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We first connected with Adam Oyebanji during his debut novel’s publication and featured him in our March/April 2024′s Breaking In column. Now that his next publication is hitting the shelves today, we’re reconnecting with him.

What was the time frame for writing this latest book?

Although this is my fourth book to be published since I “broke in” (Braking Day was followed by A Quiet Teacher and Two Times Murder, both mysteries), Esperance was actually written third. I’m trying to alternate between SF and Crime, although Esperance mixes both! To get back to your question, though, it was written in 2022-23 and has been waiting to be born ever since.

Has your perspective on the publication process changed since your debut was published?

I still feel very grateful to be here, and I think it’s important not to lose sight of that. I’m lucky to be able to write, luckier to have an agent and publishers, and luckiest of all to have readers who seem to like my books. These are things to remember whenever the enthusiasm levels drop.

In terms of what’s changed, I think the process as a whole is simply less mysterious, so I’m less hesitant about speaking up if I feel something isn’t quite right. Plus, I sometimes get invited to parties and book festivals!

What was the biggest surprise while getting this book ready for publication?

Editors. The publishing houses, like many businesses, have been going through a lot of changes recently, mostly driven by a desire to keep costs down and profits up, which is what businesses do, after all. In consequence, a lot of editors have been laid off and/or moved on, which meant that Esperance has had more editors than I would have expected. On the plus side, though, they’ve all been great to work with. I love working with people who love books!

What do you feel you did really well with this novel?

Everything, of course! More seriously, I’m proud of being able to talk about a dark subject through the light and pacy lens of a speculative crime thriller. Library Journal describes Esperance as “recommended for readers who love intricately blended genre stories that ask big questions,” and I couldn’t ask for better than that. I hope people will see Esperance as a fun read that sometimes makes you think. Then, on a more granular level, I feel I’ve done a pretty good job with the dialog. I like to think I’m good at the back-and-forth that keeps people engaged with the characters while the story rattles along underneath.

Anything you would have done differently?

Absolutely! Every time I write a novel, I learn something along the way about how to write a novel. Reading Esperance now, I keep thinking why did I use that word and not this, this motivation and not that. I suspect a lot of writers feel this way. Left to ourselves, we’d tweak forever and nothing would ever get published!

Would you like to share some advice for our readers?

Persevere. All you can do is write. You have no control over anything else, so concentrate on that. Write because it gives you joy or because you find it meaningful in some other sense. If the “other” stuff happens, great! But you can’t really write for that, and I would suggest you don’t try. It either happens, or it doesn’t. No good can come from worrying about it.

What’s next for you?

I’m returning to the universe of Braking Day: a murder mystery (sort of) in space! There’s a supporting character in Braking Day that I really enjoyed writing. This new novel is set twenty years earlier than Braking Day and is told from that character’s point of view. After that, I’d quite like to write the follow-up to Two Times Murder, but one thing at a time!

Where can our audience find you online?

Website: AdamOyebanji.com

The post Breaking Out: Adam Oyebanji appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Why indie publish?

In a word, curiosity. I wanted to see if I could do it on my own. The decision to indie publish my books was like opening a door into an unknown world. It gave me the chance to immerse myself in the lifecycle of a book.

For Oil and Dust, I worked with three separate editors and a proofreader. From there, I dove into the complicated world of book production. This included cover art, copywriting, interior design, and typesetting. Then there were decisions like trim size. The grade, color and weight of paper. Which distribution networks to use? What pricing is appropriate? There are so many moving pieces! The journey to craft, produce, and publish a book is complex. It takes work, but is rewarding, too.  

Had you considered traditional publishing?

I researched the steps needed along both paths before making my decision. The traditional publishing path didn’t fit for my Elemental Artist series. The series is a genre mash-up that doesn’t fit in a single category. These books are part fantasy, part science fiction. The series tells a coming-of-age story but for an adult protagonist. They are about community, connection, and found family. I like to describe them as post-apocalyptic fantasy but with cozy vibes. From the start, I believed it would take four books to tell Matthew Sugiyama’s story, and knew pitching them to agents would be tricky.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the creative freedom of indie publishing, I don’t think it’s the right (or only) path for all books. For example, I have a middle-grade fantasy novel that I’m interested in querying. I could publish it, but I think the story would do well within the traditional publishing world.

Order Jami Fairleigh’s Oil and Dust today.

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Indie publishing appeal?

I love the unlimited options. A typical Gemini, my interests span multiple genres and narrative styles. For me, the unparalleled creative freedom it offers is not just appealing—it’s transformative. I can experiment with unconventional story structures while blending genres. It allows me to explore my curiosity without constraint. Best yet, the creative freedom afforded an indie author continues after publication. The prospects of my father translating my books into Japanese, or working with my cousin who illustrates graphic novels, are both possible since I hold the rights to my work. This empowers me. The future of my stories is in my hands, and I can wander with them in any direction I choose.

Biggest challenge?

Again, the unlimited options. Once you have a story ready to share with the world, the sheer number of possibilities for an indie author is staggering. Like many writers, I have a full-time day job, so going the indie route hasn’t been easy. Schedule, budget, author brand, book formats, sales platforms, reader expectations and engagement; you’re managing it all.

You are the writer. But you are also the publisher, marketer, promoter, web developer, accountant, agent, and project manager. That’s a lot of hats for one head to wear.

Order Graphite and Turbulence by Jami Fairleigh today.

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Wish I’d known …

In hindsight, I wish I’d known the importance of building relationships with authors who had already been through the publishing journey before I started my own. Building a network first would have helped me avoid problems and craft a better launch. My oversight wasn’t because I wanted to go it alone, but because it didn’t occur to me that the community of authors would be so supportive! This includes both traditional and indie-published writers; I’ve found writers following either path to be encouraging, helpful, and empathetic people.

Writing advice:

Join a writing community. Find writers who support and encourage you. I’m a craft junkie and soak up writing advice from podcasts, books, articles, and courses. But I’ve found these resources are more meaningful to me when I discuss them with the other writers in my community. This year, I joined the Tenacious Writing program, which has provided me with a bonanza of craft resources, coaching, and community. Even if you think you’re too early in a project for feedback, engaging with other writers can help keep you motivated and working toward your goals.

