There are hundreds of different elements to consider when you’re writing. I can’t say I’m an expert on all things writing, but one of the most common instances I see among young or newer writers is the feeling of being totally overwhelmed with how much there is to learn and focus on while writing.
I’ve felt that more than a few times myself 😛
When I came back from Realm Makers several weeks ago and began playing around with a story idea, I was struck by the realization that I now knew not one, not two, but three different ways to write theme and character arcs in a story. *cue headdesking* I had a similar problem with a new way of story structure I’d learned, and I knew from browsing through writing craft books that there were millions of other ways out there, most that I was afraid to touch. Because then I would have too many to choose from.
And that’s where inspiration for this post came from.
Because the hardest thing about being a writer is making decisions.
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Just think about it. Usually the problem is not that we don’t have enough ideas for our stories but that we have too many. There are so many that our eyes glaze over as we think about them all and try to choose one. And if you struggle with perfectionism like me, you’ll pick one then immediately think another one is better and switch to that one (and repeat the process five or six times).
It’s the same with all the different writing techniques there are. Maybe you just know of one or two, but that’s likely because you’ve only looked at popular writing sources, like Helping Writers Become Authors or Go Teen Writers. There are other ways to plot your books (though, granted, they almost all have a three-act structure). There are hundreds of ways.
The catch is: there is no one “right” story idea or “right” way to write your book. There might be a better way or an easier way, but it’s foolish to say there is one right story idea or one right way to write a book. Each story is different, each process is different, each writer is different.
It’s when we come to realize this that we see we must decide how we want our stories to go and how we want to write them.
…and these are not easy decisions.
Why?
Because, like I said above, we are likely searching for the “right” way, which we will never find, because it does not exist.
You could argue that some ways are better than others. That’s true. But there is not a “best” way that works universally for everyone. Storytelling is subjective. Art is subjective. While we can definitely make bad art and use art for bad things, the process and the things we create can’t be defined as right or wrong, only as good or bad. Some techniques make work for a bulk of the writing community, and others won’t.
You have to figure out what works for you.
You must decide.
You must decide which storytelling techniques you’re going to use
You must decide what your writing process looks like
You must decide what kinds of stories you want to tell
You must decide what the story is that you want to tell.
No one can do this for you. If they are, you’re enslaving yourself to their ideas. You were meant to create specific things in a specific way, and you cannot change that about yourself.
That’s not to say you won’t fail and find out your process and your ideas are terrible. You likely will. Then comes the danger of stubbornly sticking to that process that resulted in failure because it’s “your process.” Don’t do that. We’ll try, we’ll fail, and we have to be open to learning. A lot of professional authors say that they’re writing process is always changing as they learn and grow. A story idea is likely to evolve drastically as it goes through many rounds of edits.
It’s a fine line between deciding what works for you and being open to learning more. It’s like when we make plans but know that God may be planning something different, and we have to stay open to His plans. Your writing process and your stories should be like that.
The scary thing is that we still have to decide what story we want to tell and how we want to tell it with full knowledge that we could completely fail. That we could be completely wrong and make a fool of ourselves.
I’ve had this problem for years. When I was a dancer, I wouldn’t dance full out because I thought my technique was sloppy and it would look ridiculous. Even as a writer now, I find I’m holding myself back in some things because I don’t want to look like idiot. I’m constantly second-guessing myself and watching myself so I don’t make a mistake.
But if you don’t make a mistake, you’re never going to learn. You’ll be stuck in that place of uncertainty and indecision forever.
So make a decision. Be firm about it. Decide what story you want to tell in your book and how you’re going to tell it, then do that with all your heart. If you’re wrong, you’ll try again. If you’re right, it’s going to be one heck of a beautiful story.
Don’t be afraid to decide, and don’t be afraid to be wrong. Especially if you’re praying about it and genuinely striving to write a story that glorifies Him, I can bet that God’s going to help you when you give it your all.
(Originally published August 18, 2018, on audreycaylin.com)