The hardest part of any new habit is getting started. This is certainly true for fiction writing.
In fact, one of the things I’ve found as a writer is that no matter how many stories I’ve finished and submitted getting started on even a new story is hard, sometimes — that blank page just stares you down, and all your great ideas just flee in the face of the endless possibilities.
We’ll get into how to deal with that in another post. For now, let’s focus just on the idea of fiction writing.
In the post below, I’ll outline some suggestions for how to start a writing practice without burning out or beating yourself up, two things that turn fiction writing from an enjoyable hobby or career and into a grueling autopugilistic disaster.
First, let’s go back over our materials list. You don’t necessarily need to run out and buy a fancy planner or scheduler (unless that sort of thing motivates you!), but you’ll want to have either some paper and a writing implement or the digital equivalent on hand to write down a few things.
For bonus points, you’ll also need a friend who’s willing to receive updates about your progress — although if this idea gives you anxiety like it does me, I totally understand why you’d skip it.
Also, this is kind of a long post. If you don’t have a lot of time, you can split each sub-heading out into its own day. If you have more time, working through all of it at once should take you an hour or two at most.
Holding Yourself Accountable
Why write things down? Why set goals at all? Can’t we just start writing? Well, sure. Nothing’s stopping you, and if that invigorating rush of starting something new will sustain you in the long run, it’s worth a shot.
Speaking from my personal experience, though, I do a lot better if I have a goal in mind and a plan for how to get there. Writing it down gives me something to look back at if I forget where I’m going or how I plan to get there, and looking at goals can be motivated.
At this point I’d just like to reiterate something: There’s no One True Way to Be a Writer. If you’ve tried and succeeded in the past without written goals, or if for some other reason you can’t or don’t want to write stuff down right now, that’s okay.
That said, on this occasion I have SCIENCE to back me up!
Science!!!!
Heck yeah, I guess.
Setting Goals for Fiction Writing
More seriously, psychologists have actually carried out empirical studies on goal-setting and writing things down.
This article from Michican State University cites a 2015 study by Dr. Gail Matthews that split participants into groups, with some writing down and sharing their goals with friends and a control group who just thought about their goals.
The result?
Of the participants who wrote down their goals and shared weekly progress with a friend, 76% successfully achieved their goals. Those who thought about their goals, but didn’t write them down, only had a 43% success rate.
It’s pretty clear from this study that writing down what you want to do and how you plan to get there can increase your chances.
Full disclosure: I suck at doing this, and it has 100% slowed down my attempts to draft and revise the novel I’ve been working on since 2018. For short fiction writing, where I actually keep track of my submission goals (and deadlines!) in a spreadsheet, I do much better.
This year I’ve set myself a goal of working on the novel revision for 30 minutes a day. It might be a pretty small number, but it’s something I can actually do. So far, I’ve been sticking to it and while I haven’t gotten a lot done yet, I know those 30 minutes will add up eventually.
Which is a nice segue into the next part of this lesson:
The Gentle Art of Goal Setting
Not all goals are created equal.
There are many different methods for creating useful goals, but one that’s worked for me is the SMART criteria system. Originally designed by George Doran in the early 1980s as a way of meeting management objectives, this system is easily adaptable to any situation, and is one useful way to guide yourself as you set fiction writing goals for yourself.
SMART, in this case, is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timey-Wimey. (Okay, maybe it wasn’t timey-wimey in the original acronym.) Let’s break down each of these terms.
Specific: Don’t set big goals like “become a best-selling author.” Break that big goal down into smaller, more specific ones. “Write a short story” isn’t as impressive on paper, but it’s much easier to do because it’s specific. Don’t think of this as compromising on your dreams — after you finish that one story, you’ll set a new goal. And another. And another. Keeping them specific just ensures you have a better idea of how to achieve what you want to do with your fiction writing.
Measurable: Measurable goals are easier to achieve because you can see how you’re progressing. If instead of “write a short story,” we say “write a 500-word short story,” then you can start feeling good as soon as you’ve got those first 50 words down — that’s 1/10 of the way there alraedy! It doesn’t have to be wordcount, and in fact some fiction writing goals are better without numbers attached, but try to find some way you can measure your goals, whether it’s words written, hours spent writing, stories finished, or even just number of strangers you’ve awkwardly introduced yourself to by saying “So, I write short stories….” (Advice: don’t be that person.)
