A WIP in distress

mookwac · Dec 8, 2009

The past two months have been almost non-existent when it comes to pushing through the novel I'm working on, and I finally realized why: I'm bored. I don't care about the characters, the situations, anything really. What's heartbreaking is I'm coming up on the end of the first draft, and I know if I abandon the novel now, I'll lose all immediacy I had with it (not that I really have any anymore, but picking up a draft 75% done a year from now and trying to finish with any continuity sounds beyond difficult). I want to push through and get to the rewrite stage, where I know I can turn the thing into a pretty good piece, but staring at the computer screen and not being able to get a single paragraph out in 60 days is making me feel like throwing the laptop out the window and then beating it with a stick (which would be unfair since my laptop did nothing wrong). What should I do? How can I reignite the passion I had for this book back in the summer when I was flying through the beginning and middle?

Maxinquaye · Dec 8, 2009

Bite your teeth together. Get the thing done.

I guess you wanted more cheerful advice, but in essence that's what you have to do. Get the thing done.

You're out of the middle, you're in the end game. You've only got 25% left.

But let's try to analyze objectively what's wrong.

1. Do you know where you're going? Do you know the ending?
2. Are you writing organically, to the point that you've wandered not out of the Middle Swamp but into the Death Valley beyond where all novel ideas go to die when they don't work?
3. Do you know your characters?
4. Have you brought in a man with a gun?

James D. Macdonald · Dec 8, 2009

Just write. Throw any BS on the page that comes to mind. It will work. I promise you.

wheelwriter · Dec 8, 2009

As Uncle Jim says, butt in chair and write. Give yourself permission to write crap. Just write. Add in a new character if you need to. Change direction if you need to. Write a paragraph about an angst-filled writer who hates his WIP. Write.

ETA: Wow, think of Uncle Jim and he appears. That was like magic.

mookwac · Dec 8, 2009

I know the ending, but getting there is foggy. Everything I'm coming up with seems anti-climactic, and then I start questioning other parts in the WIP, which I know is the last thing I should be worried about at this point. And you guys are right, I do need to do some teeth gritting and hack my way to the end of the draft, but is there any little tricks to make everything start flowing a little more than a sentence here, only to be deleted the next day and then a new sentence in its place, which will soon be deleted (vicious word deleting cycle)?

Ehab.Ahmed · Dec 8, 2009

I'd suggest imagining different scenarios and how amusing the results are. That might rekindle your passion.
If not, then just do as Uncle Jim says and never look back (there's a stage for that - Editing phase) and you might end up finishing it.

Mr. Anonymous · Dec 8, 2009

It's hard not to be a little tired of the thing once you've put so much time into it (somewhat ironic but true.) I confess I'm usually more than a little jaded by the end of the process. But if you think it's going to be a different story, for your next work, well, chances are good that you'll have another thing coming.

geardrops · Dec 8, 2009

You can do one of two things: finish the damn thing, or toss it and start something new.

Writing takes diligence. Takes putting your ass in the seat and words on the page and finishing your story. Also takes knowing when you need to move on.

For this? I say push through it, finish it. Bask in the success of completing a novel, because regardless of how bad it is, it's done.

Then toss it aside and write the next thing.

kellion92 · Dec 8, 2009

It can work OK to take a break. I took a few several-month-long breaks on the first novel I wrote. Then I worked on it when I was excited and had great ideas, and I'd read the first part to reacquaint myself.

But if you are going to write, force yourself to write bigger chunks, and no deleting! Two steps forward, no steps back.

Mistress of distress · Dec 8, 2009

I have the same problem...Kind of currently, too. I suggest just pushing on and look for inspiration (that's what helped for me). Whether it be from another book to something someone says. It's everywhere.

Annayna · Dec 8, 2009

I have a simliar problem, I started a new project to get my mind off of it..

Caitlin Black · Dec 8, 2009

Just push through. This is one of those hard times, like every job harbours, but if you want to be an author, you're going to have to learn to live with it.

