by Tari Faris, @FarisTari
“Just Write the ding-dang story.” These are the words from Susan May Warren a few months back from one of our Thursday night pep talks at novel.academy and they really struck a chord with me.
One of the number one questions I get asked in interviews as an author is how do I write when the muse is silent.
I will admit this was one of my greatest fears when I moved to be an author on a deadline. But what I have discovered over the past couple of years. The muse isn’t real. I don’t have to be inspired to write. I don’t have to have the perfect combination to write. I just have to write the ding-dang story.
It is the BIC tactic as writers say. BIC standing for Butt in Chair.
I just finished a Christmas novella. 33,000 words in 3 weeks. That is the fastest I have ever written a story. And I wasn’t even writing every day. But I was able to make that goal because of two things. Prayer and writing.
Prayer? Absolutely. I believe I am called to write. If I am called to it, then it is my ministry. If it is my ministry, I need to make sure I am always making it what God wants it to be. Not what I want it to be. There is an amazing book by Allan Arnold, called The Story of With. It was life-changing for me as I saw how to approach wring and creating with God in a whole new way. I highly recommend it.
But more than just praying I have to do the work. Write when I am tired. Write when I don’t feel creative. Write when it doesn’t feel right. In the last book, I rewrote, one scene six times before I felt like it clicked. But ever pass I learned something new about the characters, about the scene so when it clicked it did so with power.
People always want to know the secret to write and there are a lot of story building techniques that we teach at MBT that I think are gold but nothing and I mean nothing will make up for just sitting down and writing the “ding-dang story.”
I actually wrote that out and had it on my computer for a while. Because I want to remember that if I am called to write then God will equip me, but I also have to put in the time. Get my but in the chair and WRITE!
What about you? Do you make yourself write even when the words aren’t coming with ease?
Until I Met You
I invite you back to the small town with a big heart in this second book in the Restoring Heritage series.
When she hears that the small town of Heritage, Michigan, is looking for a new librarian, Libby Kingsley jumps at the opportunity. Little did she know the library is barely more than a storage closet stuffed with dusty, outdated books. What the community really needs is a new building. But the only funds available are those being channeled into the new town square, and the landscape architect in charge of the project wants nothing to do with her plans.
All Austin Williams wants to do is get the town square project finished so he can do right by the family business and then extricate himself from the town that reveres the brother who cost him so much. But the local media and the town’s new librarian seem to be conspiring against him at every turn. Will the determined bookworm find her way into his blueprints–and possibly even his heart?
Tari Faris has been writing fiction for fifteen years but has been creating fiction in her head as long as she can remember. She is represented by Wendy Lawton at Books & Such Literary Management and is a member of ACFW and My Book Therapy. She was the 2017 Genesis winner, 2016 Genesis finalist, and 2014 Genesis finalist. In addition to her writing, she also works for My Book Therapy as a special project manager and writes for LearnHowToWriteANovel.com . When she is not writing or working, she spends time with her amazing husband and kids. In her free time, she loves coffee, rockhounding with her husband and kids, and distracting herself from housework. You can connect with her at www.tarifaris.com