I read two Writer’s Digest magazines earlier this month. I thought it would inspire me but instead, I’ve felt less inclined to write.

The first was the February issue was somewhat inspiring. The first article that stood out to me, “Your Novel Blueprint” by Karen S. Wiesner, helps me to see that a successful combination of many things, and I must know some general things before I jump into writing my novel. Of course, things can change as I write, but I still must consider all aspects (internal and external dialogs, point of view, number of “sparks” to keep the reader interested, how characters will be introduced, etc.) before I have a finished product.

Do you plot out novels before your write them?

I also found the article about rough drafts, “Rough It Up” by Elizabeth Sims, to inspire me. I just sat down and started writing. It was a confusing mess, but it felt nice to be writing. I started with her technique to write on paper — I’ve always been a bit intimidated by paper because I want to edit and fix things, and using a computer is much easier. But writing on paper was a nice experience.

Do you write rough drafts on paper or on a computer?

Then I read another Writer’s Digest. I can’t remember which one it was — I think the March/April one. At any rate, there was an interview with James Patterson. He said (and I wish I’d written it down) that when he read Ulysses by James Joyce, he was so impressed he felt he’d never be able to write anything like that: he knew he didn’t have the talent that Joyce had. Then he read a popular fiction novel (I can’t remember which one) and he said to himself, “I like this in it’s own way; I can write like this.” And then he did so and became a successful popular writer.

I don’t like popular, modern fiction. I don’t read it and think “Wow, this is interesting in its own way.” I still like the classics, and the more I read, the less inclined I am to try to imitate it. For that reason, I don’t think writing a novel is for me.

I like to write. I’ll continue to play with the poems for my “exercises in style” project. I’ll continue to share my inspiring quotes and thoughts that I may find about writing. But I don’t think I’m ever going to be a writer of popular fiction: I don’t usually like to read it, so I wouldn’t be incredibly proud if I wrote it.

If there are any readers of this blog out there, I’d be interested to know what, like James Patterson, your inspiration is. Do you want to be like the classics or popular fiction? Or do you just have an unexplained compulsion to write, as some of the authors interviewed in Writer’s Digest seemed to have?

The monthly challenge for the My Manuscript Stinks Society (MMS Society) was to write four scenes of a novel.

Make sure that each scene creates a different emotion or group of emotions. … Also, make sure that each scene features at least one strong image (try using all five of the senses).

I won’t post any of my novel on the web. I won’t even tell you what it’s about. Why?

1. It really stinks. I cannot write fiction. My attempts are so horrible, I am embarrassed.
2. I’m positive I’ll rewrite these scenes a number of times.
3. I’m not sure the current plot will work or be interesting or both and I don’t want my ideas to be shot down just quite yet.

However, I did this assignment, mostly. I reworked an old scene (despair) and then I wrote three new ones (joy, fear, and anger leading to sadness). They were all short. On this website, I’ve been working on “short” scenes, in which I create emotions, setting or characters in a very small amount of space. When I went to my novel this month, I found myself focusing on very small snippets of the scenes. I am having a hard time creating a larger scene and continuing the dialogue.

As I said above, I consider my fiction writing talents to be horrible. Having an “assignment” to revisit my attempt at a novel was very good for me.

1. As I started writing the scene with a vague idea of characters, I found my characters taking on slightly different attitudes then I anticipated. Now I know what people mean when they say they write but the characters create themselves. (Interestingly, a year ago I had anticipated writing from a daughter’s point of view and started a few scenes. A few months ago, I became a mother. Now I found myself changing and writing from the mother’s point of view. It feels much more natural. This is what I mean about rewriting the entire thing a few times.)
2. I found that it is hard to describe an emotion: I find myself remembering how I have felt at various points in my life. I can’t describe an emotion using five senses unless I’ve experienced it.
3. It is challenging to write dialogue that is convincing, but dialogue is what moves each scene.

I have a lot to learn about how to create a fictional scene. What suggestions do you have? I’d appreciate your advice!