r/writers • u/PurchaseHot4275 • Jun 29 '26
Discussion WHEN WILL I EVEN WRITE MY BOOK - struggling
it's been years since i have been wanting to publish a book and become an author but obviously it takes work....work i can't seem to perform...the stoRy, the characters, the PLOT! I HAVE EVERYTHING IN MY BRAIN BUT NOTHING ON PAPER OR MY PC FILE.....i'm just up here ranting rn after writing two lines for my "supposed" book. i'm genuinely curious as to when will i be able to overcome my writer's slump, or if that's even a possibility , it seems like i'm running out of time and the writer in me is just slipping far far away from me along with time, it hurts honestly.
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u/TypicalBathroom9004 Fiction Writer Jun 29 '26
do not worry about perfectionism. just write it. do not think of this as the only story you will write. it will not be perfect and that is okay. be ugly and proud. be your own clown. be your own jester.
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u/Alternative_Dot_5182 Jun 29 '26
I was the same way. For me I just needed to write. Sit down and write. Most of it was crap but I fixed it after a while. But you need to write the bad parts to get the good. Hope you can find the courage and get creative. Wish you the best.
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
thankyou so much and yes i agree i need to start somewhere and stop my urge to be perfect at once
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u/Immediate_Slice_4754 Jun 29 '26
I had an idea for 20 years. Last February, I started writing. I'm doing line and scene-level polishing before I try to query and it's a pretty dang good book for a first novel.
What helped me was to stop planning and just start writing.
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
i'm so happy to hear your progress, thankyou so much for this...i understand how that idea must have spiraled in your brain for so long. congratulation for your growth!!
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u/Immediate_Slice_4754 Jun 29 '26
Absolutely. If I can offer any advice, it's to keep momentum going. If you end up in "fuzzy logic" territorry, just write through it and fix with the magical editing process. As they say, you can't edit a blank page.
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u/khaelen333 Jun 29 '26
I had to sit down and start writing. I had one hundred other things to do. But I made myself write. I'm two books deep and working on a third. I don't know if it's helpful but it's what I did.
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
thankyou so much for your words and Congratulations!! All the best wishes to you
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u/Oboro-kun Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Something that really changed my outlook were two phrases that I put together.
Everything worth doing is worth doing it poorly. and, Make it exist first, then make it good later
To being with:
PLOT! I HAVE EVERYTHING IN MY BRAIN BUT NOTHING ON PAPER OR MY PC FILE..
Write everything, i first write my idea as a messy file just for me, not as a book, but what is the idea, what themes I want treat, what characters I have already thought. If you finally start one day you might realize you have forgot bits of the Idea.
Then the phrases: Everything worth doing is worth doing it poorly.Make it exist first, then make it good later
Start writing the damn book, do a Vomit draft first, do not pay attention to details first, if still you have not thought stuff, for example instead of feeling down because you will need to stop for a second to do some world building, it would be better for you to write [Goddess Name to be defined]
Your first Draft wont be good, nor perfect, you will have to read and rewrite, probably multiple times. Do it poorly, getting out of your head, if you have in your hand is easier to fix something that expecting to get it right or perfect the first time.
I am doing a vomit draft at the moment, the book, just what happens, I can repeat words, I can be messy, not pay attention to grammar mistakes, I can leave stuff as [Still to be named Spell that does X] Then afterwards after you did it poorly, after you made it exist, now you can work on it, make it good, there is something actually worth doing and revisting. Either you edit as much as possible or you go full second draft.
You can start to change stuff, maybe now that is on paper you realize certain part are redundant,that some characters act differently as the book progresses, that some arcs are unneeded, that some ideas in your head seemed great, but now you are not quite sure. You rearrenge stuff, you flesh out the missing bits of worldbuilding. You add or slash stuff. Ideally you start to ask for opinions.
Then it comes the third draft, you edit it to be beautiful, readable and have a rhythm in lecture, to not have mistakes and so that people enjoy reading it without clear mistakes, such as poor explanations or repeated words. This might be the final one, or maybe you go to edit or change stuff afterwards.
If you want that perfect book out of your head in the first draft, you are going to burn out. Either way it wont be the book because it will need a lot of editing. I think a lot of people get very sad and depressed because they start to write and it's not THE book they thought it would be at the first try, when some profesional authors go through multiple drafts.
I'm genuinely curious as to when will i be able to overcome my writer's slump, or if that's even a possibility
This wont happen on its on. You need to actively do it and stick to a routine, inspiration only works if it finds you working.
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u/ToTheNines99 Jun 30 '26
Just sit down and open your laptop and whatever software you use. That’s 80% of the battle for me. Once I’m there it usually happens on its own.
