I had a bit of an epiphany today.

ZachJPayne · Oct 9, 2015

Several times while working on my writing, I'd hit periods of writing where it just went painfully slowly.

Emphasis on the painfully. I didn't want to go back to my manuscript, I didn't even want to look at the thing, because I knew that I had to write this scene, and I had to get through it to move the story forward. I write everything sequentially, so skipping the scene isn't really an option for me. I have to keep my momentum. I just always chalked this up as a part of being a writer. Sometimes it comes easy, and most of the time, it just doesn't.

So I had one of those today. After six hours at the computer, with maybe 400 words written, I had an epiphany:

If it's this painful to write, how painful is it gonna be to read?

So I made the decision to scrap the entire scene I had been working on, and decided on a way to convey the same things, but with a different narrative. In about an hour, I had 800 words.

I'm still a little sore about the lost time and the lost words (the scene I cut was just over 1k words), but I'm happy to have made this synaptic leap. Maybe it's obvious to others, but I'm still framed in the warmth of the lightbulb over my head.

Osulagh · Oct 9, 2015

Yep, I hit scenes like this as well. My rule is: If it doesn't feel right, it ain't right.

The problem comes when you have to find what's wonky. Revisit the last scene or chapter where things felt right and question what went wrong.

andiwrite · Oct 9, 2015

Believe me, I know how you feel. I've come to accept that a lot of the scenes I work hard on will end up scrapped. I keep those scenes and use them for other stories later. If the scene is highly specific to the book, it probably won't work. But I tend to write a lot of scenes that can easily be transformed into something else.

FeeFee · Oct 10, 2015

Sometimes painful-to-write scenes = painful-to-read scenes, but there are exceptions. Sometimes I'll panstakingly get some words down, then come back and edit them into something readable when I have a flash of brilliance at a later point. I know that some wonderful books were painful for the authors to write. We Need to Talk About Kevin comes to mind, and Lionel Shriver's description of "slogging" through the book to complete it.

Once! · Oct 12, 2015

That's brilliant. I have a mental image along similar lines. If I am finding a scene hard going it may be because I have accidentally driven into a dead end or a swamp. I could try to carry on ... or I could reverse to the last junction and take a different route.

Thanks for sharing your epiphany!

I_love_coffee · Oct 15, 2015

I'm jealous that you had 6 hours in a row to write. Oh, sorry that has nothing to do with your post. Happy for you that you had an epiphany. I love epiphanies.

ZachJPayne · Oct 15, 2015

Thank you all.

I_love_coffee said:
I'm jealous that you had 6 hours in a row to write. Oh, sorry that has nothing to do with your post. Happy for you that you had an epiphany. I love epiphanies.

I haven't slept since Clinton was in the White House. And, believe me, when I write like that, it's a sacrifice. I had to drop a college class to keep myself afloat. Finishing this MS means more to me -- and I hate the novel our prof chose as the cornerstone for the semester.

JBVam · Oct 15, 2015

andiwrite said:
Believe me, I know how you feel. I've come to accept that a lot of the scenes I work hard on will end up scrapped. I keep those scenes and use them for other stories later.

Exactly, it's not lost time or words if they can be used in other areas, and even if they can't, that's ok too. Trust me, you will revise your book so many times, it'll make your head spin. It comes with the teritory.

JRodrig · Oct 21, 2015

I think that's something all writers tend to learn. If I write a scene/chapter and I'm struggling, I scrap it, because I know when I read it for editing, I'm just gonna hate it and wish I never wrote it. Even worse when it feels like you need to be a word surgeon to remove it while not breaking the chapter or book.

I sometimes get the same feeling when editing, and I wonder if it's the editing that's tiring, or do I really not like this scene? Cause if I don't like it, who's to say the reader will?

Yesplease · Oct 26, 2015

That's interesting. I actually haven't found that to be the case for me -- it's always better for me to have something written down, then later I can scrap or revise as needed.

Dennis E. Taylor · Oct 26, 2015

I'm more like Yesplease. I write an outline for my WIP, then I write chapters for the WIP that form the backbone of the story. Those chapters may or may not survive the culling at the end, but the general story arc that they form is pretty much unchanged. The filling in of the between chapters is what takes me most of my time.

Lalaloopsy · Nov 2, 2015

I once deleted an entire first draft because I was frustrated with how choppy the writing was.

I had a bit of an epiphany today.

ZachJPayne

Beware: #amQuerying

Osulagh

Independent fluffy puppy.

andiwrite

FeeFee

Once!

Still confused by shoelaces

I_love_coffee

that's what it's all about....

ZachJPayne

Beware: #amQuerying

JBVam

JRodrig

Yesplease

Dennis E. Taylor

Get it off! It burns!

Lalaloopsy