When we first start our books, it’s magic. We’re captivated by the stories playing in our heads, by the characters, by (let’s be honest) everything that spills across the pages. But as time goes on, we grow tired. Distracted. New stories torment us from a distance, and all we want to do is step back from our current WIP and move on to something new.
Sometimes it feels impossible to just finish that book.
I asked the writing community what inspires them to keep writing. They responded that their motivation is. . . .
The same biological desire that keeps me breathing: Without writing, I’d suffocate. –Matt Perez
The love for the story I’m telling, but also my readers. Sometimes I do need to take a brief break, and usually start drafting or primping another upcoming book. But I always find my way back. 🙂 –Alexa Nichols
I tell myself, “You’ll hate yourself if you don’t.” And I’m usually right, haha. I keep all unfinished drafts on my computer and mark them “incomplete” as a reminder that I gave up or haven’t finished. It’s like a “you do this to yourself” mantra. –A. E. Escence
My affection for my characters. I feel they deserve for me to complete their stories. I feel like leaving a story incomplete leaves them frozen in time. I want them to thrive. –Nicole
Tying everything together. Plot reveal. Killing characters. Lol. –Anthony Thomas
The desire to finish something I started. The need to follow these characters to the end of their journey. It sounds silly, but I can’t leave their story untold. –Avery Ames
Hope. Hope that I will be published and grow my #writing into a career I can appreciate and enjoy. –H. W. Johnston
The story needs to be told! AAAAARRRHHHH! *straightens shirt and clears throat* So, er, yeah that’s, er, that’s my motivation. –Lexi Rae Dean
I’m in love with my characters. –London Clarke
The satisfaction of knowing I accomplished something that other people can’t do. –Sarah Colley
As crazy as it sounds, I’m trying to get my characters to SHUT UP. That won’t happen until their story has been told, so I keep telling it. –Lillian Blaire
What is your motivation for finishing your book? Share in the comments!
Knowing that if I don’t finish, no one will ever get to read my story. Then all the work was nothing 🙂
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Eva, that is so true! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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I don’t have motivation. Lol I wish I did. I’ve started quite a few books, and they have all just fizzled out.
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Maybe those books weren’t quite ready to be written! That can be so frustrating. 😦
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FAVORITE: “The satisfaction of knowing I accomplished something that other people can’t do. –Sarah Colley”
I think that’s a pretty great feeling, even when it’s just the rough draft, and you know that you’ll be spending forever on rewrites!
I’m not sure if I have motivation, but I just keep sitting down in the chair. I can be quite tenacious when I set my mind to something. And I think the disappointment of giving up would put holes in my soul.
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And this is why you’re one of my favorite people! 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Barbara.
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I wrote fanfic for years, and in the fanfic world, lots of people share works in progress that never get finished. I don’t ever want to be that author. For that same reason, I don’t want to start until I know how I’m going to finish, so I want to get there and write that great ending 🙂 That’s my emotional payoff.
Revisions, OTOH… those are harder.
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Writing the ending makes everything worth it. 🙂 It’s like sitting back and admiring a trophy (and then realizing you have to tear down that trophy and start all over, but let’s not talk about that).
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At this point? So I can write something else. Something not historic and without black characters (and all the problems of voice and authenticity and cultural appropriation, etc. that attend such a project).
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