alwaysanduntiltheveryend asked: Hi! Sorry if someone has already asked this but I'll go ahead. I had a great idea for a novel. I've been planning it for about a week so far but I feel like I'm over analysing everything, I've created huge lists of major to minor protagonists and antagonists, etc. I feel like I'm over planning every thing and I'm worried that when I get down to the actual writing, I'll either never finish it or be disappointed by my work. What do you guys think?

Divi: First of all, don’t worry about overanalysing! We all do it, because we all want to make sure we plan our stories correctly. Sometimes people do plan so much that they lose interest in the actual story, but I’ve found a good push in the right direction is all it takes for you to continue writing it to the finish. Don’t overthink while actually writing, though. See it as a rough draft, once you have that you can always go back and edit it, but you’ll have the foundation! Without a foundation you would be more inclined to say “You know what, I’ll go write something else until my inspiration comes back.” But it could take a very long time until your inspiration comes back, so my honest advice would be to not disregard your story if you’ve been planning and analysing it already. It’s easy to procrastinate, but how much more satisfying would it be if you could write everything you’ve been wanting to write and then be able to pull it up and edit it to your liking? Don’t let disappointment hold you back, because you are your own biggest critic. Chances are you’ve got something fantastic, but you’re holding yourself back by judging it too critically when you haven’t even finished.