Don’t skimp on:

Book production. OK, I know this answer is a bit of a cheat, but frankly, if you’re going to spend the time and money to publish your story, it’s not worth it to skimp on anything related to the creation of your book. Your book is an asset, so work with a professional cover designer. Invest in your editors. Use a proofreader. Buy your own ISBNs. Register your books with your copyright office.

Website and/or social media:

JamiFairleigh.com
Twitter.com/jamifairleigh

Awards or recognition:

• NOOK Top Indie Favorite for the months of August and September 2021 by Barnes & Noble for Oil and Dust (adult fantasy novel)
• 2022 March Serial Read by Barnes & Noble for Oil and Dust (adult fantasy novel)
• Finalist in the 2021 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Writing Contest for An Ordinary Girl (middle-grade fantasy novel)
• 12TH Place Winner in the 2022 Book Blogger’s Novel of the Year Contest for Oil and Dust (adult fantasy novel)
• Winner of 2022 Indie Author Project Regional Contest in Washington State for Oil and Dust (adult fantasy novel)
• Winner of Indie Author of the Year for 2023

The post Indie Author Spotlight: Jami Fairleigh appeared first on Writer's Digest.

They also are generous enough to share some advice for writers. Let’s take a look at what they thought was the most important piece of advice they could share:

“It’s really hard but try to enjoy and celebrate each step. If you’re querying, try to enjoy the fact that your work is on an agent’s desk. If you’re on submission, try to enjoy the fact that it’s in the hands of an editor. Even if ultimately you’re disappointed, there are things to shout about and be proud of along the way.” —Sarah Daniels, The Stranded (YA near-future thriller, Sourcebooks Fire)

“The best advice I ever received came from Chuck Rosenthal, one of my professors at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He always told us to keep moving forward and not get hung up on revising early chapters, because you might not know what needs to be on the first page until you’ve written the last page.” —Miya T. Beck, The Pearl Hunter (middle-grade fantasy, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)

“I love the idea of ‘parking downhill’. At the end of a writing day, if you are energized and have ideas on how to keep going with a scene or a chapter, keep a little of that back for the following day. That way, you pick up your draft knowing what comes next, rather than spending ages trying to get back into the story.” —Eleanor Shearer, River Sing Me Home (historical fiction, Berkley/Penguin Random House)

“Write, read, run. As much as you can. Especially run—or walk! Your mind and body will thank you.” —Kara Gnodde, The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything (book club fiction, HarperCollins)

“I use Freedom, the internet-blocking app, constantly while writing. I’ve found it to be the best way to push out the distractions of daily life and become immersed in the world I’m writing.” —Michelle Min Sterling, Camp Zero (literary speculative fiction, Atria)

“Trust your gut. Forget what you think publishers want to buy. When doubt settles in (Oh, heavens! This is too crazy/bad/clichéd/etc.) lean into the worst of it, laugh with and at it, tell yourself you’ll fix it later, and when later comes, at least in my experience, 8 times out of 10 what you wrote will contain some of the liveliest/coolest/original bits of work.” —Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Monstrilio (Literary Horror, Zando)

“Write the shitty first draft and let it be shitty. Striving for perfection on a first draft only results in stagnation. Let it be an unconscious stream and trust the process.” —Neely Tubati-Alexander, Love Buzz (women’s fiction/contemporary romance, Harper Perennial)

“I would encourage writers to be easy on themselves and keep going, despite the challenges and setbacks. Even when you’re not actually writing, you can always think and dream about your work. That counts, right?” —Idman Nur Omar, The Private Apartments (literary short fiction, House of Anansi)

“Being a wunderkind is overrated. For many of us, the path to publication is a long one. Learning to deal constructively with rejection is a vital part of the writing life.

“Also, get a second monitor for your laptop. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it will make writing and editing much less overwhelming.” —Greg Marshall, Leg (memoir, Abrams Press)

“Writing is a spiritual act. I don’t know if anyone actually told me this or if I was smart enough to figure it out all on my own, but I really do believe it. I feel like stories and ideas come through me and it’s my job to stay open to them. Whether you believe in God or not, it doesn’t really matter, but I think being in the flow of writing is a very Zen-like, spiritual state of being, and it’s important to stay connected to that aspect of things even while you’re trying to hustle. Oh, and show don’t tell.” —Shideh Etaat, Rana Joon and the One and Only Now (YA, Atheneum)

“Listen to your editor. Anne Sowards is a treasure, and her advice is golden. Also, I enroll every quarter at Seattle’s Hugo House and, though I’m no poet myself, insert myself into their classes because poets are my biggest literary crush. Poetry reminds me to pay attention, and it challenges me to rethink how I use prose in my storytelling.” —Lauren J.A. Bear, Medusa’s Sisters (historical fantasy, Ace)

“Read! You have to read a lot! You can’t expect other people to read your stuff if you aren’t reading yourself. Reading is the best cure for writer’s block, hands down. Read outside your genre, read all the books!” —Lauren Danhof, It’s Not a Cult (dark comedy/book club fiction, Alcove Press)

“Sprinting! I learned this tip from Ava Wilder, another of Jessica’s authors. When I need to write but I’m feeling unsure where to start, I set a timer for 20 minutes and just write, no distractions, no stopping to think, no editing as I go. It really helps me turn off the part of my brain that constantly worries about whether what I’m writing is good, which can ultimately inhibit my creativity and my productivity. Even if what I write requires more cleanup than usual (though it doesn’t always!), it gets me started.” —Rachel Runya Katz, Thank You for Sharing (romance, St. Martin’s Griffin)

“The only truism in writing is that everything you write has to be for a purpose. I don’t believe in didactic advice that tells you which adverbs not to use or which sorts of openings never work, etc., etc. The only rule I have is to ‘do things for reasons’—writing at its root is putting down a series of words one after the other, and which words you choose in which specific context is going to inform how an audience perceives the embedded meaning. Understand the textual and subtextual implications of your words, and you’ll have control over your prose. That’s the only thing that matters.” —Em X. Liu, The Death I Gave Him (science fiction, Solaris)

“Follow the heat. Write what excites you, and use the pleasure of writing to find momentum.” —Shannon Sanders, Company (story collection, Graywolf Press)

“Try to find a writer’s group, even if you have to pay to join one or start one yourself. The critique, support, and encouragement you get is invaluable and once you start seeing other writers getting published, you start to taste the possibility and then there’s no turning back.” —Kehinde Fadipe, The Sun Sets in Singapore (mainstream women’s fiction, Grand Central Publishing)

“Once you’ve sat with the story, my biggest advice is to get it down on the page as best you can! That first draft is the hardest; there’s always a reason you can give yourself to not keep going – whether it’s ‘I’m rubbish at this’ or ‘I should be answering my emails’, but just stick with it! Once you have something to shape, you have a draft of a novel, and that’s certainly something to be celebrated.” —Clementine Taylor, Something About Her (romance, Putnam)

“Stream of Consciousness Writing—welcome all the thoughts and observe what you uncover.” —Zain Bandilo, Mehndi Boy (early reader illustrated chapter book, Annick Press)

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The post 18 Tips from Authors Who Broke In in 2023 appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(Grammar rules for writers.)