Try to pick goals that rely only on you.
Attainable: This ties in with specific and realistic, but is a little different. Goals work best when they’re something you have control over. I have some fiction writing friends who set goals like “This year, I’m going to sell a story to [insert magazine name here].” That might be motivating, but it is (in my opinion) not an attainable goal because it relies on someone other than you. You have no control over the editor of a magazine, and can’t guarantee they’ll buy your story no matter what you do. If your goal, however, is “This year, I’m going to submit three stories to [insert magazine name here],” that’s entirely within your control. In short: Try to pick goals that rely only on you.
Realistic: Think back to “become a best-selling author.” Sure, who wouldn’t love that? It’s definitely on my writer bingo card. But it’s not super realistic, especially if you just started out. “I want to get better at writing fiction” is realistic, but it misses some of the other targets above, since it’s non-specific and not really measurable. Honestly, if your fiction writing goals are specific, measurable, and attainable they’re probably already realistic. Just make sure you’re aiming for something you have a chance of actually succeeding at, and you’ll be good here.
Timey-Wimey: Speaking for myself, nothing motivates me like a deadline. If I say “I’ll revise this story someday,” someday never comes. If I say “I’ll finish revising this story by next Wednesday so I can send it to Mermaids Monthly,” chances are good it will get done — even if it is only because on Tuesday night I started scrambling…
Of course, “write a 500 word short story” is maybe a bit too small for your overall goal. (But maybe it’s not! I don’t know your circumstances!)
Try to think of what you can reasonably accomplish in a 3-month period and shoot for that. Just Remember: You want something you can feel satisfied with, but not something so time-intensive and difficult you’ll want to quit.
Setting a Schedule for Fiction Writing
Goals are one big part of a sustainable fiction writing habit. Figuring out a schedule that works for you is equally important.
Now, I have two kids. I have a full time job. I do freelance nonfiction and have other commitments as well. That means it’s not possible for me to set an ambitious schedule (or at laest, not possible to keep it). Keeping my goals realistic helps, but I also have to make compromises and just drop the schedule in the short term if it’s not feasible.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are different approaches to fiction writing. Some authors do really well with an hour a day at the same time every day, and neither rain nor snow nor glom of nit will stop them. Others don’t write anything at all for weeks (or months!) at a time, and then crank out a story in a single day. Some even just write when they feel like it.
At some point, though, you have to write if you want to get anything done. Many writers in the speculative fiction writing community call this “butt in chair time.”
Keep all of this in mind as you think about what a writing schedule might look like for you. An hour a day? Thirty minutes? Maybe doing two 15-minute sessions a day is more workable, and will get you where you want to go. Setting a stopwatch or other timer can be helpful.
No matter what you go with, try and stick to it for a month and see how it goes.
Just like with goals, you probably have a better chance of sticking to your schedule if you write it down. Writing down your schedule also has other benefits: you can show it to people who might not otherwise understand quite what you’re doing when you lock yourself away (physically or mentally) and sit in front of a keyboard or notebook for an hour every day.
Don’t be rude about defending your time, but try to be firm — within the bounds of reason. Explain your goals and why they’re important to you, and why you need the time you’ve set aside to reach them.
That said, I have a 10 year old and a 9 year old. I’ve been writing at home since my kids were born, and have long since learned to drop my writing at a moment’s notice when they need me and pick it up again later. Learning to work around constant interruptions is actually a pretty great skill for fiction writing.
In the end, scheduling is about balancing fiction writing goals with not being a William Faulkner level asshole. Faulkner may have won the Nobel prize for literature, but he also once told his daughter “Nobody remembers Shakespeare’s children.” (Spoiler: She released an autobiography after his death, including this and other charming details.) This is not a recommended approach and is, frankly, abusive.
If your schedule doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world. I’m not saying I don’t get frustrated when my fiction writing is interrupted — it is frustrating — but rather that it’s important to me that I keep a sense of perspective.
If you get called away during your fiction writing time, try not to stress. It will be waiting when you come back.
Don’t Compare Your Goals (or Output) to Others
One last thing about goals and schedules, and then we’ll move on to failing (an exciting topic!).
