New Year Writing Goals

‘Beautiful People’ is a project created by a book blog that I love (Paper Fury), aimed at writers. Every month, they post a list of ten questions for people to answer, designed to help you get to know their characters – their quirks, their flaws, their personality, and who they are. Occasionally, there are groups of questions aimed at the writers and their writing progress, rather than just what they’re writing about.

For this blog, I’m going to be answering a group of questions. I believe that this group is the January 2016 group (I updated the years in the questions so it fits in with the current time), and I’d love to see everyone else’s responses to these questions. I’ll put the complete list of questions at the very end of the blog.

Let’s begin!

What were your writing achievements last year?

My main writing focuses for 2017 were making progress on the first draft of ‘Paper Forests’, and working on additional scenes and edits for the extended version of ‘Beauty in the Breakdown’. Although the extended version is still being worked on, I made a huge amount of progress on the ‘Paper Forests’ draft, and I’m happy with the words I have so far.

 

Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year?

I think my main priority at the moment is to edit ‘Paper Forests’ a hundred times until it becomes as good as I can make it. As soon as that is done, I’d love to be able to start a draft of a new novel and make a good amount of progress, or complete a solid plan for a ‘Beauty in the Breakdown’ sequel.

 

List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.

I’m what some people refer to as an ‘under writer’ meaning that I’m someone who writes less rather than more. Improving my word counts and managing to reach targets without forcing unnecessary scenes is my main focus for improvement this year. I think others would be incorporating a character’s backstory without information dumping, and just building relationships between characters. That’s only three things, but I’m going to aim low and see how it goes.

 

Are you participating in any writing challenges?

I have no solid plans at the moment, but last year I participated in both Camp NaNo and NaNoWriMo, both of which helped me make huge progress on ‘Paper Forests’, so I might consider participating in one of those challenges this year if I feel like I need the support and motivation for my next project.

 

What’s your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?

The best part of Movellas is how interactive the community is, so I guess you guys are kind of like my beta readers. Some of you are definitely my critics. I’d love to have a few consistent people to send each individual chapter to for feedback, but I understand that people may not have time to read and review everything I need.

 

Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year? Or are there specific books you want to read for research?

A lot of the research I do for writing (actual writing, not research for storylines and characters) is usually from blogs and YouTube videos as I enjoy how easy it is to find information on a specific topic, and how it can be delivered in a simple but educational way. I haven’t seen any writer-related books that have caught by attention, but if you have any recommendations, feel free to leave them in the comments!

 

Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this?

Josh Ray from ‘Beauty in the Breakdown’ is the character I’d love to get to know better. Even though I’ve already self-published the novel, I feel like bits of his story are missing which are necessary to exist before writing a sequel, the main reason why I’m writing an extended edition of the book. That way, I can include so much extra information and create a more complex storyline in a way that hopefully won’t affect people who read the sequel after reading only the original version of the book.

 

Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?

I’ve been reading Rick Riordan’s books for years, and I love them although they’re aimed at younger readers. I’d love to see similar books incorporating mythology and history in an exciting way, but aimed at older readers. If you have any recommendations for YA mythology or ancient history inspired books, please leave them in the comments!

 

What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2018?

Hopefully, ‘Paper Forests’ will be edited and reviewed so many times that it’ll be ready for self-publication.

 

In the comments below, let me know your book recommendations, and also what your New Year writing goals are!

 

Complete list of questions:

1. What were your writing achievements last year?
2. Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year?
3. List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.
4. Are you participating in any writing challenges?
5. What’s your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?
6. Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year? Or are there specific books you want to read for research?
7. Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this?
8. Do you plan to edit or query, and what’s your plan of attack?
9. Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?
10. What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2018?