Rather, we’re looking at bigger picture mistakes and mishaps, including the error of using too much exposition, hiding your pitch, or chasing trends. This week’s mistake is writing someone else’s way.

Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Writing Someone Else’s Way

Write for an hour every day. Write 2,000 words a day. Already be thinking of your next story. Already have a draft for a second story written when you’re submitting this manuscript. Perfect your elevator pitch. Make sure it’s marketable. Never start your story with nature. Don’t make it too long. Series’ sell. But write whatever you want!

We often ask authors what advice they have for other writers. We ask because the answers are often diverse and unique to whatever worked for that author, hopefully offering readers an array of examples that essentially add up to one thing: The only wrong way to write is not to write at all.

Which is true. But what I say next comes from personal experience. Sometimes, writers hoard writing advice, and contradicting nuggets of wisdom bump up against each other in our brains, fighting for legitimacy to be the one that helped us finish our stories.

Personally, I have tried on several different pieces of writing advice to varying degrees of success. Often, I find myself cycling through authorial advice when I am at my most frustrated with my story or my process, hoping that another way of thinking will help me see through to the end. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it takes me down a path I ultimately didn’t want to go, and then I feel like I wasted precious time.

What I’ve come to realize is that I have a habit of hearing what published authors have to say as some oracular, prophesied truth because, clearly, it worked for them. And in that, I would alter my writing process—even my writing style—to fit whatever advice they had to offer.

What happened was my writing suffered every time I tried incorporating a new piece of writing advice, because not every piece of writing advice is going to serve my story or how I write. I grew frustrated when something I wrote didn’t feel like me.

The Fix

Writing advice is not a perfect puzzle piece, it’s more akin to growing out of your clothes as a teenager. One day something fits, the next day you need a brand-new wardrobe. My writing changes on its own naturally with every passing year I spend writing. Instead of implementing what worked for other people, I now spend time unpacking my past writing and comparing it to my current writing, seeing where I’ve improved, where I could do better, and what my new goals are. I let my new-self advise my old-self. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still incorporate writing advice from others, and that isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s encouraged. But don’t overwhelm your brain with too much outside writing advice.

Here’s what worked for me. I think of writing advice in two categories: practical and emotional. When I’m stuck on the practical side of writing, the literal sitting-down-and-getting-words-out part of the process, I’ll investigate what some authors have said about their writing process on books that I’ve loved. We recently interviewed Lydia Kiesling for the “Writer’s Digest Presents” podcast on her new book, Mobility, a book I loved and wanted to learn from. In chatting with her, she described the process of intentionally misdirecting readers, something that requires a certain level of subtlety but also something the writer needs to be aware of the entire time. I learned so much from that conversation, and it felt like advice that my specific story and my specific writing style needed.

For the emotional side, I find myself looking for advice on how to get through the arduous process of writing something you want to be proud of. Lately, what I find myself turning to is Brandon Taylor’s advice from the May/June 2023 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine:

“Remember that when you’re writing that first thing, you’re in an incredibly precious time. When you’re writing that book or that early story, write for yourself first and foremost. There’s going to come a time when that won’t be the case anymore, when there are going to be all these people who are involved. So, don’t be in any great hurry to publish or to get it out there into the world. Take your time to hone and craft that first book. Appreciate those early years where you’re writing for yourself because it never is quite the same once you start publishing.”

I think about this all of the time now when I sit down to write—when I start to feel anxious about the end goal being published and that I’m not there yet. In reminding myself that this moment of writing what will hopefully be my first published work is something that won’t happen twice, and that I need to try and enjoy it now.

So, as you’re working on your drafts, eliminate all of the well-intentioned-but-not-for-you writing advice you’ve heard and distill it down to the most relevant and the most necessary. What’s going to help your writing, and what’s going to help your mind? The answer to those questions will change as you keep going on this creative journey, but don’t worry about what hasn’t happened yet.

Click to continue.

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(21 Authors Share One Piece of Advice for Writers.)

In particular, I found learning from other writers invaluable. From teachers, from books on writing, and from writers groups, there’s always been something which has improved the words that flowed from my pen. Below are my five favorite pieces of writing advice.

1) Writing With the Senses

“We experience the world through our senses, so we must write using the senses.” —My creative writing teacher

In a workshop I once attended the teacher informed us that as “we experience the world through our senses, so we must write using the senses.” This really struck home with me, and I now always make sure to consider the five senses when I write. What does the food taste like? What is the scent in the air?

In my mystery novel, The Party, my characters are stuck in an old mansion, deep in the middle of the forest. Ample opportunity to explore writing with the senses. For example, during a dramatic moment—“She crawled towards Claire’s pained mumbles, feeling the forest floor squelch and ooze through her fingers.”—you can really feel the wet rotting mulch of the forest floor underneath her.

This makes writing richer and draws the reader into the heart of our story. Writer E.L. Doctorow agreed with this approach: “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

Check out Tríona Walsh’s The Party here:

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2) How to Plot Successfully

“’The king died and then the queen died’ is a story. ‘The king died, and then the queen died of grief’ is a plot.” —E.M. Forster

While it’s up for debate whether there really is a difference between story and plot, one tip can definitely be learned from E.M. Forster ideas. Plot, for him, was about the cause and effect of events. The queen didn’t just die, she died of grief. Story is driven by how one event impacts the next. It is not just event, event, event. I ask myself, with each action from my characters, how does that impact their next? What dominoes have started to fall?

Keeping this in mind as you plot—whether as a plotter or as a discovery writer—will give your story pace and a forward propulsion. No matter how interesting individual events might be, without a cause and effect your story risks being one long info dump. You risk eventually boring the reader.

