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Serious question, I think the 'finish the first draft no matter what' advice is wrong
I used to force myself to write 2000 words a day on my novel, even if it was junk, just to hit that goal. After leaving my manuscript untouched for 6 months, I realized that approach killed my love for the story. Now I only write when I have a clear scene in my head, even if it's just 200 words, and my project in Portland feels alive again. Has anyone else found that strict word counts made them abandon a project?
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david_craig5mo ago
Totally get that. Forcing a word count can turn writing into a chore instead of a creative outlet. Glad you found a rhythm that brings the story back to life for you.
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sethb455mo ago
Oh man, my buddy did that with his sci-fi book. He was so proud of hitting his daily word goal for months, but then he just stopped cold. When he finally looked back, he said the whole middle part read like boring robot instructions and he had no desire to fix it. He had to scrap like 30,000 words and start that section over from scratch.
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logan6482mo ago
That's a lot of trust to put in sheer momentum. Reminds me of people who crash diet to a goal weight, then gain it all back because they never built habits that actually work for them. @david_craig is right, turning it into a chore is a fast track to burnout. Your buddy learned the hard way that hitting a number isn't the same as making something good.
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