Sirkir

Me when I plan out a story and want to tell everyone

After spending a month editing: I'm DONE. FREE. The shackles hath been broken. My story is the best it's gonna get, I have no more energy to continue.

Me in the shower 5 min later: But what IF I changed that one sentence in chapter 9...

Characters are like people, they wonder what kind of crap fucked them up but it's almost always the parents.

This is your signal to let yourself write the deranged, uncomfortable, disgusting fiction that you've been thinking about.

the five stages of grief: writer's edition

denial: "this draft is amazing. no need for edits. it’s practically perfect as is." you’re so confident that you close the document for the day, smiling like you’ve just discovered the next great american novel (or swedish, or british, whatever). plot hole? who is she?

anger: "why did i ever think this was good? this is garbage. i am garbage. my characters are flat, my dialogue is cringe, and my prose sounds like a robot swallowed a thesaurus and threw up on the page." rage-quit the doc and go aggressively scroll pinterest for "writing inspiration" that you will never use.

bargaining: "if i fix this one scene, the whole thing will click into place. i just need to write one more subplot, maybe five more chapters, a quick rewrite of the entire ending, and then it'll be fine. totally manageable." queue up 17 youtube videos on "how to fix your plot" that you play in the background while staring at your ceiling.

depression: "i will never finish this book. it’s doomed. i’m doomed. why do i even write? who let me have ideas?!" lay dramatically on your bed, considering taking up knitting or rock collecting instead. cry a little over how your characters deserve a better writer.

acceptance: "this is the best i can do right now, and that’s okay. i’ll take a break, come back with fresh eyes, and remember why i love this stupid, broken story." suddenly, your MC whispers something brilliant, and you're like wait… maybe i'm a genius after all.

and the cycle begins again. writing is a joy.

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

Writers are scary because we’ll take personal trauma and think, "Hmm… what if this happened to my fictional characters but worse?"

HOW DO PEOPLE WRITE CONSISTENTLY. HOW. I SPENT 3 HOURS STARING AT A SINGLE SENTENCE YESTERDAY. meanwhile someone out there has written a trilogy this year and i am one (1) typo away from fighting god. send help.