Writing A Novel
Whether you have written a novel or plan to in the future, staying motivated can be the real obstacle. By the end of this blog post, you will learn some tips and tricks to stay motivated.
Struggle With Motivation?
It is common among creative persons to have bursts of intense work and long periods of procrastination. So, the question becomes: how do I stay motivated to remain consistent?
To quote the Medium’s article, “Why You Procrastinate as a Creative Entrepreneur,”
“Some of us are more inclined to delay routine tasks in favor of creative ones, while others may gravitate towards the predictability of mundane tasks as a way of avoiding the perceived risk and effort associated with creative work.”
In consequence, you may pass your days delaying your creative endeavors due to the fear of failure. However, like with all activities, you can only improve through many hours or effort. To start, you need to learn to build habits.
The Stages of the Creative Process
The act of creating comes in three stages. According to Katherine Pham’s article, “The Three Stages Of The Creative Process,” the stages are as follows: Germination, Assimilation, and Completion.
Germination
The first stage involves development. Here you have a new idea which you nurture and begin to expand upon, growing your excitement for your project.
Assimulation
In the second stage of the creative process, you begin your project, allowing your initial ideas to live on the page.
Completion
Lastly, your novel/creative writing piece is edited and revisited until it has reached a final state.
Most creatives get stuck on stage two, not wanting to commit their idea to paper just yet, losing motivation to stay consistent. By the end of this blog post, you will learn tricks to dig yourself out of this creative cave and into the light.
If you struggle to boost your own creativity, check out the blog post below for motivational habits to implement into your life.
Set Yourself Up for Success Without Relying on Motivation
So, let’s set you up for success and help you avoid relying on motivation to complete your writing piece. While these tips help you find motivation, you will still need to assimilate habits to finish.
1. Shift Your Mindset From Motivation to Fact
The first habit to change is your mindset. Let’s first change your mindset to the task ahead of you. Instead of telling others (and yourself) that you are trying to write a novel. Say this: I am writing a novel.
As a result, this shift will trick your mind. You will believe you will one day finish this piece instead of accepting that you could discard your work forever.
2. Don't Be Too Prepared
When starting a new creative writing piece, whether it’s a short story, novella, or novel, avoid overplanning. You are, of course, encouraged to create an outline and organize your thoughts. However, the trouble with creating an exact timeline is that you don’t let your story change or flow naturally.
When you only have a loose sense of the story’s main points, you can adapt. You also won’t lose the fun/motivation of carving out and slowly uncovering the piece you were meant to create.
A large part of consistency is motivation, and you will lose it if you feel like you have a fully outlined story you need to start writing down.
3. Set a Writing Goal
How about a quick equation to give you a visual? You decide to consistently write 300 words a day. After a week, you will have accumulated 2,100 words. After a month (roughly 30 days), you will already have 63,000 words typed/written.
300 x 7 = 2,100 words per week (roughly)
2,100 x 30 = 63,000 words per month (roughly)
Don’t get stuck in the germination stage of the creative writing process!
Even if you don’t have time to reach a 300-word-a-day goal, write a sentence. Fix one grammatical error. Reread the last page of your work.
As a result, you will naturally have your writing project at the forefront of your brain at all times, allowing you to further the piece, work out issues faster, and become motivated to stay consistent.
4. Picture Your Novel is Finished
Sulry, many of you are aware of manifestation. Manifestation is a theory or abstract idea, and your job is to picture it CONSTANTLY. Envision yourself holding your finished book. This will help with motivation.
To quote the Good Trade and their article “What is Manifestation?“
“Manifestation is a practice that takes an overarching goal and breaks it down into more digestible actions and fewer limiting beliefs.”
The power to conceptualize a goal will trick your brain into creating a habit to fulfill this belief. If you believe you will be a published novelist, your brain will implement habits that align with this manifestation.
5. Write it for You
All writers have one thing in common: they are motivated readers. As you read and expose yourself to different genres and techniques, there will always be some that stick out to you. You should be motivated to remember and revisit these, as they are usually the inspiration behind your goal to write.
You write because you are motivated to read the book you are making. You want to see more books out there like the ones you enjoy reading. So remember, write the book for YOU first.
Do not come into the project thinking about who is going to be reading your work because that will alter your voice, and you will lose motivation to stay consistent.
6. Write Down Your Ideas
No matter where you are, when an idea pops into your head, motivate yourself to write it down! Eventually, this habit will become second nature.
Stop for a second, think of all the amazing ideas you have let get forgotten because you were too lazy to stop and write them down. If you think you’ll remember, you are fooling yourself.
7. Rewrite Scenes That Don't Quite Flow
When you feel stuck within a scene, motivate yourself to stop and rewrite it. If the scene was originally in first person, why not try to switch it to third? You may have a clearer understanding of how the scene should play out if you aren’t in a character’s head/mindset.
Additionally, it helps to have two drafts of your piece. On the second document, rewrite the entire scene. Don’t be afraid to get messy because remember that you have the original words stored safely on the first document.
8. Write What Excites/Motivates You First
For more tips, a great book to help with motivation to write consistently is Refuse To Be Done by Matt Bell. In this book, Bell shares his own techniques to motivate himself so that he can continue to make progress even while keeping a busy schedule.
From this book, one valuable lesson is that you should “write the islands” first. What this means is if there is a scene that you know will be in your piece and it excites/motivates you, write it first.
Why This Helps
You will stay motivated to continue if you are writing something that you are passionate about. Plus, your reader will pick up on your pleasure and enjoy your work more.
After you have written your “islands,” you can start connecting them and even changing pieces of them later to help your work flow congruently.
9. Don't Share Your Ideas
When you are writing a novel, don’t share that you are with others. Even if you are excited to share your inventive ideas, take a moment to pause and be conservative.
There is science to back up the result of sharing a goal before you have completed it, which leads to a dopamine rush.
According to the Medium article “The Positive Fantasy Trap: Why It’s a Bad Idea to Tell People Your Goals,” when you share your idea before completing your task
“This gives others the opportunity to praise the process of what you’re in pursuit of rather than the result.”
In consequence, this is the motivation killer. You don’t want to feel the satisfaction of praise until you actually have a palpable result that is worthy of recognition.
10. Use Yes, And
Going back to Matt Bell’s book, Refuse To Be Done, use the improve technique of yes, and. What this means is when you write a sentence you originally feel is out of place for your story, setting, or character, don’t delete it immediately.
Instead, run with that new perspective for your piece and then determine if it works later. You will have much more fun/motivation uncovering your story this way.
Writing should be challenging. Motivation comes when new ideas are introduced, so don’t silence those thoughts. Instead, work with them for a while.
Conclusion
Motivation shouldn’t be what drives you as a creative to continue your work. However, there are tips to keep you working consistently and tricking your brain into forward-moving progress. Use these ten ideas to finally complete your goals and find motivation techniques that work for you.
Not quite sure if you can identify your writing process? Check out the blog post below!
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