Ever get sick of your novel?

bylinebree · Jul 20, 2006

Never thought I would say this, but it's true: I am genuinely tired of this first novel I'm working on. Still. After 3 yrs.

I don't stick with anything for 3 yrs (except marriage, God and my kids) and now...this!!

Dan Simmons recently said (paraphrased loosely) not to start a project unless you want to spend 3 or 4 years inside of that head.

Well, I just didn't know when I started it! I loved it, but now I'm growing weary of revising and rethinking and rewriting. So many scenes seem wrong, so much of looks "holey". I want to move on!! :rant:

Wah. Sorry for whining (again). Can anyone even relate?

Zolah · Jul 20, 2006

bylinebree said:
Never thought I would say this, but it's true: I am genuinely tired of this first novel I'm working on. Still. After 3 yrs.

I don't stick with anything for 3 yrs (except marriage, God and my kids) and now...this!!

Dan Simmons recently said (paraphrased loosely) not to start a project unless you want to spend 3 or 4 years inside of that head.

Well, I just didn't know when I started it! I loved it, but now I'm growing weary of revising and rethinking and rewriting. So many scenes seem wrong, so much of looks "holey". I want to move on!!

Wah. Sorry for whining (again). Can anyone even relate?

Yep. I worked on my first novel for three years and I got to the point where I was so sick of it that I never wanted to read a single word of that rubbish again. I was convinced it was crap. And it was, because I'd been revising, re-writing and polishing it for so long that not only had I lost all perspective, I'd ruined what had been a promising sort of story and turned it into a mish-mash.

My advice here is this: if you've not reached THE END yet, plough on as fast as you possibly can (without allowing yourself to go back and look at what you've written, or change so much as a comma) until you get there, then put that ms in a box under your bed and do not look at it again until 2007. If you have 'finished' already, put it in the box right now. I'm serious, that's the only way you're going to get over this. Just leave it alone and try not even to think about it until the new year.

In the meantime give yourself a month off to do nothing but catch up on your reading, laze about and let new ideas percolate - then start work on something else and do not repeat your mistake by letting yourself get into the revision death trap again.

blacbird · Jul 20, 2006

No. But other people are.

caw.

katiemac · Jul 20, 2006

Take a break for a couple of days. Let it sit in your drawer and don't touch it or even think about it.

Come back to it with an open mind and be honest with yourself. Is it good and salvageable, or truly time to let it go?

Maprilynne · Jul 20, 2006

I'm actually going to contradict Katie (though I'm glad that works for you!

) When I start to get sick of my book (usually during the last 10,000 words) I force myself to just plow through and finish it anyways. Cuz when it's done, I'll love it again! I personally like self-editing, so even if the writing is crap while I am sick of the book, I'll fix it during the editing stage. The last 10,000 words are always the hardest for me . . . and I'm in them now. D'oh!

Maprilynne

veinglory · Jul 20, 2006

I think it's a little like what cher said (If you haven't been hated by your kids you haven't been a parent)

If you haven't hated your novel you haven't been a writer...

At least in my experience. I generall hit 'hate' points around 10k words about three quarters through and on the second edit. I try and just keep going. If I stop for too long I start to loose touch with the nuances of the plot and character.

RG570 · Jul 20, 2006

Sometimes I might get a bit tired of it, but I set a 4 month maximum deadline on anything I do, so I do not have 3 or 4 years to get THAT tired of it. Part of the reason I plow through the novel quickly is just that. 3 years can make something awfully stale.

Manxom Vroom · Jul 20, 2006

Oh yes, I certainly can relate to feeling sick of my own writing. One thing I've learned about myself however is that more often than not, when I'm feeling self-doubt / self-loathing it's a sign that something very specific is wrong in my manuscript, that I made a wrong turn somewhere and my subconscious mind is trying to stop me from going too far and compounding the mistake.

I don't know if this would be true of anyone else, but I definitely think that putting it aside for a while and then coming back to it looking out for left turns that should have been made back at Albequerque is a good idea.

blackbird · Jul 20, 2006

Yes, for sure. Just when it seems I can safely move on to other projects, I find I'm having to go back to do rewrites and edits. It's all part of having a novel "out there" under consideration, though, so I'll just have to suck it up. What keeps me motivated is the fact that I genuinely love the story and those characters. So I guess that means I'm not yet at the point of "hating" it (hate's a strong word) but it does get frustrating, especially when you may feel you've done all you can possibly do and there are other stories you want to write. I usually try to have at least a couple of projects going on simultaneously, which helps me when I get to feeling that the one novel is completely taking over my life. I may be first drafting one novel while putting the finishing touches on another. It's not a method that works for everyone, but I've learned it's something that works for me.

