novel before I was 18!

Name of your Novel

Oh geez. I don't remember.

...after Googling it, it appears I named it "The Way Between Worlds." The title actually came before the book - I tend to get inspiration from phrases, and thus, you know, my titles tend to precede the works. Or I just don't title at all and then use quotes (for poems and stuff), but that's irrelevant, maybe.

How did you exit Writer's Block?

Being sick, in pain, and unable to sleep helped. It was better to focus on something than nothing. Having 'competition' helped. I had to write or I'd lose. The challenge was important as well as the time stress (30 days? eek!). I'm motivated by stress like that. So I avoided writer's block because I felt like I had to write or I'd die. It was hard for me because I'm a serial editor. I write everything with extreme purpose and if it's not perfect, I change it. Sometimes I'll post something somewhere and then edit it 5, 6, 7 times before it's actually even close to finished. And it's never finished. I edit everything, even as I type it. Which made a novel very hard. But I had to let myself go without a second thought, type type type and not look back (unless there was a glaringly obvious mistake or a really terrible sentence). I had to convince myself that the editing could come later. I didn't edit later, since that novel is on a laptop which met its doom, but maybe some day I'll write another novel, and, you know, edit it.

Hope that helped! c:

What motivated you?

Inspiration comes from really little things with me. But with my current novel, a guy who seemed to stick around motivated me to put something to words.

Name of your Novel

Target Practice

How did you exit Writer's Block?

I take a day off and when I go back to it, I read over the chapter I'm stuck on, focus on bits that need fixing, fix them and then get in to a steady flow of writing again.

What motivated you?
1. It was a fun novel to write, different from anything I've done before, really. More whimsical. I allowed myself more silliness.

2. I had a coupon for a free hardcover copy of a manuscript through a self-publishing site, so I really wanted to get something done to the point where I would want a hardcover copy of it.

3. My novel-writing class really enjoyed the first part and made me feel like maybe this novel could actually go somewhere.

4. My grandpa was always the biggest supporter of my writing, because he was a writer too. And I didn't get anything done before he died last summer. So this was, I mean, I really wanted to get this done for him, even though he can't read it now.

Title of your novel.
The Book Man, although I think after the insanity of March 2014 Review Day everyone who's around the site all the time pretty much knows that.

How did you overcome writer's block?
1. Part of my writer's block was caused by depression when my grandpa died, so I got past that by doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November. I always get geared up for NaNo, so even though I didn't write at all in July and August, in September I started getting excited for NaNo, and then when November hit it was full speed ahead. I'm so grateful that program exists.

2. At one point my MC was traveling alone, and I had a lot of trouble writing that because I've never really written anything where a character spent a big chunk of the novel alone. So, I mean, it was just him walking alone. Boring. So the way I got over that was just to throw a new character into the mix so he wouldn't be alone anymore.

3. I also dreaded writing my climax, but that writer's block turned out to be a good thing. Because--I mean, I avoided writing my climax, so it took me until almost literally the last minute of my self-imposed deadline to finish the first draft. So that's technically bad. But! I avoided the climax by throwing in plot twists and new characters and things that were ultimately good for the story. And through doing so, eventually I figured out how my climax needed to go.

Basically I overcame writer's block by doing exactly what they always tell you to do during NaNoWriMo--not worrying if your writing is any good (that's what revision is for!) and going wherever the plot bunnies take you. I had some silly ideas, new characters, plot twists that I can't even remember the inspiration for, and I just ran with them, and they led me out of the writer's block.

Sorry that was long