Writing tips: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough

Writing tips: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough

KI was writing and submitting for years – finished nine complete novels! – before I got published. Since then, I’ve had fourteen young adult novels published and my shiny new thing is a psychological thriller for adults, The Patient, out with Bookouture 13th February 2024.

One of the hardest things about writing is you do it alone and self-motivation is key. In the years before I was published, fitting writing in around work and other commitments with no definite end point or deadline was difficult. Taking time away from family and work when it was just a maybe, someday goal felt self-indulgent. 

When I decided in the lull of 2020 lockdowns to try something new and write for adults, for the first time in many years I was writing something because I wanted to, with no deadline or contract. It reminded me how hard this is and I wanted to share some of the things I’ve found work for me, both before I was published, with deadlines, and again in the free fall of writing without a contract years later.

So here are my tips.

1. Schedule time. If writing is a priority for you, something you want to do professionally one day, start looking at it as more of a job than something you just do when you feel like it. A little every day is good but if that doesn’t work, even scheduling an appointment with yourself in blocks of time a few times a week will help. Before I wrote full-time I got up extra early in the morning and wrote for a few hours before work. This was the only time of day that my mind wasn’t caught up with other things and no one was going to interrupt. I’m really not a morning person, so this was a huge commitment! Late at night or lunch hours or some other time window might work better for you, but find the time that does and schedule it in.

2. Don’t let your story get cold! When life gets too busy and you just have to leave it aside for a while – or if you’re published and you have to put aside your work in progress while you edit another book or do events – don’t stop thinking about it. Prod it with a stick every now and then if that is all you have time for. Think about a character or scene when walking the dog or having a shower. Maybe find even just ten minutes a day where you can jot some notes even if you don’t write. Then when it is time to get back to it, you won’t have to remind yourself what it is about and why you want to write it: you’ll know. Your subconscious might have done some of the heavy lifting for you in the meantime, even if you’re not aware of it. It’s surprised me how many times I’ve gone back to something weeks or months later and something new and exciting about the story seems to come from nowhere. This doesn’t happen if I’ve ignored it completely, though.

3. Give yourself permission to write crap. First drafts are messy and incomplete and ramble back and forth. There may be plot holes and character inconsistencies and clichés and bad grammar, but that’s fine. Get the bones of the story down and fix it later. I’m writing my sixteenth book just now and I still have problems reminding myself of this. It’s easy to get stuck on one plot point that isn’t that significant but you just can’t work out how to get from A to B. Leave it. Put a note either on the document or elsewhere that a character needs to get from A to B and worry about it later.

4. If you get stuck, have a plan. When I haven’t got a clue what happens next – happens often enough – I’ll go for a walk. Maybe do some housework; you can always tell how my writing is going by the state of the house. Then go back to it. What I find really works is to go back to paper and pen and write across the top of a page all the possible things that could happen, no matter how ridiculous. Then with arrows below all the things that would flow from each possibility. The answer usually becomes obvious, but if it doesn’t …

5. Write out of order. Skip past a part you’re not sure of to one that you are, and write that. The previous problem will usually solve itself by the time I get back to it.

6. Give yourself deadlines. If you don’t have a contract, plan to reach a certain point or wordcount by a given day, or maybe give yourself word count goals for the day or week. But don’t be hard on yourself – set something that you should easily be able to achieve, and then anything over that is a bonus.

7. Maybe this goes against all the above – but play with your writing without worrying where it is going. Enjoy the process. Learn by doing. Before you are published you are free to write anything you want in a way you won’t be once you get a contract. 

—

Teri Terry is an award-winning, internationally bestselling author of thrillers for young adults and adults. She has lived in France, Canada, Australia and England at more addresses than she can count, acquiring four degrees, a selection of passports and an unforgettable name along the way. Before writing full time, Teri has been a scientist, a lawyer, an optometrist, and worked in schools, libraries and for a charity. She now calls a village in Buckinghamshire home, where she lives with her husband and Scooby, a very cute and naughty cockapoo.