WWE Fan Fiction Help

Question #6: Giving Up

From @TheBadNewsAddiction

          How do you keep yourself from giving up on a book?

          I know your question is how to stop yourself from giving up but sometimes, it's the better option. Even though I have written dozens of books, there's probably just as many that I've stopped writing. However, there are a few things you should take into consideration before you decide to throw in the towel.

1) Is it just writer's block? If it is, consider taking some time off. The worst thing you could possibly ever do to your book is force yourself to write it. Not only will it become a chore, so to speak, but it'll make you hate writing in general.

2) Is it your inner voice of doom? We've all heard it, whether you admit it or not. "You're writing isn't good enough. What makes you think anyone is going to read this?"  The voice contributes to so many failed novels that could actually be a best seller. The thing you have to realize is that you are your toughest critique. When I wrote my first featured novel, I never thought in a million years that an army romance would get me where I am today. I talked myself out of writing it a few times and put off publishing it because of my inner voice. But guess what? It didn't stop me and don't let it stop you.

3) Is it lack of readers? Something I have a love/hate relationship with on this site is that dang view count. Sometimes it can be a writer's best friend, other times, it can be your worst enemy. When I first started here on Wattpad, my books rarely hit a thousand reads, even after they were completed, and I would be lucky to get five or six comments by the time it was finished. Now? Those same books are close to hitting half a million reads. You have to realize that you are NOT going to acquire a fan base overnight. As much as we would like it to happen, it's just not. It takes time.

          If one of the things above is the problem, you have nothing to worry about. Kick that little voice in your head aside and do what you love. Overcome those discouraging thoughts and keep writing. But if you're struggling with something else, keep reading.

          Right now, this chapter couldn't be any more true to me. I'm at a point where I'm losing my creative license in fan fiction. I made my come back here in October of 2015 to escape the publishing world and return to my roots. Without fan fiction, there would be no Cheyenne Barnett, the author. But now, I'm finding that fan fiction isn't my calling anymore. I'm a romance novelist and I miss it. I haven't written a new book in over a year and it's calling my name.

          I said all of that to introduce you to my Three Points of Letting Go. This is what I use after I've realized it's not writer's block, my inner voice, or lack of readers. The problem lies deeper than just the surface.

1) Have you lost the focus of your book? Even though our stories tend to stray away from our original idea, we need to make sure that the focus of the book hasn't changed. If the purpose of the book was to allow our main character to find themselves and they aren't doing that, something's wrong. When I sat down to write the next chapter of "Fighting" last week, I found that I had done just that. I never wanted the book to be centered around Dean and Alex's relationship, I wanted it to revolve around Alex finding herself and realizing that you don't need a man to be happy. But after reading the book over, I realized I had done just the opposite.

2) Has your passion suddenly disappeared? Some authors would tie this into writer's block, but not me. Having a creative block and losing your passion for writing is two completely different things. If you lose passion for something, you have no want/need to do it. You feel like writing the story takes too much time, you don't know what to do with it, and you just want to forget you ever wrote it.

3) What's your gut saying? Being in the medical field, I've learned that your gut knows more than you do. If you feel like something's wrong, something's wrong. Listening to my gut has actually saved a life before so don't tell me to ignore it and this goes for writing as well. If you know the story isn't going anywhere and it was just a forced idea that you made yourself write, stop. You're only hurting yourself.

          I know a lot of people will probably get upset over what I just said. Some will say that I'm telling you to give up and I'm not. What I am  telling you is to make sure it's for the best. Don't ever quit writing a story just because you have writer's block, that's never a good enough reason. None of the reasons mentioned at the beginning are good enough, but if your problem lies beneath the surface like I mentioned above, it's time to think about what's best for you.

          I sincerely hope I have helped you in some way. If anyone has other questions that I haven't answered yet, feel free to ask them below. ❤