Eden Ashe

Archive for October, 2011

…or take your time. I know authors who prefer to write at an insane pace to get the story out and finished, then will go back and edit it until it sparkles. And I know authors who take their time with every scene, until it’s as perfect as they can make it before they move on. I know there’s no ‘right’ way. I always kind of thought it was like telling an artist who used charcoals that they’re wrong, and should be using oil paint instead. My problem isn’t how other people write. My problem is finding what works for me. Because honestly, I have no idea.

The husband just wants me to write if that’s what I want to do. My sisters just want me to push to get something submitted. A friend that doesn’t care how quickly I write, as long as I write every day. And friends that love what I’m creating and can’t wait to read more. I’ve found that NaNoWriMo speed doesn’t work for me anymore. I wish it did, but apparently, I’ve learned too much about writing in the last five years, and I no longer know how to turn that internal editor off. I have plot points I have to hit now–character development traits I have to start threading in, plus things like internal and external conflict, quirks that make the characters unique, faults to make them human, strengths to make them the only person in the world the other could ever want or need. More than anything, I want people to read my work and love my characters, my worlds, as much as I do. That’s my only goal in writing.

My problem is that every writer I know has a pace, a rhythm that works for them. So why am I having such a hard time finding one that works for me? And why do I obsess about this, when all I want to be doing is telling my stories?