MY EDITING SERVICE: www.kierenwestwood.com/editing

I've gotten a little ways by writing the scenes that are the most vivid in my mind, separate from the rest of the narrative - that makes it fun, and the segue passages are a little easier to fill in

Most of the writing process is happening in your head.

Best motivational video on writing I found so far. It really helps not to be discouraged and to keep on writing. Thanks a lot

Thank you for your advice on inciting incidents. It seems a very formulaic western way of writing that my novel doesn’t fit, thankfully

I'm currently editing my work at the moment, I find it difficult to motivate myself, especially after work, when the I feel too tired, i beat myself up saying I should be getting on with it, and then the "I'll do it tomorrow" steps in. And I feel I've wasted that time. But I have been cracking on with it more over the past few days.

Hey man! Im pretty new to the idea of wanting to write but a couple of days ago it just popped into my head and i never really managed to start, cause i really have no ideas that are good, but ill try to bring one to paper and see how it goes, thanks for the vid!

Great stuff mate. I went to my subscriptions to find some inspiration and this was right there. And on top of that you literally even talked to me directly in this. That was cool. The ever present to do list is a great thing to have in view, mine are always behind the front cover of a notebook. “Why does this matter” is a good mantra to keep front of mind. Keeping it personal is by far the best way to keep it real, and the realness always comes off the page, when it’s really from the heart. That would be a good one “how can I make this come from my heart.” I think m y unwritten above the screen mantra is “what does the character want right now”.

Don't you feel that your writing suffers by forcing yourself?

Agree with these, especially the motivation to write. I sometimes do have to force myself but a lot of the time it happens because I need to be writing!

These are great answers!! Love to watch your videos before I start writing. I'm working on a multi-POV story right now (starting it) but I've realized in planning that it's going to be a bit difficult to outline/plot the whole thing...the characters are VERY interconnected, so it's becoming much more complex than "this scene covers X part of X character's story" It has to advance most of them, at once - which is exciting but tricky to write !!

Great video.

The reason why I want to write and publish, is to be able to share my imagination with others. I’d like to meet those people who think it’s cool too. I’d like to talk about other cool stories and ideas that they have also.

I set a goal of one page a day.

Dostoevsky’s, “The Idiot” was a book I used to read, did read several times. His sincerity, innocence, comforted me on a deep level; I think I was also comforted by seeing how misunderstood he was, that he didn’t let it stop him from being who he was… At least that’s what I’m left with now - I haven’t re-read it in this millennium. Maybe it might be useful to read it again now?

I'm going to throw out my opinion on the motivation problem. Obviously it goes without saying that this is just my personal opinion and your mileage may vary, but in my personal experience this comes down to 2 sorts of problems. Firstly, burnout due to forcing yourself to keep to some sort of schedule when you're tired. In that case what I typically do is set a timer for just five minutes (something that seems manageable) and force myself to write for that period of time. Write anything. If you write a bad sentence or paragraph, then at least you have a better idea of the direction you're trying to go (since that wasn't it). I might just get a single sentence or a paragraph. When the timer is up, I re-evaluate on whether I want to continue or not. Progress is progress regardless of whether it's a tsunami or it's drip fed. The second issue, I find, is that you're stuck on a particular part of your story and aren't sure how to proceed. In that case, I think the problem is that people tend to think of the writing process as linear. I have to write scene 2 following scene 1, that sort of thing. When I get stuck on a particular part, I just write some exposition like "And something happens here" and pick up from where I know I want the scene to end (Or the next major plot point). Nothing says that you have to write everything in order. It's perfectly fine to jump around and come back to fix things later on when you've had a chance to mull it over - especially in the first draft.

You will sell a million copies one day, mate.

i often find myself thinking "that chapter (from the same manuscript) I wrote five months ago was genius, now i struggle to write even a paragraph". How do you cope with that anxiety of not being able to feel proud of your writing, or even to feel like a worse writer than your past self? I struggle with it the most, especially when I see it throughout the same project. I can't understand why my first chapters were so good but six chapters in i feel almost... lost in my way of writing, you know?

Hey, don't sell yourself short! You could sell millions of copies one day, and maybe have your HBO show. Lol! Thanks! 🙂🙂🙂

I was going to ask in the discord, but this way everyone could see your answer........ What's your MBTI?

I doubt you’ve already peaked as a writer man