Hey Writer,
I’ve been thinking a lot about that story I was talking about in the last issue. I’ve been spending time this week really fleshing out the main character into someone who can carry longer stories. This lead to many more avenues that I can research within the vast genre that is the western. I want to build a connected world through my books and I feel like I’m off to a good start. I’ve started outlining where I want these stories to go, something that today’s author is vehemently against. To each his own right?
If you want to read the story that inspired this train of thought, shoot me a reply.
Stephen King: Nightmarish Production
Stephen King is someone who has become a household name in the literary world. Mention his name to anyone and there’s a good chance they’ve read one of his books or seen a movie or television show that was based on his works. His level output is something any writer would be envious of.
No matter what, King writes every day and ensures that he reaches his word goal of 2000 words. It all starts with a messy first draft that he calls a “vomit draft”, He gets out the full story before even attempting to make any edits. As I mentioned before, he is against outlining. King prefers to discover where his story is going to go as he writes it. He reads widely and keeps his workspace free of distraction to ensure optimal production.
Stephen King’s life and relationship with writing has been far from easy. He’s had battles with addiction and a near fatal accident when he was struck by a van. The physical act of writing was what he used to distract himself in these trying times.
Writing Prompt:
Think of a nightmare you’ve had in the past. Turn it into a 2000 word short story. Feel free to send these my way. I’ll read every one.
Writer’s Block Autopsy: Quota Paralysis
It’s easy to see the output of writers like Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson and think that we can never reach those levels of production. We either worry about falling short or worry that the words we do write will be detrimental to our larger project.
The attempt to reach an established writer’s daily word count while only starting to rediscover our own routine would hurt more than help. This usually leads to an inability to start or skipping days which compounds into skipping weeks or months. This fear and trepidation is exactly what leads to most of us giving up on writing in the first place.
The thing we all need to focus on is developing our writing routine from the ground up. We can’t compare our starting line with the end of someone else’s race. You don’t need to reach 2000 words a day in the beginning. Don’t even go for 1000 if that is too much. Bring your goal down to something small and achievable like 200 words. If word counts themselves feel too daunting, set a timer for a short amount of time like 5 minutes and write as much as you can in that time. Do what works for you and don’t worry about anyone else.
The world has an endless supply of stories, the only one missing is yours.
See you next week.
-Mike