Eeekk! I want to pull my hair out!

I hate, hate, hate rewrites!

This is my first novel. I have been stuck on the same scene for days. And I am too obsessive to go on to something else, besides, I just did that with the last chapter, hoping I could get motivated in this one. What is a writer to do? I put my novel away for months, just getting back to it this past week. I want to get the flow back, but I can't write, I have to edit! :b This is the hardest work I have ever done!

Yeah, what she said.

Well let's see... I've been working on my current (first) WIP for 14 months now, and it's still only about half finished.:eek

I'm re-writing my opening chapters for the third time right now. But the thing is, I see a very marked improvement. I still have the first draft of chapter one, and it stinks compared to where I'm at today.

I guess that's the question you should ask yourself when you're re-writing. Are you making progress?

The next question is: do you see a light at the end of the tunnel?

I really do. Some days it looks like a mighty long tunnel, but I see the light.

Actually, I see a dim something that resembles a light!

But, I am proud of myself for hitting it tonight, and I am almost done with this chapter, not going to go to bed till I am. I am sick of procrastinating, it aint' gonna write itself.

And yes, I can definitely see where my writing has improved. I just wanted to gripe for a minute, hope for some sympathy. Whaaa! :|

Wurd, have your finished the first draft yet? Are you rewriting and rewriting and rewriting before you type "THE END"? Or are you doing your second draft?

I am on the second draft, maestro, and changing viewpoints as I go. But I finished the chapter just now, and it is good!:rollin

Don't pull your hair out. It will make you go bald. Then you'd be in an even worse position - unable to edit, and unable to leave the house without a big, froppy hat :hat

:rollin


hands my best hanky to you.....now....feel better?....(giving you my best 'ol poor you' look)

keep hanging in there.........

:rollin

This is my first novel.

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Don't feel too bad, wurd. I'm on my 3rd novel and I've been going through the same thing.

I have been mulling around on the story for a couple weeks now, and I keep revising and rewriting older sections. What I need to do is get a firm grasp on my mental state, slap my Muse up the side of her head a few times, and get on with it!

I understand your frustration. Just keep pluggin' away, pal.

Yes, re-writes are the bane of the novelist.

Depending on the Genre and complexity, some re-writes are much harder than others. I've at least attempted multiple Genre: Murder Mystery, Sci Fi, Fantasy, quasi-Romantic Comedy set in Medieval times, Childrens.

Most of them were so straight ahead, the required very little re-write, only grammar corrections. But the Grand Fantasy is absolutely driving me to the point of wanting to walk away, and yet, I feel it is an important story. So, like a Salmon swimming up-stream, I bang my head day after day.

The more complex the story line, the more difficult your re-writes will be. I always comfort myself with the fact that Tolkien started LOTR in 1936, and the first book wasn't published until 1954. (If memory serves me right). Then again, that isn't much comfort is it?

Blessed is he who can do a Grand Fantasy in the first run!

Whach you talkin bout, Willis? I couldn't do a plain fantasy, much less a grand one!:rollin

famous

A writer more famous than Gala said, "Writing is re-writing."

wurdwise said,
"I hate, hate, hate rewrites!
This is the hardest work I have ever done!"

I wish I could tell you it gets easier with time. It may or may not, and it will vary by project. You will find the suffering is finite.

Yeah I was shocked to learn how hard it all was when I wrote my first novel years ago. With each novel, the personal stakes are higher, (in part because my life is shorter) and what I know I'm doing wrong blatant.

I've played violin for a lifetime. Yet I still play out of tune and need to practice. Writing well is the same.

I keep my eye on the end goal. Don't ever forget: you've written a novel. You are a novelist!

(yeah, people are whispering..."but not a published novelist so it doesn't count...")

Oh let's not analyze that.

Let me tell you, wurdwise. I'm revising a non-fiction book, and since the material is difficult I break from it to work on two novels I have in the hopper. One is a year old, the other a week old. I'm not advocating this way of working, and I usually don't--special circumstances. I'm putting myself out there for you to say just keep plugging away, knowing hundreds of other writers are in the soup with you.
<img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif" />

Re: famous

Thanks, Gala. I am getting into the swing of it, working again tonight. But I don't know if I'll write another novel after this. Not sure if I have the constitution for it. Maybe years from now, after I have my freelance career up and running. I started writing full time less than two years ago, and I have discovered i enjoy short assignments, short stories, essays, want to make a living doing freelance work. Ordering Jenny's book asap. Already have one essay accepted.

However, this novel will get finished, and I will see it through to publication. I've got a feeling about it. And I aint' no quitter! I have had critiques that say my writing is good, and the story is one I must tell. But IMO, it takes a special brand of person to write only novels. My hat's off to them.:hat

Re: famous

I wrote my novel when I was fourteen. It's been... eight years since then and the novel has been through three rewrites but it's still not done. Of course with each rewrite it gets better and better... but also with each rewrite things change. In fact the newest version is only related to the old version through the characters (who incidentally have had name changes).

Am I the only one who wasn't impressed with the way the Lord of the Rings was written? I thought it was extremely tedious, reading more like a textbook with absolutely no soul.

Re: famous

Am I the only one who wasn't impressed with the way the Lord of the Rings was written? I thought it was extremely tedious, reading more like a textbook with absolutely no soul.

Click to expand...

No, you aren't the only one. On the other hand, I agree with the millions who think Tolkien was an unequaled master and his like will never be seen again. I think his books are masterpieces. Well, except maybe for The Silmarillion. But even it was worth reading.

I've never read less tedious books, or ones with more soul. I found them absolutely wonderful.

Re: famous

I wrote my novel when I was fourteen. It's been... eight years since then and the novel has been through three rewrites but it's still not done. Of course with each rewrite it gets better and better... but also with each rewrite things change. In fact the newest version is only related to the old version through the characters (who incidentally have had name changes).

Stick a fork in it; it's done.

Start sending it around, and start writing a new, different, better novel.

Re: famous

Yeah... if you keep rewriting it, to make it "perfect," you may have to think about publication when you're 85.

Re: famous

You definitely have to move on to the next one, even if you do want to continue to work on the previous one.

My first novel has its moments, but overall it is not publishable. Even a few chapters in, you can see how my writing was evolving as I wrote. Since it came first, I was learning fast and it ended up an overview of my writing education. It's a mishmash of horrendous, poor, so-so and okay writing, even after multiple revisions. Yet it taught me much, which I applied to novel #2, which was a much improved effort.

I like the story, so someday I might go back and take a whack at telling it again, but for now, I'm working on novel #3 while giving novel #2 a rest before tackling its revision. It's one of these later works, or one yet to come, that will give me the best shot at getting published.