If we stick with Forster’s example, it could play out like this… The king died—causing such grief that the queen died. What then? Her death causes a power vacuum and the realm’s subjects so distracted and bereft from her death are vulnerable to a sneak attack from a neighboring army. What is the effect of this? This threat shakes one brave young man from his grief and he rises up, rallies the demoralized people, and they fight back… etc. You can see how the plot moves forward, primed to bring the reader with it.

3) Clues Should Be Dramatized (or ‘Be Eaten by the Monster’ as I like to think of this advice) —K M Weiland

This nugget comes from writer K M Weiland. It is all about keeping our writing at its most active—avoiding the no-no of telling, not showing. Weiland posits a situation where a legendary monster is being hunted. She asks which is the best way to find out the monster exists? Is it reading about it in a book? That’s just about okay. What about hearing of it from an old-timer? That’s better. But, ideally, she argues we should find out the legendary monster is real by nearly being eaten by it! 

The first time I read this bit of advice, I loved it. My head filled with the image of a ferocious creature, eyes blazing, jaws wide with fierce slavering teeth bearing down on me, determined to eat me up! So, I always ask myself, how can my characters find out information in the most active way possible? Let’s not hear a rumor on the grapevine, instead have the character spy the illicit tryst from a hiding place. The hero shouldn’t rush to the hospital, alerted to his love’s accident by a phone call, instead he should come across the aftermath of the accident and see his beloved critically injured.

But this doesn’t just apply to big moments. Just think of Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth overhears Mr Darcy say “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.” Elizabeth could have heard of his contempt from a friend, or read it in a letter. But by overhearing it herself, she is an active participant in the story and it is all the more powerful for it.

4) Getting Rid of Filter Words

“Cut.” —My writer friend Joe.

Like a lot of writers I enjoy belonging to a writers’ group. You can learn so much there. In one such group is my writer friend, Joe. With swift flicks of his red pen, he always hands back my work in much better shape than I gave it to him. For the longest time I couldn’t work how he did that. What was he doing? Joe’s particular talent, I discovered, was to identify all the fat and get rid of it. And most insidious among the trimmings were filter words.

Filter words place a remove between the reader and the action of the story. For example, ‘He heard the car drive by.’ Heard is the offender here. The information is being filtered through our character, we the reader aren’t witnessing the action first hand. Instead, even a simple tweak to ‘The car drove by’ is much better, we are in the moment, hearing the car drive by ourselves. Every filter word puts the reader in the audience and not in the middle of the action. And just like with being eaten by the monster and using the senses, this technique draws the reader in as an active participant in your writing.

5) Discipline

“You will be published if you possess three qualities—talent, passion, and discipline.

“You will probably be published if you possess… either talent and discipline (or) passion and discipline. You will likely be published if you possess neither talent nor passion, but still have discipline… But if all you possess is talent or passion, (or) talent AND passion—you will NOT be published. The likelihood is you will never be published.” —Elizabeth George (in Write Away)

And finally, the most important bit of writing advice that I return to is not actually writing advice as such. I’ve come back to this quote from Elizabeth George again and again over the years. I’ll never forget reading it in her book on writing, Write Away, years ago as a new writer. This line in particular struck me “You will LIKELY be published if you possess neither talent nor passion, but still have discipline.” 

I scoffed. Surely she was talking nonsense, talent will always win out, won’t it? (We’re back to the pie again.) Her somewhat harsh words stayed with me over the years. As I’ve stuck with this writing game—getting up when I’ve been knocked down, creating my own luck when the spontaneous kind was scarce, or simply turning up to write over and over when I’d rather do something easier—has taught me she was right. Discipline, whether in the form of getting words on the page, or just never giving up, is fundamental.

Of course this isn’t an absolute. There are talented, passionate and disciplined writers who who don’t make it, just like there are a handful who wake up in the morning and have success dumped in their lap. But, by being disciplined with both the little things and the big, you’re stacking the odds in your favor. The first four pieces of writing advice I’ve talked about here are worthless if you ignore this fifth.

I’ll leave you with a second quote on this theme from writer Colum McCann, who just as plainly as Elizabeth George, tells you it’s all about discipline.

“A writer is not someone who thinks obsessively about writing, or talks about it, or plans it, or dissects it, or even reveres it: a writer is the one who puts his arse in the chair when the last thing he wants to do is have his arse in the chair.” —Colum McCann

So, get in the chair, find the advice that helps you, and write!

The post 5 Pieces of Advice From Writers That I Come Back to Again and Again appeared first on Writer's Digest.

We should just give up.

Stop writing. Let Coleen Hoover and James Patterson and ChatGPT just write all the books.

But that’s not true. We need stories from as many diverse backgrounds as possible because that’s what humans crave. For as many copies James Patterson has sold there are just as many people who have never read one of his books. You should write your book because you’re not James Patterson.

Of course, that imposter syndrome voice is always there and it’s always going to say the same things. So it’s time to combat that with logic, because if imposter syndrome is anything, it’s illogical.

Am I boring?

First off, yes. Absolutely. Everyone is boring including you. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what can we do about it? Basically nothing. Because everyone is boring to someone.

You could write the most thrilling, exciting adventure full of romance and intrigue that wins multiple awards and becomes a bestseller. But there are still going to be people who say: “Oh, it was such a slog to read. How many car chases do you really need?” and you’re going to be like: “One! There was only the one!”

You could also write a book about a lonely widow who goes to the supermarket every Tuesday. And people will say: “Oh my God! We get it! She goes to the supermarket!” But there are going to be plenty of people who read and connect with your writing in the way you meant. They’re going to see how you made the produce a metaphor for life and how the characters staring into the freezers in the frozen food section are still looking for human connection.

Those readers are going to cry and realize all of the work you put into this book and when they finish, they’re going to immediately find all the other books you wrote and buy them. Those are your people. Write for them. Be boring for them!

Has this story already been told?

Of course it has! Every story has already been told. Terminator and The Matrix are the same story: AI take over the world and a chosen one is going to save humanity but an unfeeling machine is hunting them down. Deep Impact and Armageddon are about astronauts going into space to blow up an extinction-level space rock, and they came out in the same year. Avatar is Dances with Wolves with blue people!

