In my last hub I talked about NewNovelist and how it helped me finish my novel. It was great, and it gave me just the push I needed to get the first draft completed. It was stunning to think that after five years, and numerous false starts that I'd managed to get past the blocks and actually get to that stage. The relief was enormous, and I wanted to share.

This hub is on a different, but related subject, and was inspired by a post in Kate Harding's journal entitled "The Fantasy of Being Thin". I'll link to it below this introduction.

Your reasons for writing your novel can be just as important as the story itself. I say this because your reasons will spur you to continue writing when you just want to give up. I have a fertile imagination. From when I was very young I would spin a fantasy world up in my head and then let myself run riot in it. It was a much better world than I lived in so that's not totally surprising. I wanted to write it down, as you do, and for a while I did. Then I got discouraged because of the critisism and stopped.

In fact, I stopped dead and didn't write for years. I didn't even stop to think about the reasons why. But those reasons directly affected my ability to write my novel when I decided to do it.

I want to share a few of those reasons with you, and hopefully help you avoid the same trap I fell into.

First up I want to get you to do a little exercise. It may seem really stupid, but it really works:

Note: You are not allowed to give the same answer twice.

• Ask yourself why you are writing this novel.
• Listen to the answer you give.
• Ask yourself again why you are writing this novel.
• Listen to the answer again.
• Ask yourself why you are writing this novel.
• Listen to the answer

......we are getting close now.

• Ask yourself why you are writing this novel
• Listen to the answer you give

And....

• Ask yourself why you are writing this novel
• Listen to the answer you give.

The whole point of this exercise is to get the the real reason. The fifth answer is likely to be the most truthful one. By asking the question over and over you are breaking down your defences.

When I first did this exercise the answer floored me. I was really trying to write this novel because I wanted to be accepted, and I wanted to be praised. I wasn't doing it for me at all. No wonder I didn't succeed. The price of failure to produce the worlds most kick-ass novel was too high! And what if people thought it was crap?

In fact those were the thoughts going through my head almost constantly. I'd set myself up for failure.

When you hear authors saying that you must write for yourself first and foremost this thinking is what they are talking about. It's not being self indulgent, although in today's society we are often taught this. What it is about is writing from the heart and worrying about how it will all be received later.

If you have a fantasy built up in your head about how life will turn on a pin when you finish your novel, or even more so if your novel is published, then you are doomed for failure, and most probably for a severe case of writer's block as well.

It was once I used this method that I stopped lurking in writer's forums (I didn't post because I was scared they'd see me as a fraud or something), and got NewNovelist so that I was organised and started again. This time focusing on finishing rather than if it was a good story or technically sound. In my case the teacher was there when I was ready for them.

What I would suggest if you are finding it hard to start, or finding it hard to continue, you look at your motivation. You may be surprised at what is really stopping you from succeeding.

"Why Are Your Writing Your Novel?" Copyright by Hovalis 2007, all rights reserved.