Writing Thursday: Wrong Direction

Another question from LTUE: How do I know if I've gone off in the wrong direction?

Short answer: Ha!

Long answer: Ha! This is the magic that every writer wishes they had. We all want to know how to tell that. We want to know how long the book is going to be, and what the climax will be, how many copies it will sell, who the protagonist is, who the romantic interest should be, which editor wants it, and which house will promote it the best. You can't know these things. You have to live them. No one has a crystal ball, and the truth is, if they did, they still couldn't answer this question. You are the only one who has the answer. Only *you* can know if your writing has veered off into the wrong direction. Yes, you can have editors or agents or a writing group who can help give you advice, but like all advice, it is subject to you deciding if it is good or not, and the way to do that is to see if it resonates with you.

I will admit that as a writer, I feel like I have a better sense now of when I am veering off in the wrong direction than I used to have. But then I will be writing something and realize how terrible it is and how I've veered off in the wrong direction again, and I will laugh for thinking that I have ever learned anything about writing. Every book is different because *I* want it to be different. I would be bored writing the same book again, which goes in the same direction as the last one. And what the new direction is, well how could even I know that in advance, since I'm creating the whole world and all the directions in it as I go? That is both the terror and the magic in writing. It is all up to you.

I may not like the direction you've headed in, but my opinion is only my opinion. When I write critiques of people's manuscripts, in the end, my job is to figure out where they want to go, not where I want the book to go, and to help the writer get there. But that's not at all the same thing as heading off in the wrong direction. That's just the details. If you've truly headed off in the wrong direction, I suspect one of two things will probably happen:

1. You will discover that you have no more interest in writing this book and that you wake up in the morning dreading writing it and eventually find something else to write. Or start over again and find out the place where you stopped being interested in the book anymore.

2. You will feel sick while you are writing the book and as if you are having your teeth drilled. You may be one of those people who continue to work on something--dammit!--until it is done. But if you hate it, guess who is going to like it? No one.

I have no more advice on how to tell if it's wrong than that, but I'm only telling you to listen to yourself and your own instincts. Did you think I would tell you anything else? It's you who wanted to be a writer, you who have had all the good ideas you've had to date. You are going to have to learn to trust yourself. And also to hate yourself. That's what we writers do.