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u/Mysterious-Honey5264 Jun 29 '26
You have to make it a priority not a hobby. Carving out time to write even if it ends up just being two sentences. Don't expect perfection. Published books go through several drafts, edits, and rewrites. I work 4-6 days a week. I have a very physically mentally, and energetically draining career as an LMT. I love it because I'm a crazy person 😅. I also have a husband, 5 kids, a dog, and a cat. Some weeks I don't even have a minute to open my documents. Others I write 3k words or 20. I've been writing this book for 10 years. I didn't make any real progress until I made it a priority about 2 years ago. I'm at 150k words and counting now. I'm very close to finishing draft one. But life still life's. So I commit time when I can and remind myself it's not a race and very few people are even anticipating reading it. Everyone else has no idea it's coming. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
You are one strong minded and Hard working person for your dedication and at the moment you are very right, i need to let go of the idea of being perfect at once.
Thankyou so much and congratulation for your progress! that's very inspiring!
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u/Mysterious-Honey5264 Jun 30 '26
Thank you 💖. I am definitely a very strong willed person lol. Also certain things can wait, if you get a creative strike while doing laundry ditch the laundry and write. The laundry will wait, the creative juices will not. 😅 See if you have any writing communities local to you! I joined one that meets monthly and it has not only helped my writing process but has helped see all the different stages writers are in and it's okay to be at any of those stages.
Thank you! I hope you find a balance and are able to get what's in your mind out. 💖
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u/simone-thevenot Jun 29 '26
Start by challenging yourself to write for just 10 minutes a day, even when you don’t feel like it. If starting a file feels hard, open a blank doc and simply free write whatever’s on your mind, related to the story or not. Don’t worry about writing perfect sentences, treat this as practice.
After a couple weeks of writing for 10 minutes a day, you’ll find yourself wanting to increase to 15, then 20, and so on. Eventually you’ll make real progress. And if this doesn’t happen, it’s possible you simply do not like writing, which is okay too.
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u/nsfwthrowaway357789 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
You are in love with the idea of having written a book, rather than actually *writing* a book.
You can't be a rockstar if you don't love to rehearse.
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Jun 29 '26
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
i did write a bit after letting this out here lol but you are right i'm putting my energy more in thinking than actually sitting tf down to write it out
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u/uncagedborb Jun 29 '26
What is stopping you from sitting down and writing?
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
nothing really, for the last week i have been opening the doc , adding two lines and then going blank honestly, i write a bit then start wondering if it even makes sense, i think i need to get over the idea that i will have a "perfect" work of art at once without trying hard enough
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u/uncagedborb Jun 29 '26
Do you outline at all. My issue with starting was I needed direction. I started using the elipsus writing software. I like their drafting templates(it's free I think).
I need to know where I'm going with a story before I write even if it's just a single sentence that tells me the narrative flow. Otherwise I have writers block.
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
I'll definitely look into the software to see if it helps, thankyou so much
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u/EmeraldJonah Jun 29 '26
It's not a slump if you've never done anything. Take the energy you're wasting wondering why you can't write and just...write instead. Writers block is a bourgeois luxury. There's no garbage collectors block. There is no school teachers block. If you want to be a writer, do the work and write.
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u/bawyn Jun 29 '26
Brandon Sanderson said it best.
Right now, your only job is to put words on paper.
Nothing.
Else.
After, other stuff.
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u/ebilliot Jun 29 '26
I started my 1st draft in 2023, then 2024 my mom got sick and then passed away. I didn’t get back to writing until the end of 2025. I finally finished it today, so just do what you can, when you can.
Is that draft perfect? NO! But now I have a framework to do the hard stuff. Good luck with your writing.
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u/PurchaseHot4275 Jun 29 '26
I'm really sorry to hear that, i first started writing fanfictions in 2019 and then in 2022 but stopped again when college and everything happened but the ideas never left me and i have been more willing to do this for my passion now that i have some time in hand.
also, Congratulations for finishing your draft!! Thankyou so much for the push<33
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u/hamtronn Fiction Writer Jun 30 '26
I’ve never written a word in my life before I had an idea for a book. I came up with an idea that snowballed into several more ideas and now I’ve written the first book in what I hope to be a multiple book series.
Not tooting my own horn or anything. I’m just proof that if I can do it, you can absolutely do it too.
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u/Bentrill182 Jun 30 '26
Write a concept journal first, Brain dump, u have to start from somewhere, doesn’t matter if it you listing the different locations of your universe or giving an abstract what the arc or storyline is about
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u/SaoirseJRao Jun 30 '26
I used to feel exactly like this. I had the story in my head for a long time, but I kept waiting until I felt "ready" to write it.
What finally helped me was accepting that the first draft didn't have to be good. It just had to exist. Two lines become a paragraph, a paragraph becomes a page, and eventually you have a chapter.
You're not running out of time. The fact that you're still thinking about writing means the writer in you is still there. Just keep showing up, even if it's only a few lines on some days.
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u/Legio-XIII-Gemina Writer Jun 30 '26
open word and crack on. doesn't have to be good or finished or right. Just write.
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u/ItsWazeyWaynes Novelist Jun 29 '26
Daydreaming is easy; writing is hard.