I'm in a similar position. 75% done, and I've only written 4k in the last 9 days... bad me, but I know I'll make it through that last 25% even if it kills me (before Christmas is the goal). The best feeling I've ever had was when I finished off my first MS (draft one) and printed it out to read it. I was smiling and laughing all evening, even when the cat bit me.

Just write crap if that's all that is coming. You'll love the feeling of knowing you've finished the first draft. And chances are some of that crap won't be so bad, and might even make it past the first edit.

It's only okay to delete a sentence if you know what needs to replace it, and only replacing it once (in first draft) - keep moving forward. So long as you know what you meant by it, it's good enough.

NeuroFizz · Dec 8, 2009

You may not realize it, but you are in a position to mine one of the most rewarding veins in the emotional side of writing. You have the ability to unearth a major accomplishment of new and developing writers--the get through a major stall. You have the opportunity to stare down the beast in that dank tunnel. What you do now could determine how you approach the next writing difficulty, and the next one. You can get the tremendous personal satisfaction of working through it, or you can set a precedent for bailing on the tough writes. Just consider this...do you think the next project will be free of sticky points and difficult sections? What incentive will you have to get out your pickaxe and face the major stall in the next project? And the next?

If you finish, you get more than just the personal satisfaction of pressing through, and the self-confidence of developing self-discipline. You also get to take that project to the next step--to give it a straight-through read, where problems (major and minor) typically jump out, as (frequently)do solutions to those problems. And you get the opportunity to take that glint of gold and strip away all the surrounding dirt to see how big the vein really is. And that is the next step in collecting nuggets of accomplishment, confidence, and self-discipline.

L.C. Blackwell · Dec 8, 2009

One suggestion: if you can't think of anything else, throw some more rocks at your character until he has to do something about it. A sagging middle of a novel, or a chapter, is often the result of weak or collapsing conflict. The stakes are low, or the action has stalled. For whatever reason, the tension just ain't there. So raise the stakes. Give your characters something to be desperate about.

LuckyH · Dec 8, 2009

I don’t know, I would like to agree with the majority about the teeth gritting, but if you’ve not been able to write a single paragraph for two whole months, then there’s something seriously wrong. But you’re three-quarters of the way there . . .

What has happened over the last two months of merely staring at the screen? Is it something that has nothing to do your story, something from the outside?

If it was something from the outside, I would try and fix that and then write on. If not, I would put the WIP away and write the next one.

Albannach · Dec 8, 2009

I've been taking a break from a novel. It had me bored to tears. I see no reason why one can't. I'll go back to it and hopefully no longer hate every second working on it. But I do feel like not finishing what you start is a bad habit to get into so I'm going to finish it.

I have a weak conflict. In fact--I have no conflict. Bad in a novel. Much rock throwing is called for.

Kalyke · Dec 8, 2009

mookwac said:
How can I reignite the passion I had for this book back in the summer when I was flying through the beginning and middle?

I did the same thing. Went back to my abandoned novel a year later, and really am getting it done now. Actually some time apart sometimes helps the marriage. We are now an item. I have the hots for it again. I realized that my problem was that I had rejected any plot lines dealing with the antagonist (bad guy) making the story a one sided thing. I am now complicating the novel by creating a three dimetional antagonist along with a story, reasoniong, and logic. He is still a "bad guy" but I make him more than a shadow. This was what it was missing.

I also feel that you are stopping where most people are stopping (I don't know, but you said the beginning and middle went well.) I had a conversation with a music Composer, who described the Plot of a symphony. Strangely, he described it just as I would describe a generalized plot for a long story, like a novel or movie. And also strangely, composers also find "that place" the most difficult place to write.

Raphee · Dec 8, 2009

You are in company, lots of it.
What NeuroFizz said. Best advice, I've read on the topic. No matter how you feel, finish the darn novel...then sit back and study where you went wrong.
Next step, rectify the mistake.

