There few things worse than feeling defeated before you have even started writing.

I try to always be aware of what I'm doing when I'm supposed to be writing, but I'm not actually writing. Am I thinking? Am I reading over what I've already written? Am I looking something up?

Now one would think that all of the above are better things to be doing that checking email, playing minesweeper, or organizing your iTunes playlists. And yes, those things are "better" if they move your story forward. But -- and this is the big but -- nothing is writing except writing.

All the thinking, all the reading, all the research do no add up to words on the page.

"Research" is its own special trap. I'm not suggesting that research isn't important and necessary, nor am I suggesting that it's easy and shouldn't take a lot of time. But in my own experience, I've noticed that I can subconsciously use research as a procrastination technique.

I was working on a noir short story that takes place in a North Florida paper mill. I don't know anything about paper mills. For a long time I delayed writing the story (oh, I made lots of notes), because I felt I needed to prepare more.

At some point I cracked with a great realization. I'm not writing a history book. I'm not writing non-fiction. What the characters do and how they do it and why they do it should be based on them as human characters, not on dug-up facts about a place or a thing.

You'll find that research actually get easier if you know what you need to research. Do you need the specific name of a machine? A description of it? Do you need the mill's hours of operation? What street it's located on?

The flip side is rarely true: if you're having a hard time starting a story, more research won't make it easier. Starting is hard. You just have to do it. Trust me ... or better yet, trust yourself and your story.

It bears saying again: only writing is writing.

Labels: writers' tips