Hi everyone,
I'm enjoying this format so far. Many stories, novellas, novelettes, and novels have been serialized over the years. The same with Sci-fi. It's a good way for a writer to keep focus. I prefer the serialized style of writing.
For example, if a writer wants to create a 120,000 word book (words are the measurement standard in the writing world), at 500 words a day, the process would take about 240 days, or half as long for a 60,000 word book.
Tom Wolf, a writer who gets millions of dollars for his novels, said in a Paris Review interview, "I now know what writer’s block is. It’s the fear you cannot do what you’ve announced to someone else you can do, or else the fear that it isn’t worth doing. That’s a rarer form."
In his case, even though he was a professional writer with years of experience, he "blocked" out when asked to write a magazine article.
". . . I suddenly realized I’d never written a magazine article before and I just felt I couldn’t do it."
But his editor had confidence in him and asked him to write down the notes. He did in the form of a forty-page letter. That became his article and he regained his mojo and confidence.
Back to the fear factor . . . Most top writers say to never tell anybody you are working on something until it is done. This seems like sound advice in relation to the fear of failing. You can't fail at something if you don't announce it to anybody.
The rarer fear . . . is that something isn't worth doing (or writing about). Overcoming that, I believe, comes with time. Every story or article should start with a strong hook that traps a reader. If it's a book, the chapter has to end with a twist. This pulls the reader along and piques their curiosity. Finally at the end of the story, the goal is a surprise ending of some sort, where the reader says "Wow!" and is delighted.
Thank you for reading this.
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