There is no shortcut...other than to stop writing altogether. (I often have thoughts about that, but not the courage to abandon what I've started.)

Chasing the Horizon · Dec 8, 2009

Well, this advice may not work for a lot of people, but when I feel that uninspired about my main WIP I work on something else. I rotate WIPs every couple of weeks so I never get tired of what I'm working on. I have five completed novels, so obviously the switching projects doesn't keep me from finishing what I start. I also don't think I lose anything by switching. I just read over what's already written and pick right back up where I left off, but with new enthusiasm. YMMV

mookwac · Dec 9, 2009

I would like to thank you all. After starting this thread and reading all of the replies, I was able to sit down in that chair and write. I got about 1,200 words in, and I couldn't be happier. This sucker will get done.

Bookewyrme · Dec 9, 2009

Hooray!!!

Maxinquaye · Dec 9, 2009

mookwac said:
I would like to thank you all. After starting this thread and reading all of the replies, I was able to sit down in that chair and write. I got about 1,200 words in, and I couldn't be happier. This sucker will get done.

That's great! Now, I've not been long in the novelist game, but I have done a crap-load of non-fiction writing, and the basis for all writing is that there is no muse, just perseverance. Butt in char, as they say so quaintly around here, though I cheat on that advice.

Lady Ice · Dec 9, 2009

mookwac said:
I know the ending, but getting there is foggy. Everything I'm coming up with seems anti-climactic, and then I start questioning other parts in the WIP, which I know is the last thing I should be worried about at this point. And you guys are right, I do need to do some teeth gritting and hack my way to the end of the draft, but is there any little tricks to make everything start flowing a little more than a sentence here, only to be deleted the next day and then a new sentence in its place, which will soon be deleted (vicious word deleting cycle)?

Finger off the delete button! You aren't going to progress if you keep deleting things. Even if your first line doesn't sound that great, keep it; run with the ideas that the line sparks. See how far you can run, and then look over it.

Look at the basics: Is there a conflict there? Do the characters have sufficient drive? Have you used contrast?

If you don't have these, neither you nor the reader will have any motivation to persevere.

MumblingSage · Dec 9, 2009

mookwac said:
I know the ending, but getting there is foggy. Everything I'm coming up with seems anti-climactic, and then I start questioning other parts in the WIP, which I know is the last thing I should be worried about at this point. And you guys are right, I do need to do some teeth gritting and hack my way to the end of the draft, but is there any little tricks to make everything start flowing a little more than a sentence here, only to be deleted the next day and then a new sentence in its place, which will soon be deleted (vicious word deleting cycle)?

I was in the same boat at about the beginning of November. My first-ever almost complete novel and I was running out of steam. I gritted my teeth and forced my way through it, and rereading some of those scenes I forced out, they're a bit rushed, but they aren't BAD. And they're not as anticlimactic as I feared. I'll worry about polishing them on the second draft, but in the end, if I didn't know how hard I struggled to write those last chapters I wouldn't have been able to tell by reading them.

ylrebmik · Dec 10, 2009

Keep Going!

Been There. Done that. ... Still There. haha. Really, you just have to push through and you'll realize what about your story isn't working. I'm so swamped with school work and work that that is what my problem is... I'm not giving my story the time it needs to develop. Just chug at it and it will pull through. But make sure you know what you want your story to be and what you want to accomplish through it. You know the ending... but what needs to happen for those events to take place?

A WIP in distress

A swell guy

That cheeky buggerer

Your Genial Uncle

Not a runner, running.

A swell guy

Drifting Silently

Just a guy with a pen & a delusion

Good thing I like my day job

A cat may not look at a king

Inspiration is everywhere.

Vampire

Wild one

The grad students did it

Keeper of Fort Blanket

Oh, really?

AW Addict

In debt to AW

Blowing in the Wind

A swell guy

Imagined half of it.

That cheeky buggerer

Makes useful distinctions

Inarticulate Herb