Everything old is new again. But your story is different because you wrote it. Out of the above examples, there might be one that people prefer, but there are plenty of people who like both. If a similar idea comes out before your book is written, keep going.

Finish writing the story the way you imagined it and hope that other one does well. Because the fans of that story will then find yours. And then you get to pitch your book with “Grocery Store Widow is perfect for fans of Shopping Mall Single Dad!”

Am I a terrible writer?

Absolutely not! You thought I was going to say yes and have something clever to say about how we’re all terrible writers, didn’t you? Well we aren’t! That’s the imposter syndrome talking!

We’re all great writers because we write what moves us. We write what we want to read. That’s why we write those stories that we’re worried are boring or feel familiar. There’s no such thing as a ‘terrible writer’—except maybe five-year-olds. Five-year-olds are awful writers, but they’re new and still learning.

Think about the worst book you ever read. You probably think that writer is terrible, but someone bought that book. You may have even bought that book! You don’t like their voice or their writing style, but that doesn’t make them a terrible writer.

Order Lose You to Find Me by Erik J. Brown today.

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So how do I shut imposter syndrome up forever?

Great question! Let me know when you find out. I think the answer is you never will. If you become an instant New York Times bestseller you’re still going to feel like an imposter. You’ll show up to a book event with a line out the door and wonder ‘Why are all these people here?’ You’ll sign a contract for your next three books and the whole time you’ll be waiting for your publisher to change their mind and rescind their offer. You’ll never be able to shut up imposter syndrome forever, but you can tell it to go away for now.

If you’re pre-publication, remind yourself why you write. If you’ve just published your first book, hold it in your hands and remember how proud you are of it—and if you aren’t you should be! If your fifth book is about to come out and you’re scared it won’t find its audience, just know there are people who pre-order your books as soon as you announce them. If you’re James Patterson, reach out to your ghostwriters and remind them they did a great job!

Imposter syndrome comes to bother all of us, we just need to sometimes embrace it with logic and get it to go away. At least until the next time we’re successful and it rears its ugly head.

Also, I changed my mind, ChatGPT is the only terrible writer.

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Either way, we know this all too well as “writer’s block.” Although it can be a little frustrating, it’s possible to beat! Here’s how I do it.

Log off social media, or better yet, get off your phone, period.

There is just too much room for distraction on these little pocket computers we have. A good-natured check for the weather could turn into a rabbit hole of figuring out what ever happened to the main character of that TV show you loved when you were little.

To beat writer’s block, a lot of the time you need your mind to be quiet to work through the next part of your story. As some of the experts say, you need to feel a little “bored” in order for inspiration to strike.

A lot of the time, we cull the impending feeling of boredom with picking up our phone and mindlessly scrolling, laughing at the latest reel to pop up on our feeds. Take some time and sit with your thoughts, and let boredom strike down that writer’s block.

For me, sometimes I pick up my phone out of habit, so I have to set a timer or even place my phone in a different part of the room to resist the urge to pick it up.

Read a book.

When I’m reading a book that I’m really loving, I get really inspired. I think to myself, “Man, I would love to write something this good.” And then I put the book down and start writing.

Picture someone reading a book you wrote and thinking that it’s so good that they have to put it down and start writing something! It’s a cool thought, and maybe even a bit more inspiration to break out of that writer’s block.

Order India Hill Brown’s Rhythm and Muse today.

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Do something other than writing.

Do something that gives your mind a chance to focus on something other than writing, but still fun and worth your time, such as a puzzle, painting, knitting, or even going to a party or singing karaoke. For me, I love cooking—I’m focused on something worth my while (food!!) while getting the instant gratification that I don’t get from drafting a novel.

I also love hanging out with friends and family, or going on random misadventures—sometimes, the little conversations you hear, jokes you make, or funny situations I find myself in can give me an idea for my next story or how to move the needle on the one I’m currently working on.

Do you enjoy running? Throwing around a football in your backyard? Baking? Little moments like feeling the sun on your face, smelling freshly baked bread, or laughing so hard that tears fall down your face, are the real-life experiences that will help inspire you to put pen to paper.

Just start.

You may groan reading this one, but nothing beats writer’s block better than just sitting down to write. Set a timer for 25 minutes (I’m a personal fan of the Pomodoro Method) and see what you can come up with.

You might end up scrapping everything you write, but at least you’ve gotten the ball rolling. Or better yet, take out a notebook and journal through it. Sometimes the writer’s block is mental, and journaling can help you get through whatever isn’t making sense to you through your keyboard.

For me, every story starts with a notebook. I have to journal through my thoughts about the plot, characters, and setting before I can even begin to start typing.

Outline.

I usually do an outline before I start, but occasionally I like to start writing and see where it takes me. Sometimes, though, when I do this, I find myself lost in the story, and I need to outline the rest.

The shorthand version of where the story is supposed to go serves as something like a map—I can refer to it when I don’t know what to do next, but I can also change it when I think of something better. Having it helps anchor me. It helps when I just don’t know what to write next—and also with pacing and story structure.

Writer’s block can be part of the process, but it won’t last forever. Give yourself some grace as you write your words and write freely. Take the pressure off of trying to write something perfect—you can always edit later! For now, just take a deep breath, open that notebook or your laptop, and begin.https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/fearless-writing

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This is the advice I wish someone had given me when I first started writing 15 years ago. I knew I wanted to write a novel, so I began to hunt down information on the best way to do that. And by “hunt down,” I mean I read blog posts from other authors detailing their process and tried to copy that process exactly.

I’d sit in workshops at conferences, taking furious notes, absorbing “the right way” to write a novel, thinking I could plug my ideas, my words, my characters into someone else’s formula and end up with a completed book.

And I think, to some extent, that’s exactly what I did. It’s great to learn from those who’ve already done it.

But more recently, I began to realize that if you ask 10 authors to explain their process, you’ll get 10 different answers—and that is the beauty of being a novelist.

Because there’s more than one way to write a novel. And every author has the right to find the way that works best for them.

I tend to be a rule follower, always in search of “the best” way to do something. Not just writing, either. I want the best way to get to the grocery store. The best way to plan a vacation. The best way to learn to run a mile. I’m always striving for perfection.

But perfect is the enemy of good.

The “best” can steal your joy—and really, who has time to loathe what they do for a living?

