Writing buddies - So you’ve got an awesome idea and you want to turn it into a novel
Sweet! You should totally do it. You know what else you should totally do? Find a writing buddy.
The success or failure in finding a good writing buddy can make or break a project for a first time writer. Seriously, if I hadn’t found mine, my book would probably still be floating around in my head, popping up every now and again to remind myself that I once had aspirations in life, to then be promptly beaten back down in favour of some light procrastination; Gif. trawling and pencil counting.
So what IS a writing buddy? Well, unless I’m completely bastardising a term already used for something else, for me, a writing buddy is another person pretty much like you. Someone else who also has an awesome idea and wants to turn it into a novel via paper writing service. I would say that it’s probably better if your ideas are different genres, so that instead of comparing yourselves critically you can just say, ‘Hey man it’s cool, theirs isn’t BETTER than mine. It’s just DIFFERENT!’ – this mentality has saved my life motivation on many an occasion.
So now you have your writing buddy, what do you do with them? Set a first draft completion date. This is the goal for both of you. The final deadline. You might want to then set weekly goals for word counts etc.
If you’re competitive, and I suggest you are, then beating your writing buddy in terms of word count will become a source of pride for you over the coming months. Beating your writing buddy can fuel your entire journey through the novel writing process. And you’re going to need that motivation. And I don’t care what people say about not rushing, deadlines stifling creativity, etc… If you don’t have a completed draft, you don’t have a novel, end of. So if you’ve been particularly lazy one week, and you still have 2000 words to hit your goal and one evening to do it before you compare word counts with your writing buddy, you’re damn sure you’re going to hit that mark, because YOU. ARE. A. WINNER.
And then before you know it, you’ve got 15k, 50k, 80k… you’ll pass through the milestones of ‘I’ve just written a novelette’, ‘I’m in novella territory’ and ‘I’VE TECHNICALLY WRITTEN A NOVEL, BITCHES!’
And at the end of it, you’ll know you have your writing buddy to thank. And they’ll be offering you thanks in return.
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