Seventeen | Soulmate AU | ✔

Final Author's Note

Don't think that I'm sitting here with no brand-new ideas. I have a word doc of 60 ready at a moment's notice that I can whip out. I have several entire books that I've plotted out in my drafts, that I haven't written.

I think every writer struggles at one point or another to finish their story. Whether that be from lack of motivation or completely falling out of love with the story. I know it doesn't look like it ever, but around halfway through the story I almost always find myself falling out of love with my stories.

I think that this is partly because of the writing process. I plot out my stories beforehand, but I'm slowly learning that I need to treat it more loosely. If you find that you're falling out of love with your story, it might be because you don't think what you're planning for the rest of your story is very interesting. Take a hard look at your plot and rewrite everything you need. The fun part is creating. Not just the craft and execution, but the actual idea in itself. Focus on that. Pull from that. Try discovery writing more. I've already rewritten my plot for To Be Female, my most recent work, several times. To keep myself invested in the story, I've only written about half of the plot so far, so that when I have ideas for the story I can incorporate them.

If you don't have a plot, try having one. I find sometimes I don't want to write, and I can't think of what to write about. Having at least the next ten chapters plotted out in advance is so useful, because sometimes even when I'm feeling like I don't want to write, I get into the emotions of the story in the scene I've planned out. When you plot, make sure you plot loosely enough to allow yourself room to breathe. Plot sparsely enough to be creative. Plot less than you think you need in a chapter, always.

If none of this works, maybe you just need to take a break from your project. If you never finish anything, force yourself through one thing even if you hate yourself for it. It's part of the growing process as a writer. Otherwise, I think that sometimes it's okay to just step away from the project and work on something else. I have many friends that work on three different projects at once and switch between them when they get bored. There is no wrong writing process, as long as you get a legible book at the end of it. If you need eighteen different ideas going at once, as long as you can sustain and finish those stories, by all means, go for it.

It's normal to fall out of love with a book/project. You just have to determine whether it's worth it to keep going and your goals. Even if I hate my book so much, maybe in a year I'll read it back and think that with editing I can make it a really good book. Maybe you're a writer that needs to get a first draft down and edit tons. It really just depends. Just remember that you should never stop writing.

Sorry, I know this is a long answer. One last thing: all of you who tell yourselves that you don't have time to do whatever you want to do (we all do that) ...you're a liar. That's right, I just called out 100% of the people reading this. Hi. If you want to do something badly enough, you will make time for it. This includes writing. You can never get better if you don't write. You can never have too little time for something that is your priority. I make so much time for my writing because I love doing it. It doesn't appear magically on a silver platter (and if coronavirus seems like a silver platter to you, better get on that before whoever offered takes that back), I make the time myself.

Could you write a story about Sophie and Keefe having kids?

See, here's the thing. I love Sophie and Keefe's relationship. But I don't think that I could personally write about them having kids. I've barely gotten a taste of romantic love/relationships, and yet I'm already realized how inexperienced I am – how much I don't know, if you will. If my story were to be genuine, I think I would have to genuinely want kids and dream of that relationship. Right now, I'm very young. I have so much to do before I want to pursue having kids, if ever. I only have a vague idea of how it might feel to have a kid. Don't get me wrong – I'm one of those people that loves kids. It just wouldn't feel right. I'm not ready to genuinely write that stage of a relationship.