I spent many years writing the novels this way. I loved the books I was writing, but if I’m honest, the process was always a struggle. And then, after nearly a decade of writing according to the way other people were doing it, I hit a wall. I felt stalled out. I was frustrated. Words weren’t coming easily, and I didn’t feel like I was connecting with readers the way I’d hoped.

It might seem counterproductive, but I knew that what I needed wasn’t to force more books into the world. I needed to take a break. An intentional break, away from the characters and worlds and stories that lived in my mind.

I needed a reboot. Return to factory settings. And in some ways, I needed to un-learn a few things. Because while some of the advice I’d stored away, furiously writing in those workshops, served me well. . .some of that advice hindered me.

Because I was trying to create using someone else’s blueprint.

Sometimes the pressure we put on ourselves chokes out our creativity. Holds it in a death grip like a boa constrictor. And I’m the queen of self-inflicted pressure.

But during that intentional break, the pressure began to loosen. And I started to want something different for my writing process.

I didn’t know all of this until after my break ended, and I was at a crossroads. I knew I had a choice: I could lay my writing career down—after all, my husband and I own a performing arts studio and youth theatre that I find incredibly fulfilling—or I could find a way to write something just for fun. Something I would want to read. Something that would make me happy.

I didn’t care if that book won awards. I didn’t care if it was impressive to critics. All I cared about was telling a story I would love to read about characters I wanted to know.

I threw all my thoughts on branding out the window. I wrote in a different tense. I created a character that consumed my thoughts for weeks, a character who almost feels like one of my children. I tapped in to a different side of my voice, maybe my truest voice because I broke all of my own rules.

And you know what? It made me happy.

Which is funny considering that was exactly what my character was searching for.

Happiness isn’t a one size fits all kind of thing, and the same can be said for writing a novel. What makes me happy isn’t going to make another author happy—and that is the beauty of it. The trick is to find the things that make you happy and build your career around that.

Because writing might be work, but it doesn’t have to be laborious. And creativity thrives when you let it out to play.

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley is a bit of a departure for me. But it’s quite possibly the most special story I’ve ever told. When I think of it, I feel like there’s something precious about it—because it represents an awakening for me as an author.

Order The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh today.

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This book taught me not to take myself so seriously, to stop caring so much about “rules,” to write straight from the heart, and to let myself play.

Because as I’ve gotten older I’ve forgotten the critical importance of “play” when it comes to the creative process.

This book helped me find my happiness. Helped me find my voice. And helped me remember why I started writing in the first place—and it started when I listened to my own heart and quieted all the other voices coming at me, telling me the way.

I don’t know much, but I do know that “the way” is different for everyone—and I vow to stay true to my way from here on out.

It’s the best way to be a happy writer.

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Every author has their unique approach to writing: Whether they start with a theme, character, or plot, the page is where their story blooms to life. As a contemporary fantasy author, Holly Black finds joy in writing the kinds of things she loves to read.

“As a person who thought of myself as kind of a weirdo growing up,” she says, “it has been an immense surprise and a great pleasure to find out that the stuff I like is also the stuff other people like. And sometimes the weirder the stuff is that I like and then I put out there, the more people actually do resonate with it.”

She isn’t wrong. In her career so far, she’s published more than 30 fantasy novels for middle-grade, young adults, and adults, spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list with several books, and has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Among these books are tales of siblings discovering faeries after moving to a decrepit estate (The Spiderwick Chronicles, co-authored with Tony DiTerlizzi), people who can change someone’s emotions, memories, and luck just by touching them (The Curse Workers trilogy), and a woman working for magicians who manipulate shadows to do their every command (Book of Night).

While some of these books stray into that nebulous area of dark fantasy, there’s one thing that ties them all together: “The line between horror and fantasy is that sense of awe and wonder. You can write some truly horrific things, but if that sense of awe and wonder is there, to me, it sits in the fantasy space.”

This is exemplified in her latest release, The Stolen Heir, the first in a duology. It focuses on Suren—called Wren—a faerie living on the outskirts of the human world. When her past comes calling in the form of Oak, reluctant heir to the Elfhame throne, a path is laid out before them that will reveal secrets about who they are … and change the way Wren sees her role in Faerieland forever.

Faerieland has been explored in Black’s Modern Faerie Tales trilogy and The Folk of the Air series. This is where we began our conversation.

There was a little bit of time between when you published the trilogy and then the series, then another break before diving into this duology. What is it about this universe that keeps drawing you back in?

I talk about my fascination with faeries as being not unlike Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” view of faerie fruit. What I really love about it is here is this world that has such incredible beauty, but it’s super dangerous. You absolutely should not be drawn to it in the way you are. It has a kind of ruinous beauty, you know? That is what I really love about it—that tension is built into the way it works. Humans are not going to do well there. [Laughs] And yet, we are drawn to it. It is magic.

As I was reading The Stolen Heir, I kept asking myself, I wonder why she chose Wren’s point of view for this first book instead of Oak’s? Going from Jude’s, his sister’s, perspective in the last series, it might have seemed like the easier choice.

When I sat down and said, “I’m going to do this as a duology,” one of the things that I was interested in was what can I do in a duology that I can’t do in a trilogy and I can’t do in a standalone? One of the things I’ve seen people do that I’m fascinated with is breaking the point of views into two books. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to say, “Here’s Wren’s book and here’s Oak’s book.” It’s the same story, but where hers ends, his begins, rather than they’re narrating a book we already know.

He has a lot of secrets in the first book. So, it had to be her point of view. And as we go into Wren’s book, we learn about her world, we learn about her problems, we learn about her, and we see Oak through her eyes. When we come to his book and we find out what’s going to happen to all the people we already know, it’s something we’re coming to from being away from and have had some time to care about him in a new way. And I think it actually would have been harder to go from his point of view where he knows everybody we know already to her point of view where she doesn’t.

Without spoilers, a lot of this novel seems to be about the stories that we tell ourselves about our lives. Was that something that you came into this book knowing you wanted to write about? Or did the characters kind of make that choice for you?

