10 Comments
User's avatar
Lorelei Jonason's avatar

I'm comfortable writing character sketches and interesting openings, but I wish I could write novel-length stories. What holds me back is I have difficulty with the plotting process and get bogged down with the endless possibilities that that length offers. Thanks for offering this place to express our fears. :)

Expand full comment
Meta Wagner's avatar

Thanks for sharing, Lorelei. I know some novelists are anti-outlining but others have used it to great success. Perhaps that would help?

Expand full comment
Lorelei Jonason's avatar

Yeah, I've always known an outline was necessary for me. I'm working on an outline for my current story. I just tend to have parts of the outline (near the middle) where it gets vague. I know where I want to start, I know where I want to end, but figuring out how to connect the dots is always challenging.

Expand full comment
Josh Morrison's avatar

I’m comfortable writing screenplays (though it’s been a while) and writing psychological evaluations, but I wish I could write long-form nonfiction. Some of my favorite pieces of literature fall under this category and I’ve had ideas for pieces in the past. (Plus, I had a pretty great professor in college, who taught this subject!) I have never gone beyond the initial research phase, though, partly because of being too busy and partly because of being too noncommittal. Thank you for reminding me of this desire, though! Someday!

Expand full comment
Meta Wagner's avatar

Thanks for sharing, Josh. Ah, yes, the old school days. I think the good news might be that you could build a long-form piece over time, as more ideas occur to you, rather than feeling that it needs to be written in one or two sittings.

Expand full comment
Erin Kane's avatar

I’m comfortable writing screenplays but I wish I could write novels. And poetry. What keeps me from doing it is the fear that I’ve never studied these forms and I don’t know the rules. I’m afraid I’ll do it wrong.

Expand full comment
Lorelei Jonason's avatar

Sounds like you could use a mindset shift. Know that you will do it wrong, and that that's okay and part of the learning process. Everyone who's ever written novels or poems has done it wrong first before learning how to do it right. Good luck!

Expand full comment
Meta Wagner's avatar

Erin, thanks for sharing. I think a lot of people who feel confident in other forms are scared off by poetry!

Expand full comment
Henriette Lazaridis's avatar

OK, here goes: I’m comfortable writing fiction and essays, but I wish I could also write songs. Not short stories (they don’t hold a particular fascination for me). But songs. Just because I love music and I love to sing but I can’t for the life of me figure out how a person even begins to put together a melody.

Expand full comment
Meta Wagner's avatar

Henriette - I especially love this because I started writing some lyrics for songs and even bought a small Casio keyboard to fool around with melodies...once! Maybe we could be a new songwrting team...with just lyrics...I guess that's called poetry. :)

Expand full comment