Originally Posted by Garrett (Post 599738)

okay so basically it's actually really simple.
you just keep writing.
like, personally, i need to know generally what im going to be writing. so i have an outline for my story. the beginning and the middle and the end, and then all the big important plot points along the way. This way, I know what goals I am working toward.
short term goals are everything!!! they help so much. take your outline and look at it scene-by-scene or chapter-by-chapter. look at it really close, instead of taking in the entire book as one thing.
say your first goal is 5,000 words. so you just write your story you have planned out and then you magically reach 5,000 words. don't worry if it's shit, as long as it's down and there and you can say "i've written 5,000 words of my story." Then make your next goal 10,000. Then you might say "okay so 10,000 was easy, I'm barely into my outline, so let's make the next goal 20,000.
and yeah that's how i did it and i'm just past 200,000 on my fantasy book rn and i have 2 more chapters in it.
but also i've been writing just this one book for two years now. ive been writing this series for almost three. it really does just take a lot of commitment and perseverance. i go through phases where i'll write 20,000 words in a month, and i'll go through longer phases where i write like 1,000 words a month...for like six months in a row.
it's really just a process and it will probably take a long time no matter what.
BASICALLY A SHORT VERSION OF ALL THAT ABOVE:
- outline
- make short term goals
- commit

Originally Posted by SilverMoon (Post 599739)

ok cool cool I'll be able to try that stuff out after I finish up w/ my spring classes
thanks for advice!! everything after this is just me rambling to myself

I'll probably be committing to like 3 (and also a 4th if u count it, since it will prooooooooobably be only novelette length) projects since um. i have too many ideas and it's like impossible for me to commit to one thing only lol

okkkkk but i think i can commit to piece by piece for peace first which will hopefully end up at about 20000 words and I am gonna make a goal to finish that this summer. At least at this one I'm already at 11000 and have an outline-ish so I just gotta flesh out the outline, get inspired, and actually write that shit down. Ayy

Uhh other 3 projects: Black as Night, Light as Snow, End of the World as We Know It, and Sin Game, probably with that order of precedence.

BANLAS has an outline I'm in the process of fleshing out, but with a pretty clear outline of about 11 out of a planned 26 chapters. also I have 4.5k already written, will hopefully be abt 5.5k by the time I finish the second chapter (which I honestly jjust wanna get fukin over with at this point)

EOTW at least has clear character forms. But I gotta get my shit together and outline the damn thing before I can write.

SG has a solid concept but still a lot that gotta be planned out.

Originally Posted by Garrett (Post 599740)

honestly my BIGGEST advice is to just focus on writing the story and not the word count. word count doesn't matter, and it's going to go up the more of the story that you write. like word count literally means nothing if the story sucks, so just write your story instead of writing a certain amount of words.

Originally Posted by SilverMoon (Post 599736)

Yo for you guys that have actually written 50,000+ words, how do you do it?? Tell me your secrets. In depth please ;-;

Originally Posted by Garrett (Post 599753)

i finished scars of the sea.
216,000 words.
i finished.

Originally Posted by garrett (Post 599753)

i Finished Scars Of The Sea.
216,000 Words.
I Finished.

Originally Posted by garrett (Post 599753)

i Finished Scars Of The Sea.
216,000 Words.
I Finished.