Every time I write a book, I’m surprised by the problems I run into—even though the problems are always the same. And actually, looking at my list of issues, I’m not sure there’s a whole lot I can do to prevent them from cropping up, unless I really wanted to change my approach to writing a book. Maybe that’s why they keep recurring!
5 Questions that Always Pop Up Once While Writing My Books
1. Where do I go next? I’m guessing this is a problem faced more frequently by folks who don’t outline…people like me. Usually I have an idea in my head about where I want to go next with the plot and the characters. But a few times in each book, I have an uhhhh moment where I’m really not sure what I’m writing in the next scene. Or the one after that.
2.What’s this character’s deal? Sometimes my characters aren’t well-behaved. In every book, a character will either try to steal scenes, act out of character, try to change their character, or exhibit a stunning lack of motivation. This is one of those problems I look out for while I’m writing a book—and I fix it when I see it, going forward from that point in the manuscript. Otherwise it can make a huge mess in a story. But I’m always so surprised when it happens!
3. Whodunit? Okay, this is going to be specific to mystery writers—but I don’t usually have a killer planned out until much later in the story. I like it that way because it means that I set up all my suspects as possible murderers. But—it means that at the end of the book I’m going back and forth…and back and forth…and back and forth on the killer’s identity.
4. How am I going to wrap this up? Writing endings is tough for me. Beginnings I like, but wrapping up a book? Ugh. I manage to conveniently forget what a pain it is for me until it’s time for me to write another one.
5. How many more pages are there left to write?! It’s actually pretty easy for me to get overwhelmed when writing–which is why I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about the unwritten pages stretching ahead of me…it’s easy to freak myself out. But I don’t feel overwhelmed when I start a project—but I sure do about a third of the way through.
Maybe forgetting these things is my subconscious way to ensure I keep writing books. Because if I remembered my struggles with this stuff, then I’d probably start a new book with a lot more trepidation than I do.
Are there problems that you always encounter when writing? Do you find that you forget about them in between projects?
I do relate to these points. In my novel I juggled with “Who will commit the murder?” many times before zeroing on the murderer!
Love this post! These are all so true. I’ve only written one full murder mystery, but I loved writing it and, like you, I don’t outline so I had to wait and see who the killer was. SO MUCH FUN!!! But, the endless doubts and insecurities we writers feel always trip us up. (Or, wait, is that ourselves tripping ourselves up? Hmm…)
Elizabeth – I’ve asked those questions, too!! And I had to smile when I came to your question about whodunit. That happened in my WIP as a matter of fact. I had started out with one character in mind as the murderer, but as the story evolved, that no longer made sense – well, not as much sense as the character who is turning out to be the killer. Nice to know I’m not the only one who does that.
Because I write much like you do, without an outline, I always struggle with “where do I go next?” That is especially true when my time to devote to the book is limited, as it is now. I am really struggling to finish the second book in my mystery series. I don’t have trouble with endings, however. I always know what the end is going to be. For this current project, I just don’t know how to get to that end. LOL
Just how on earth am I going to finish this? Guess it’s a good thing I outline.
As I stare at my next non-fiction project, I just want to know where to begin!
I can relate to them all, except the whodunit:)
The hardest part for me it the stretch of all the blank pages ahead. If I entertain it long enough, I feel like screaming!
I love when the writing is so good and steady that I never remember to check my word count:)
Lol, love the last part. It reminds me of what my mom says about labor: if she’d remembered how painful it was with her first, she might not have had the next three, haha! Making women forget is like nature’s way of keeping the world populated, lol. Same with writing. The world needs enlightenment, which we get through books, hence we forget how painful writing can be sometimes!
Prem–It’s kind of fun that way…it’s almost as much of a surprise to us as it is to the reader!
Debra–You’re right–we’re our own worst enemies!
Alex–That’s one question you don’t have to worry about!
Margot–And the nice thing is that we’ve set it up so that more than one person could be the killer. So we have the luxury of waiting to decide!
Diane–I think that would be *tough*. With non-fiction, there’s just so much information to compile and organize!
Maryann–I hear that the best thing to do when that happens is to write backwards from the ending. I’ve done it once before and it did work pretty well (that was after I’d decided who the killer was.) :)
Laura–I think your mom is right! It all comes back to us…but not until the delivery. :)
I do a little outlining (not tight… more a ‘timeline’ really) and so don’t have much trouble with the ‘what next’ but found some trouble with the HOW next. In my rewrite I will need to undo a little of the repetitive technique I ended up with (though I came up with a new twist today that makes me happy)… but yeah… misbehaving characters all around! And I knew my killer, but then sort of changed my mind… what do I mean sort of? BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can’t tell you. (but you’ll see sooner than most… maybe *snort* *cackles*)
I think, because I plot ahead, my problem nearly the end starts earlier and is framed ‘how do I get there from here?
I’m currently at one of those uhhhh moments right now. I keep thinking that what I learned from the previous project will prevent these things happening in the next, but it never works that way, so I just plod on.
It’s funny, but for the book I’m working on now, the first thing I knew was the ending. I also knew the main character, except she ended up being a minor character. But the ending has stayed the same.
Hart–Congratulations on the new twist!
I think that’s another problem I run into–“how do I get there from here.”
Jane–That’s kind of my attitude, too. You’d *think* I’d learn these things, but they don’t ever seem to sink in.
Helen–She got demoted! That’s funny…I’ve done the same thing before. You’re good to know the ending right away–it’s a lot of work for me.
Tamika–Thinking of those blank pages is a real creativity killer! I try just to think one page at a time, but it’s hard sometimes. :) It’s GREAT when we have a good day, though, isn’t it?
I don´t like this. I have written for ten years (no, fifteen to be honest) and run into all kinds of problems such as too little planning, a sagging middle, boring characters, too little excitement etc.
But with “The Cosy Knave” I spent two days planning it, following my friend Elizabeth´s recipe, and everything went ever so smoothly.
I *know* it is just a draft, but I haven´t found any major flaws yet. It is so uncanny because I can´t help thinking “what is it I haven´t seen????”