Writing and Instant Gratification

seeingteacupsindragons:

Okay,
so. I saw a post this morning about why talking about writing is easier than
writing most of the time summed up with, “Well, it’s immediate gratification,”
and how even writing fic online is easier than writing an MS for publication. But
it didn’t come with any tips on how to overcome it.

I
originally wanted to write this as a reblog to that post, but I can’t find it,
so here we are.

1. Alpha readers. Alpha readers are people
   who read along as you draft (the first draft) and tell if you they notice
   plot holes, if they like where the story is going, etc. Obviously you can’t
   have too many, but having any can be nice.




2. Brainstorming. I’m going to tell you a secret. “Brainstorming”
   is basically just code for, “I wanna talk about my story ideas with
   someone because it helps me think about them.” I don’t even always require
   actual suggestions. This is largely just an excuse to make “Talking about my
   writing” into something useful.




3. Have  someone look over your outline. The first two tips are kind
   of geared toward “pantsers” since I tend to be one myself. This one is for
   outliners. Once you have the skeleton for your story, give it to someone
   for feedback. They’ll point out plot holes, things they’re especially
   interested in, whatever you want. Very helpful.




4. Print your
   stuff out or write longhand. This makes your “gratification”
   tangible. You’re actually touching what you made. You can touch it. Look how cool that is. Look what you made.
   Bonus: you can carry it around when you can’t write and write on breaks,
   or just show it off and have people go “wow!” at you.




5. Writer
   friends.
   This one is crucial for a lot of reasons, but it’s always nice to have someone
   to share a line with and go, “Look at this asshole. Look what they’re
   doing now,“ and get a response, or have someone ask a question about what’s
   going on.