It’s natural to see what other writers are up to and feel jealous, or to feel like you’re useless because Wuck Chendig can write 63,000 words a month and you can barely manage 1,000.
But here’s the thing: Wuck Chendig is in a totally different place than you.
He (or she, or they!) might be a full time writer, spending 4-6 hours a day on nothing but fiction writing while you’re only getting in half an hour a day around a full time job and family obligations. Or he might have started writing twenty years ago, while you just picked it up three months before.
Especially for fiction writing, there are huge differences in schedules, writing habits, and writing output. That’s all fine.
This goes in both directions, incidentally. One of my writing friends who’s only been writing for a year or two had six stories published in 2020, receiving critical attention and a glowing review on a major industry blog. Another friend who started writing around the same time I did also had a great 2020, with a lot of attention and buzz for several stories.
It’s hard not to look at my own 2020 and feel like a failure by comparison. To look at the attention other people are getting and not want to ask what I’m doing wrong because my own work didn’t get any buzz. It’s hard, but I try. But without that comparison I did pretty well for myself, with seven of my own stories published.
Aidan Doyle has a great take on this called the Science Fiction Writer’s Hierarchy of Doubt.
The short version of what I’m saying is this: Everyone is on their own path, and as long as what you’re doing works for you then what you’re doing works.
Comparing your own fiction writing successes to someone else’s is a surefire way to make yourself miserable, so my advice is to avoid doing that as much as you can. Instead, focus on meeting your own goals and congratulate yourself for meeting them when you do.
What to Do when You Don’t Meet Your Goals
Failure is a part of life.
Writers in particular seem fond of quoting Samuel Beckett’s “Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better,” from the author’s Worstward Ho! (Oddly, nobody quotes the other parts, despite insights like “Say for be said. Missaid. From now say for missaid.” Gotta love modernism!)
Failure is inevitable. It doesn’t have to be permanent.
Anyway, the point is not entirely that absurdist drama is a questionable source of inspiration. It’s that failure is inevitable. However, it doesn’t have to be permanent.
What do I mean by that?
Unless you are unimaginably lucky (I do not like the word “talented” — talent is learned, not innate, and it isn’t all you need to succeed anyway.) you are absolutely going to fail at some point. That’s true in just about anything. In fiction writing, you might fail to your goals, you might stop sticking to your schedule, or you might . And of course, there’s dealing with rejection letters, and the many other wonderful ways fiction writing can go sideways.
The disappointing truth is this: failure is totally normal.
All writers have to cope with failure at some point in their career, and that goes doubly for most of us who write short fiction, which requires a steady submission habit. If you ask 10 published short fiction writers how many times they get rejected in between each story sale, the number is likely to be higher than you think.
Here’s an example: I sold ten stories in 2020. That might sound impressive. But I also received 103 rejections in 2020. Failure is everywhere in my short fiction career, and it vastly outnumbers my successes.
So when you find yourself failing, whether it’s by not meeting your goals, not sticking to your schedule, or whatever, don’t beat yourself up over it.
If you quit forever after failing at something, you’ll never get to where you want to be. Instead, review your goals to make sure they still meet the SMART criteria and that they still feel like goals you want to achieve. Review your schedule to make sure it’s a realistic one. Ask yourself “What went wrong that time?” and make a note of it, then try again with that in mind.
It’s sometimes hard to keep going, and that’s okay. Take a break! Refresh yourself! But if you want to meet your goals, you have to try again at some point. If you persist, you’ll eventually succeed.
Assignment: Set Your Fiction Writing Goals and Schedule
Your assignment is both simple and hard:
- Come up with a list of two to three goals for your writing
- Figure out a schedule you’ll use for your fiction writing
If you’re having trouble getting started, here are a few example goals:
- Write, revise, and submit three short stories
- Write, revise, and submit a single 3,000 word story
- Write three poems each month in January, February, and March
and some example schedules:
- Spend an hour every weekday on fiction writing
- Write for three hours a week
- Two 25-minute pomodoros of fiction writing a day, or 500 words a day (whichever comes first)
For extra credit, you can find someone to share your goals and schedule with and arrange weekly check-ins.
Other writers are great for this kind of thing. If you don’t already know some, check out the #amwriting tag on Twitter. You’re also more than welcome to comment on this post for accountability purposes.
Next week, we’ll start writing!