I Almost Gave Up On My Story

Some months ago, I was added to a writer’s group chat for an anthology call. The anthology’s theme piqued my interest, so I stayed in the group. I was absolutely down for writing a story for this anthology.

 

The problem was, I couldn’t figure out a story!

 

But I know that creativity comes to us in waves, so I decided to sit tight until I had an idea for a story.

 

Sure enough, one morning, I woke up with a story in my head. And it was perfect for this theme!

 

So I went to the computer and typed it up. My next problem was that I didn’t have the idea for the WHOLE story. Just some of it. So, after I typed up what was in my head, I couldn’t figure out where to go next.

 

I really wanted to write the rest of this story, because it was interesting, so I didn’t let this go. I spent my time doing research on the mythology surrounding the creature in my story. I also tried to figure out a FREAKING NAME for this thing! And I also worked on worldbuilding for this story, since it had elements of fantasy.

 

Even still, after all that, the rest of the story remained a mystery.

 

So I decided to let it rest for a few days. Maybe something would come to me eventually.

 

But as several days passed, I grew frustrated.

 

So, I did more research, this time on writing these particular kinds of stories. I also chatted with my oldest about it, since he is also a writer and we tend to talk about writing. We threw around some ideas, he offered suggestions, and I decided I should just focus on the worldbuilding in the story while trying to figure out the rest of the story.

 

But as the deadline for submissions to the anthology drew closer, I still couldn’t figure out the rest of my story.

 

I opened the group chat on my phone, my finger hovering over the tiny keyboard as I read messages already in the chat. I was ready to tell them I was withdrawing from this anthology because “my story is shit.” But something made me pause. I had a feeling that there was hope for this story yet.

 

So I closed the chat and went on to doing other things.

 

Meanwhile, I have been reading a science fiction novel. I was impressed by the author’s worldbuilding in this story. It made me think about ideas for worldbuilding with my own story.

 

And the more I explored my story’s “world,” the stronger my story grew. And the easier it was for me to figure out the rest of the story!

 

Soon, I had ideas on what should happen next in the story. I grabbed my phone, opened the notes app, and furiously started typing.

 

And even as I managed to finish writing the rest of my story, I couldn’t figure out a name for my creature. (Yes, I have done research on naming fantasy creatures as well.) I came up empty by borrowing words from languages, so I started to play around with ideas in mythology, since my creature is mythical and there are actually creatures just like this in other world mythologies.

 

Well, that ended up being another rabbit hole I went down. I explored what my creature represented in Australian mythology, Greek mythology and Egyptian mythology. Soon I had a list of words and names and decided to just combine two or three words to make one.

 

I didn’t want my creature’s name to be long, complicated, or unpronounceable. I kept this in mind as I created a word.

 

Let me just say that I love to play word games, Scrabble, Boggle, anagrams, etc. You name it. This came in handy as I worked on creating a name for my creature.

 

I took three words from Greek mythology which represented my creature’s themes (since my characters had Greek names) and got to work. Soon I had a word I was happy with. The problem? A business already had that name. ARGH! So I tried again, Googling my word each time. After many attempts, and double checks that this word didn’t already exist, I had my creature’s name. Yay!

 

Now that I had a name for this thing, I could get back to writing this story. I ended up revising what I wrote last night and also added more information to the myth surrounding the creature in that story’s world.

 

Then I was DONE! YAY!

 

I even texted my son, “I FINISHED MY STORY!!!!!” Yes, I was very excited about this. My story was FINALLY complete and I was very happy with it!

 

I submitted my story right before the deadline. Now I am excited to share this story with everyone. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on it!