I think I mostly knew I wanted to write about it. I knew Wren is a very different character than a lot of characters I’ve written. She is a character who is afraid to want stuff and is honestly in some ways a much kinder character, even though I don’t think that’s how she sees herself. She is pulled toward doing good and generous acts. And so, I wanted to write about her journey. It is a journey in which she is confronted with some choices that we have seen before in The Folk of the Air. But she makes different choices than we have seen characters make before. …

I was interested in saying, here’s a parallel story where somebody has these touchstones that we’re going to say, “Oh, wait, here are some places where Jude went this way, and this character goes that way.” Both for good and not, right? [Laughs] And I was also interested in having her figure out who Oak was as part of her journey. In terms of the actual quest, part of it is figuring out, well, what are we doing, and who is he? Is he on my side? Is anybody on my side?

Something else that I noted between this book and The Folk of the Air series is that several of the characters are children of two worlds: Faerieland and the human world. Because of this, it seems like the characters have to eventually decide where they belong. Is this parallel between the series and duology something that you decided to explore before you sat down to write?

I think that’s a thematic piece that I’ve found myself writing about a lot through the course of my career. Like, it’s something I think I come back to again and again, the idea of being caught between two worlds and being caught between two senses of self and having to have to figure out how to integrate them. I think that most stories start out with the idea of a binary choice, right? You can be this or you can be that. And each character has to figure out how not to make that choice. How to figure out how to make those two things match, how to have both.

It seems like it’s also very apt thematically to have this be written for a young adult audience. I tend to view that age as developing this new sense of self outside of what your role has been in your family or what you’ve been like at school, and you’re experimenting and figuring out this is who I want to be and these are the things I’m drawn to.

Well, I do think so much of that age is about seeing “Who am I, who am I going to be? How much am I going to follow the expectations of either my family or my peers or like myself? How much am I going to follow my own idea of who I was and … the stories I have told myself about myself? Can I tell myself a new story? And if I tell myself a new story, is that wonderful and freeing or is it absolutely panic-inducing? Because if I no longer have anything to stand on, will I be swept away?”

There’s so much of that identity that I think we associate so strongly with the teenage experience because it is a moment when you really have such a room to make such big choices. But it’s also something that we do throughout our lives. And I think that’s why like these stories have such power, like we are often reinventing ourselves.

That’s very true. And this book in particular I thought had an incredible emotional arc. I think that as writers, we often talk about how to construct a plot arc, but would you mind speaking a little bit about your strategy to writing an emotional arc like Wren’s?

Especially when you’re writing fantasy and you’re thinking about magic and you’re thinking about how you want to construct the world … well, all books are essentially torture devices, right? [Laughs] A protagonist, they have a terrible fear—they’re going to be facing it. Terrible secret? It’s coming out. Anything that they wish would never happen will happen during the course of this book.

Magic has to be thematically related to the struggles of the character and to the stuff that the character is facing. So … there are certain things that happen in this book that are really about “What am I, who am I, what is our sense of self based on?” And also about what it means to trust people.

One thing you do is you have to think about [is] how do I use the story? The time-limiting thing that we see as the beginning [to the] end to push out of these characters the stuff that they don’t necessarily want to deal with, the stuff that they are going to emotionally have to deal with. How can these things rub up against each other in such a way that they can push the characters to face the things they don’t want to face?

Order a copy of The Stolen Heir by Holly Black today.

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I know a lot of genre writers in academic settings hear the question, “Are these fantastical elements necessary to tell the story?” As someone who has written a lot of genre fiction for middle-grade, young adults, and adults, would you mind sharing your thoughts on this approach to writing genre fiction?

Well, I think that magic is always a metaphor, right? But I think to write fantasy, it has to also be magic. I think the ways it is understood as metaphor are important. Magic is always saying something that’s allowing you to look at something slanted.

So, for instance, if you want to write about anger, we have all kinds of realistic narratives about anger, but we also have certain expectations of realistic narratives about anger. But now you’re writing about a werewolf, and you cannot just say, I think you should really just calm down. Like, you have to approach anger differently.

However, I think it’s a huge mistake to think of anger in that context as only metaphor, because also this is a werewolf, and you must be telling the story of a werewolf that you truly believe in and that you’re invested in. To me, that is the stuff that fantasy can do. It can talk about stuff in a way that isn’t just slanted. But it’s also slanted, right? It allows us to see the world differently.

We’ve already touched on this a little bit, but when it comes to writing about faeries specifically—thinking about this idea of metaphor and not metaphor—there are always tropes that readers expect about faeries, like that they can’t lie, they love riddles and wordplay, etcetera. When you were structuring your world, how did you determine what rules you wanted to incorporate?

You can look at English folklore, Celtic folklore—there’s fairies in many different cultures. So, you have this wealth of material. Whenever you are pulling from folklore, it’s different than creating a magic system from the ground up. What you get is resonant, right? We all know a little bit of it.

The familiarity that readers have with vampire fiction [means] the writer … doesn’t need to tell people about the world. But the more you move away from our expectations or the more you come up with something that is unique, there’s a certain difficulty of buy-in for the reader. The further you go away from the expectations, you get some something that’s really fun and different, but also you get a harder beginning.

When I was writing about faeries, I was writing the stuff that really resonated me, the stuff that felt true about faeries. I think whenever you’re writing in a tradition—and, in this case, in a tradition of people who have written urban fantasy with faeries—you are adding to a conversation that’s come before you. I think it’s really important to know what that conversation is, and then it’s important for you to say, OK, what am I adding? What is it about the way I look at it that’s different?

It is very interesting, especially when you said about writing what you were really drawn to. To me, part of the fun of world-building is making the imagination tangible for readers. Taking something that you really love and is real to you and making it real to somebody else so they can love it. So, other than your characters, is there anything in particular that you really love bringing to life on the page?

One thing I learned about writing fantasy is that you are describing a lot of stuff! [Laughs] You really have to make this world feel lived in.

I remember years ago doing a reading and it was all realistic fiction writers and me, and the thing I realized is I have to describe things so much more because I have to describe the real world with the same level of weight as the fantasy world or the fantasy world winds up feeling not real anymore. I have to describe a locker with the same level of intensity that I’m going to describe a tree person, right? [Laughs] Because otherwise, the weight’s all wrong. I realized just how much it’s about setting these scenes and really having them feel lived in and real so that you could imagine out of the corner of your eye really seeing magic.

A lot of your books set in Faerieland start with a map to orient the reader in the world. Do you create those maps or was that something that your publisher wanted to include?

I wanted to do a map! But I also wanted to do a map that felt like faerie in the sense that this is not a map that you yourself could calculate distance on. I think that that was important to me with the isles … I wanted it to feel like a faerie story and a fairy tale rather than a high fantasy.

