Ava asked Mary E. Pearson:

For an Author, how do you keep yourself motivated to stick to the story your writing? Sorry, if that doesn't make sense, but I started a writing a story over the summer about a girl in the Victorian era, bent a fulfilling the wish of her true love, to end her life that will end his suffering. I feel like I packed way to much info into the story so far, getting rid of almost all of her family in a carriage accident,

Mary E. Pearson I understand your dilemma Ava! My head is usually swimming with ideas when I start a book too, and it can be hard to figure out how to dispense all the information and lovely scenes I am picturing in my head. One solution I have found is to write all those scenes/events down on individual post-it notes and then put them up on a wall or whiteboard in the order I think they would happen. Now I can forget about all this jumble swimming in my head, and get back in the character's head. I think about what "the character" would do, and not all the things I want them to do in these post it notes. I think about what they WANT and what they NEED which are two different things. I think about the end of the story and where I think they are going, and then I write! Sometimes those "lovely post-it note" scenes fit in, sometimes they don't and they get tossed, as they should because the character and story have taken on a life of their own that is greater than my initial ideas. New ones have formed! So don't try to get it all down in the first few pages. Start with your character, the event that pushes her to act, and go from there, with the end game in the back of your mind.
I hope this helps!
~Mary

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