MidnightMuse · Jul 20, 2006

Wow - I wish I had good advice to offer. I've never worked on one story that long, but I do have a running series I add a new 130-oddk story to once a year. I love that series. It'll never be published, but I adore it.

As for feeling frustrated - could you simply be editing yourself to death ? Is the story complete, and you just can't stop going to it and picking ? Perhaps sharing it with a critique group would give you an idea of it's holey-ness vs your own prejudice?

I think everyone else's advice to step back and write something else is great - if this one is making you crazy, put it away. Write another one. Or query it out and write another one.

Most importantly, write another one.

Tirjasdyn · Jul 20, 2006

I started my book in September 2001. I got the first two chapters done by November.

The fan and the hitting and splattering.

I then worked on book off and on for another year as I pieced my life back together. I started going to writers groups but I began to hit a big wall. I wanted to write another book in that world. Not this one. So did it for nano. It became the first book again later. I took time off to build the world as my life started going into crazy drive again. Finally I just sat down and wrote. I've been typing steadily since, small bits at a time when I can plug my key into a computer or haul out the dana without distraction.

There were times when I thought, "I'm just not a writer." or when life just kept throwing buses in my way. But I keep writing. If I can keep this up, I'll be done in September. I like that.

illiterwrite · Jul 20, 2006

Absolutely. I started mine in 2003 and have just finished the 354,000th rewrite (or so it seems). I'm definitely sick of it, and I get to go over it (hard copy) one more time before handing it in (again). I hear you!

If you don't have a deadline, I'd put it away for 6 weeks or so. If so much of it seems full of holes, maybe you can write an outline of the book so far so that you can SEE where you need to fix things.

NeuroFizz · Jul 20, 2006

I haven't been sick of any of them during the writing process, or the first editing pass or two. Eventually I get sick of reading them in the formal editing process, which can involve two or three passes. The page proof stage is pure agony. But by then, the outcome is good, so there is joy in the agony. If you edit while you write, perhaps that's the problem. Repetitive reading is what turns my stomach to the story, not the writing. If this is the case, don't do any editing, or even any tidying up until you hit The End.

tu_sense · Jul 20, 2006

Ah, can't we all relate to this at least sometimes? There are days when I just despise one character in particular or the entire novel. But you have to work through those parts. I find that for every day of self-loathing there are at least two where I go to sleep smiling, knowing there was no better way to spend my day than working on that story.

I think my problem now is having finished! I'm at that stage that many of you described where you just have to toss it aside and let the MS sit for a while. I don't know what to do with myself. Any suggestions?

katiemac · Jul 20, 2006

I'm actually going to contradict Katie (though I'm glad that works for you!) When I start to get sick of my book (usually during the last 10,000 words) I force myself to just plow through and finish it anyways.

Contradict all you like! I actually did force myself to finish my novel, then realized once and for all when I was done was that, at least at this point in time, I didn't have a seller. And I think part of my boredom with it was a clue.

Granted, I still love the characters and the plot and everything. It's in my trunk, and maybe one of these days I'll go back, maybe not.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 20, 2006

I'll go along with NeuroFizz. I've never been sick of a novel during the writing process, though I've never spent three years on a novel, either. But during the editing and publishing process, I usually do reach the point where I wish I'd never written the thing, and do not want to read another word of it ever again.

jchines · Jul 20, 2006

Usually in the very beginning, when I'm still figuring things out. At about 30-40K words, because I've already done a lot of work, but there's so much left, and the middle isn't as exciting as the beginning or ending. And any time some new idea pops along to tempt me away from the current project, because gosh, that new idea would be so easy to write, unlike this one. (Yeah, right.)

Generally I just plow on through until it's done. There are times I love it, times I hate it, and times I want to quit writing altogether because I'm obviously just a hack and this is all garbage and everyone's going to hate it when it comes out and....

The biggest risk I've found with setting something aside is that it's so easy to leave it there. And since I hit this stage with pretty much every novel, setting them aside would mean never finishing any of 'em.

stephblake24 · Jul 20, 2006

I hate my novel, but I am stuck waiting for someone to say yes or no on an exclusive partial...so I finished it (although it is only about 43K), and it's been cooking in a drawer since June-ish.

