Dear Mary,

Do you have suggestions for dealing with the struggle that the idea in your head is so much better than the way it comes out on paper?

When this question came up in our weekly group coaching call, there were a lot of nods. I think this is a struggle that many writers relate to—the disappointment of the words on paper failing to live up to our novel idea.

I certainly relate to it. Every book I've written has been better in my head, and of course it has—reality can't compete with an imaginary ideal. Our ideals don't have flaws—we conveniently leave those out in our fantasies!

But for some writers, this discrepancy between ideal and reality—the fear of writing disappointment—can be paralyzing.

Here’s a true story. When I started law school at 25, I was certain that I was the dumbest person there. (That’s the word that I used in my head: dumbest.)

This certainty ran so deep that when a group of students went out to dinner together one of the first nights of school, and someone asked me how big the city I grew up in was, I was too embarrassed to tell him that I had absolutely no idea, so I just said, “medium.”

Not even medium-sized, just medium.

Today we’re talking about—DUNH DUNH DUNH—the 3-act structure.

I used to be very intimidated by the 3-act structure. I listened to a very intimidating audiobook called Story and it included some line about how, if I made one wrong decision, my entire story would fall apart, and I turned it off immediately.

There are four types of point of view in literature, and choosing the right one for your novel is one of the most important decisions you’ll make.

First, good news: You’re actually only picking from three, because no one writes in Second Person, unless you’re looking to be very adventurous

When I was 18 years old, I signed up for my first college creative writing class, The Short Story. My experience turned me against feedback-based writing programs forever.

I have been in your shoes before, and I want to save you hours of work—and months of grief—by sharing what I wish I had known as a bright-eyed, book hungry writer trying to get a literary agent. I am sharing my top 5 Don'ts (and corresponding Do's) of how to get a literary agent.

When I became a writing coach, my students started asking for writing prompts. I couldn’t let my students down, and so I started to really investigate—what is a good writing prompt? What would be really useful? Enter: The Writing Prompts Generator for People Who Aren’t in Seventh Grade

Unsure where to begin? Here, I share how to begin writing a book for the first time. You don’t have to know everything yet when you begin. The important thing is to begin.

It took me years to figure out what I’m sharing with you in this post, and I hope I can save you time and heartache. If you’re stuck on page three or two hundred of your book, or you’re simply unsure where to begin, here are four misconceptions that I see beginning writers make when they’re just starting out.