Possessiveness – A Roadblock to Finishing Your Book

As writers, we sometimes feel very possessive of our characters. Deep down inside, I don’t always want to share my favorite story and its characters with my readers. Sounds crazy, I know, but then I haven’t been totally sane since I started writing. I often feel a little jealous that my readers get to walk into my personal and private world, my thoughts and loves, my personal story ideas that belong only to me. As a writer, I am forced to give these things away once I finish a story. If I want to make a living at this, I have no choice. And yet for me, it’s never been about money. It’s always been about the stories, and my desire to tell them and to share them. Yet when I do, I feel as though I’ve lost a part of myself to the whole world and to a host of strangers who are reading about my very personal thoughts and dreams.

Focus: The Key to Finishing Your Book

I have talked to many “would-be” writers who never seem to finish a book and/or never even start one. One thing that seems to be a common problem in this situation is that many new writers have so many story ideas in their heads that they can’t decide which one to work on. Or, even if they have only one idea, they can’t decide on a firm direction for their story. They spend months, sometimes years, trying to decide how to flesh out their story. Often, this indecision ends up being an excuse to not write anything at all. They think they have accomplished something just by having all those great ideas, or just that one great idea. I have spoken with too many new writers who claim that as soon as they decide what to work on, or how to develop their story, they will finish their book and start submitting. Sometimes a year or so later, I learn that they still haven’t decided which story to write, or they have “started” 2 or 3 different stories and never finished any of them, or they still haven’t moved past the first couple of chapters of that one great idea.