While I have been letting that sucker cook, I wrote a 20K MG/YA novel, and sent out 5 queries for it, wrote 2 children's PB, and found this site.

Still WAITING!

underthecity · Jul 20, 2006

jchines said:
Generally I just plow on through until it's done. There are times I love it, times I hate it, and times I want to quit writing altogether because I'm obviously just a hack and this is all garbage and everyone's going to hate it when it comes out and....

That's what I'm doing, I'm plowing on through. And what, I'm not the only hack? I thought I was the only one writing garbage nobody was going to want to read . . . .

Granted I'm only at 35,000 words, but there are times when I'm wondering if anyone will like it. A publisher, at least, would be nice. And there are other times when I think it's really awesome and some of what I've written is absolutely pure gold. Ah, clever me.

Onward and onward.

allen

JonMoeller · Jul 20, 2006

Oh, daily.

Sometimes I daydream about printing it out, piling the pages on the floor, soaking it with gasoline, setting it afire, and then relieving myself upon the smoldering embers, laughing hysterically all the while. Regrettably, my neighbors already think me a bit odd (why?), and so I sensibly exercise restraint. Plus, I don't think my renter's insurance would cover deliberate arson.

Anyway, everyone gets sick of their WIP at some point. Nothing for it but to plow on relentlessly ahead.

-JM

MidnightMuse · Jul 20, 2006

underthecity said:
. . . . there are times when I'm wondering if anyone will like it. A publisher, at least, would be nice. And there are other times when I think it's really awesome and some of what I've written is absolutely pure gold. Ah, clever me.

Ah, welcome to the world of: This is pure gold! No, wait, it's crap. No, seriously, everyone's gonna love this - I'm a genius. Right, sure, it's garbage and you know it. Hang on, this line here - that was fantastic! Sure, but the story bites. No, this is the one! This is gold! Yeah, that's what you said about the last fifteen. Oh just shut up and write.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 20, 2006

JonMoeller said:
Anyway, everyone gets sick of their WIP at some point. Nothing for it but to plow on relentlessly ahead.

-JM

I never really get sick of a WIP. That's the fun part. I never even find myself plowing ahead. If I hit a boring, tedious part of the novel, the problem is there should be no boring or tedious parts in the novel. If I'm just plowing ahead, I figure I goofed somewhere.

I only get sick of a novel when it's no longer a WIP. It's when I have to deal with the copyedited manuscript and galleys. The work is really done, but there's the minutia of getting it out on the market when I really want to be spending all my time working on something new.

bylinebree · Jul 20, 2006

Good lord

I take a few hours off-line to write and look at this! A deluge! So this resonates with a few, huh?

My novel's done and at about 100K to my horror, but it had to be to build that fantasy world, dang it. I feel obligated to polish it but am just tired, bleah.

No, actually I may be tired of not being able to sit and work on it for hours, as my teens interrupt me endlessly with 'real dire emergencies' all day long. Just one month 'til school starts again! Yay!

1. Putting it in a box is an option, but what if the editor calls for the whole thing soon? Then I'll go manic trying to polish it & possibly destroy life as I know it.
2. Plugging away is what I'm doing.
3. Working on other projects to refresh myself inbetwixt the torment of said novel is already being done, I am multiple-project personality.

So I'll take all three doors, Bob! (Barker. Is he still living, btw?)

Serena Casey · Jul 20, 2006

Ah, welcome to the world of: This is pure gold! No, wait, it's crap. No, seriously, everyone's gonna love this - I'm a genius. Right, sure, it's garbage and you know it. Hang on, this line here - that was fantastic! Sure, but the story bites. No, this is the one! This is gold! Yeah, that's what you said about the last fifteen. Oh just shut up and write.

Oh, my gosh, this is me. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

bylinebree · Jul 20, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
I only get sick of a novel when it's no longer a WIP. It's when I have to deal with the copyedited manuscript and galleys. The work is really done, but there's the minutia of getting it out on the market when I really want to be spending all my time working on something new.

Awww, copyediting and galleys? Tiny little violin playing -- just kidding! Since I'm not at that point yet, what is a trial to you sounds exciting to me. Just depends on what level we're at.

"Relentlessly plowing ahead"

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