I mentioned it before, but you have written middle-grade, young adult, and adult fiction. To do all three I think is really exciting and quite a feat! Is there a different way that you approach your storytelling when you know the age of the audience is different?

I try to remember what it was like to be those different ages and what my concerns were. For middle-grade, there’s a lot in the smaller domestic sphere—your friends, your family—but the world seems like a place for exploring. Everything feels more significant in the local landscape. Whereas when I think about being a teenager, you’re having adventures, right? You’re meeting people and you are becoming yourself, and you are trying to figure out how to do that. It feels really impossible in a lot of ways. The stakes feel really, really high because you’re doing everything for the first time.

Whereas when I was writing Book of Night, here’s somebody who screwed up, right? Who went out there and just screwed up. And I think that that is very much how I felt. [Laughs] Certainly not to the extent that Charlie did, but I think there is a sense that the possible moves feel smaller. You feel much more stuck in place. There’s a great fear of being stuck in place and about what that means and how many moves you have left.

Your books feel very relatable. I do wonder if that approach plays a big role in that—you’re coming to it from your own emotional space and setting up your characters that way. Which is a really beautiful way to think about your connection with your characters!

It’s a terrible way to plot, though! [Laughs] That’s how I plot: I’m feeling a feeling, and I’d really like to write a book about this feeling.

You’ve co-authored several books; does that play a role in how you plot together, coming from an emotional space? Is that something that a co-author can help you structure, or do you find it more challenging to work with someone?

I think every time that you collaborate, it’s a new experience, and you collaborate differently with each person. That is the excitement of it too. I definitely have never stuck to an outline. You can see behind me over here, I put these outlining things up on the wall, like I knew what I was doing. I love it. I’m just really bad at it. So, I feel like I’m somebody who has to write it wrong before I write it right.

One of the exciting things about [co-authoring] is, for instance, writing the Magisterium series with Cassandra Clare, she does extensive outlines, and then she sticks to it for the most part. And when I was working with her, she was much more like, “OK, we’re going to work this out, and then we’re going to do this.” And I was like, “OK, this seems exciting! This is fresh and new.” There are parts where she is going to deviate and where I was there being like, “Hello, what if we just do this?” But you know, I think the fun of collaboration is the fun of being able to do something you would not otherwise do.

Do you have any words of advice for our readers?

I think when I started writing, I liked reading about writing, and I had a lot of rules that I thought I had to follow. “Show don’t tell” is an excellent rule that is also a terrible rule, you know? I started thinking about what I like in a story. Think about your own reader pleasure rather than the things you either think you should do as a writer or that you think makes you look clever. If you write what you love to read, the rest will fall into place.

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(Bad Advice Boogie: Write What You Know)

So, the advice I’m referring to here is what I have heard bandied around online, in writing groups, and in workshops. These are my top five pieces of common writing advice that you should ignore … sometimes.

5 Pieces of Common Writing Advice You Should Absolutely Ignore

1. Show, don’t tell.

We’ve all heard the “moon glinting on broken glass” example of how to show rather than tell. However, this advice often seems to be applied too rigidly. Telling isn’t bad. In fact, I’d argue it’s a critical component of storytelling… see, the word “telling” is in the name. Telling provides clarity and certainty.

One area where I find telling to be necessary is your character’s goal. In this instance, you can first tell and then show. It’s actually the layering of telling and showing which makes for a powerful story. However, if we spend the whole story showing your character working toward something without ever having the character acknowledging in uncertain terms, the attainment of that goal won’t have the same impact. Or worse, the reader may not actually know what the goal is or why the character wants to achieve it.

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2. Write what you know.

I understand the theory behind this advice. Yes, we want to get our facts straight and write with authority. But this idea is completely limiting if you don’t ever give yourself room to step outside what you know. Besides, anything you don’t know can be researched. And the process of stepping beyond what we know to learn something new or to investigate an experience that doesn’t line up with our own is ultimately what will make us a more empathetic and well-rounded writer in the long run.

3. Don’t use a long word when a short one will do.

Again, I understand why this piece of advice exists. We want our writing to be clear and to allow the story or message to take centre stage. And we’ve all read prose where it sounds like the author had a thesaurus open on their desk, right? Some things to consider when it comes to word choice, however, are cadence and character.

Always opting for short words can give the cadence of your writing a very monotonous feel. Just as we should vary our sentence lengths, we should also vary our word length to avoid our writing feeling as though it drags. This is especially important now as many books are being put into audio format where a monotonous cadence is very obvious!

It’s also important, especially for character-driven fiction, that the word choice is appropriate for the character. If all your words are chosen for their short length, then your characters may end up sounding the same. This is a piece of advice that’s best taken figuratively (i.e. don’t use a long word simply to sound smart) rather than literally.

4. Don’t edit as you go (aka write now, edit later).

I’m going to contradict myself a bit here because I do generally follow this advice. However, this doesn’t work for all writers! That’s because there’s no style of writing that works universally for everyone. Some writers need to tweak as they go in order to fully understand the story they’re telling. I know plenty of writers who do their writing and editing in the same pass, which results in a very clean first version. Editing, for these writers, is part of their creative process.

One time you may want to ignore this even if you usually write now and edit later is if you have a strong feeling the book is going in the wrong direction. Going back to the start of the book can help you get your story on track and save you more wasted time in the long run. Remember, there is no “correct” way to write a book.

5. Write every day.

Similar to the last piece of advice, anything which prescribes a certain way being the correct way is to be approached with caution. If you’re the kind of person who’s motivated by streaks or momentum, then writing every day may work. For plenty of writers, however, even very successful ones, writing every single day isn’t always practical, sustainable, or conducive to a creative work environment.

Personally, I write four to five days per week. I need the weekend to let my stories percolate in the background and when I’ve tried to write to seven days per week in the past, I was actually less productive. I know writers who write less than this with much success. There are also people who “binge write” where they’ll have huge word counts for a few weeks and then not write anything for the next few weeks while they refill the creative well.

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One of the biggest things I hope you can take away from this advice is to use the wisdom that works for you and discard the rest. Trying to force ourselves to work a certain way because it fits conventional wisdom can have the opposite effect of blocking us creatively and making us less productive. So embrace your process and lean into what works for you!

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