Feelin' the burn

DeadlyAccurate · Mar 1, 2007

I've been in Phaidra's head a lot recently. It's not always a pleasant place to be, either. Whenever I'm not writing, I'm thinking about the book. When I am writing, I'm panicking that this one won't be as good or as exciting as the last one. I'm reaching the point in this revision where I have to make sure all the plot points start coming together, and I'm getting overwhelmed with keeping everything in my head.

Tomorrow I'm not going to write. I have to take a day to do our taxes and handle some other financial stuff anyway, so it might as well be tomorrow. I'll probably just clean house to fill in the remainder of the day. I will do my best to avoid thinking about my book.

Maybe.

Maprilynne · Mar 1, 2007

DeadlyAccurate said:
I will do my best to avoid thinking about my book.

Maybe.

Avoid thinking of my book. Ha! That's a good one.

Maprilynne

The Lady · Mar 1, 2007

DeadlyAccurate said:
I'm reaching the point in this revision where I have to make sure all the plot points start coming together, and I'm getting overwhelmed with keeping everything in my head.

quote]

I'm feeling your pain. It begins to get bewildering. I still can't get over the advice by Robert Heimlein, never to rewrite. I know it's been pretty much pooh, pooied now, but still, did he truely write like that? How? Mine is twisting and turning like a snake in a bag. Still, it's a live one anyway, and that's something. Good luck with your manuscript, though I don't think days off do you as much good as you think they will. It's days you spend at your computer,when something falls into place that do you good. You gotta just keep on ploughing through with it.

PeeDee · Mar 1, 2007

Heinlein did truly write like that and so did Roger Zelazny, and so does Harlan Ellison. The concept of multiple drafts and re-writes is, like many things in writing, not set in stone.

Mr. Funktastic · Mar 1, 2007

I had a character itchin' to be written about, so I finally wrote the short story. I thought that would be the end of it. Bam. No more. He's happy.

And he was, until a couple days ago, when a new story popped into my head about him. I tried putting that one off, because college isn't necessarily being kind to me right now. So I squeezed it into my Fiction Writing class. Haha.

Characters are persistent little bastards.

The Lady · Mar 2, 2007

PeeDee said:
Heinlein did truly write like that and so did Roger Zelazny, and so does Harlan Ellison. The concept of multiple drafts and re-writes is, like many things in writing, not set in stone.

But how? How? How? Did they do big outlines and stick to it? I just keep thinking of new stuff all the time. Today I realise I need to figure out my world's history a bit more because it is so obvious I know too little about it. So I'm going to sit down and work that out. How they just sit at a Comuter and have it all flow out perfectly in order.

What kinds of brains did they have? I'm going to have to do a poll on this. But not today. I'm busy.

DeadlyAccurate · Mar 2, 2007

Managed to make it until almost 2:00 before the urge got overwhelming. I was never able to stop thinking of the story, but knowing I had stuff that had to be done helped keep me from doing nothing but.

Oh, and I'm getting a tax refund (not ideal, but I'm too lazy to do the math to avoid it.)

scarletpeaches · Mar 2, 2007

The Lady said:
...I still can't get over the advice by Robert Heimlein, never to rewrite. I know it's been pretty much pooh, pooied now, but still, did he truely write like that? How?...

Did he definitely mean no editing, or did he mean perhaps "Don't edit while you go and wait 'til the first draft is done?" Because that's how I write.

But heck, the thought of writing something that doesn't need editing into an improved draft...Anne Rice thinks that, too. The prosecution rests.

brianm · Mar 2, 2007

I had the same problem last night. I ended up going to AW's chat room, which was a nice change.

After staying awake until nearly 3am, I decided I would take the day off from writing today. I have spent a great deal of it in AW's forums, and over checking out PAMB. Nothing like reading PAMB to get my mind back on the right track!

Feelin' the burn

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

Maprilynne

Author Waiting in the Wings

The Lady

Critical Member

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Mr. Funktastic

The name says it all.

The Lady

Critical Member

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

scarletpeaches

brianm

Brian Boru