How to resuscitate my WIP?

[jannawrites]

I've been rereading my ms. The first several chapters are so darn good and then it loses momentum. Any advice for making it good again? Where did I go wrong?

[Stew21]

I completely agree with kevin. scrap everything from the point where you realize you don't love it.
do it over.

[jannawrites]

Oh, why don't you just tell me to lop off an arm? Sheesh.

Okay... I'll finish reading what I have just to be sure and then I'll seriously consider it. It's what a real writer does, right?

[DeadlyAccurate]

I'm going to suggest that you don't literally delete everything after the good parts. Instead, make a new document and copy the good parts over to it. Then, when you're going on with the story, you may find some of your already written stuff works with the new scenes.

[ORION]

Actually this happens to me all the time. If you haven't set it aside for several weeks do so now and start another project. I also concurrently write synopses as I work on my novel so I have a clear idea of where I want to go.
Then come back to it and work from the beginning straight through revising.
JMHO

[MichaelSt]

Welcome to the club.

Save the stuff you love but that doesn't work in a nice safe file. Deconstruct what you must then kill your little darlings with wicked intent. Stick a knife deep in their pretty little hearts!

Michael, or have someone else do it for you, in Seattle.

[jannawrites]

Deconstruct what you must then kill your little darlings with wicked intent. Stick a knife deep in their pretty little hearts!


Whoa. It's not that kind of novel! ;)

[wayndom]

"When in doubt, have a guy come through the door with a gun in his hand." -- Raymond Chandler

[MichaelSt]

I'm just saying, don't be afraid to hack of the parts that don't work for you even if you love them dearly.

Michael, twisting the knife as we speak, in Seattle.

[jannawrites]

"When in doubt, have a guy come through the door with a gun in his hand." -- Raymond Chandler

You sound like my husband, who insists he's going to sneak lazer-fitted sharks into my ms as a Christmas gift...

[MichaelSt]

Cool!

Michael, Zap!, in Seattle.

[mkcbunny]

What Kevin said. Cut the parts that deaden the work. Save them, because even if they are the worst pieces of crap you ever wrote, there may be details in there that you might need, bits about a character that you were building, or a hint at something yet to come.

Or maybe they aren't that bad. Sometimes, the sections you cut are not horribly written but merely in the wrong place. And then they can be used later. But having an open space in your work is better than having a dead end. Remove what isn't working and rewrite from there.

Another suggestion:
If you cut the parts that are causing this standstill, and you still do not know where to go with your story, then maybe you need to write a scene/event/chapter that comes later. I find that I need to write pivotal events first. And then I make the bridges between them afterward. And of course, I have to go back and rework it all after that, but the point being that you may not be a writer who thinks of plot in a linear fashion. If you hit a wall when writing in a straight line, is there some later scene/chapter that you know enough about to write now?

[L M Ashton]

Yup. I'm going to agree with everyone else. Delete (saving them in a separate file) everything that doesn't work and rewrite.

We've pretty much all been there, done that. I last deleted 15,000 words of goo. Mine was the opening chapters that had to be completely redone. :)

[megan_d]

It's depressing to delete words that you worked damn hard on getting down. But if you keep them you'll find that when you sit down to write it will be like wading through treacle. Get rid of them, start fresh, and it will be like cutting through a calm lake in a speed boat!

[Danthia]

Aside from deleting what doesn't work, ask yourself why the opening chapters DID work. What abut them caught your interest? How was the pacing? Was there great narrative drive and you simply HAD to know what happened next?

Once you've identified that, then keep it going. (I know, easier said than done) Focus on your characters and their goals. Goals drive a plot and a story. What is it they want and are trying desperatly to get? What's in their way? Obstacles provide important conflict. What do they do to get past those obstacles? What happens if they fail? Stakes keep the tension high and the readers reading. Get to the "action" (and by that I mean the compelling stuff that makes the story go, in whatever fashion it takes in your novel) and keep readers wanting to see how it turns out.

One thing I like to do is ask "What's the worst that can happen?" and make it happen. Or maybe the second worst if the worst is too obvious. You want to keep readerrs guessing. And the "worst" doesn't mean a guy with a gun or an exploding car, it can be something emotional if that's where your story's conflict lies. If the worst thing is a full emotional breakdown tha will render your MC helpless to act when they need to, then what might you throw at them to give them that breakdown? Exploit your MC's fears and weaknesses :)

[Stew21]

I'm going to suggest that you don't literally delete everything after the good parts. Instead, make a new document and copy the good parts over to it. Then, when you're going on with the story, you may find some of your already written stuff works with the new scenes.


absolutely.
copy the good part into a new document. label the first one as first draft, and let the second one take a new path.Reuse what you can.

[jannawrites]

Yep..I should have said remove and save elsewhere. Delete is a harsh word. I meant delete it from the one you are working on, but by all means save somewhere else just in case there are jewels in there somewhere.



'Sokay. I knew that's what you meant. :)

Thanks everyone! I did some really good work last night, in that I looked over a lot of what I've done already. It was a great refresher. The first 7 chapters scoot along - and I love every one of them. 8 is where I remember my first block, and I suspect at that point I began writing just to cover the blank document - not to tell my story. I still need to look over chaps 8-14 more thoroughly to see what may be wrong. But, you know what? I was amazed at how I've grown as a writer, which I could see just in what I reread last night. Isn't that too cool?

[ZannaPerry]

my current WIP was confusing me so I put it down and another idea for a story came to mind, and I started writing that long hand. And truthfully, I feel better so maybe you need to take a break from it. . . work on something else.

[ishtar'sgate]

Oh, why don't you just tell me to lop off an arm? Sheesh.

Okay... I'll finish reading what I have just to be sure and then I'll seriously consider it. It's what a real writer does, right?
Sometimes you have to be brutal in order to get a good story going again. I wouldn't chuck it out as you may be able to salvage some but I agree that you need to identify where it stops working and rethink where to go next. Good luck.:)
Linnea

[David I]

Oh, why don't you just tell me to lop off an arm? Sheesh.

Good point. You should start by lopping off an arm.

(Maybe yours, I dunno. Do I have to write the damn thing for you?)

[Namatu]

I'm massacring my WIP, and it's the better for it. Don't be afraid! It's exhilarating! What do you need limbs for anyway?

[jannawrites]

Maybe I'll start small... like with my pinky finger or somethin'...

I am getting more comfortable with the idea of rewriting. Thanks for all the encouragement.