Completely paralyzed

By understanding that God is a creator.
You, in his image, are a creator, too.
He gave you imagination and hands for a reason. Not writing it would be a bigger crime.
Go soak a hand towel under scalding hot water, then slap yourself in the face with it, go sit down and write your freaking book.
If you're worried that you're neglecting people in favor of writing then do this tomorrow.

Jerry B. Flory said:

By understanding that God is a creator.
You, in his image, are a creator, too.
He gave you imagination and hands for a reason. Not writing it would be a bigger crime.
Go soak a hand towel under scalding hot water, then slap yourself in the face with it, go sit down and write your freaking book.
If you're worried that you're neglecting people in favor of writing then do this tomorrow.

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Or just neglect people.

It's what I do. . .

Yet, I'm completely paralyzed. I have gone to a blank screen with only an outline beside me. But I can't write the first word. I've taken my full draft and tried to just tweak the end, but I have this nagging voice in my head that knows I need to start at the beginning. I've come here to brainstorm different concepts, but it feels a lot like procrastination.

And the season isn't helping. My story is about demons and my mind is playing pulling guilt trips on me. Any idea what it's like sitting at Christmas Eve service envisioning demons in and around the church, as they would be in the story? Or going to bed late Christmas Eve night thinking about demons and spirits? And I love these demons! Ah, the guilt!

Woven, been there, the paralysis part. Sometimes it helps to distance yourself from the work for a time. A quiet walk, exercise, anything to give your mind a chance to rest and reset - prayer does wonders. Sometimes when the block shows up, and it happens to us all one time or another - don't fret and beat yourself up; a mind at rest is often more fertile ground to discover the voice you wish to give your story. Another thing that may help is to think of the point and direction you want the story to go. If you're unhappy with the first revisions, what about them doesn't satisfy? It isn't easy but try to look at your previous attempts dispassionately as an editor or your ideal reader would. Think outside of the box, sometimes we get so close to our work we no longer see it.

The world is full of evil along with the good, but its up to you to pick the side you're on; demons do show up at church, they know there's a God. Life is about spiritual warfare and principalities of darkness (Ephesians 6:12) Do the demons win in the end or the angels? As the writer it will show which side you're rooting for in how you portray the characters. At times a single cohesive line can break the dam holding back the inspiration. I imagine it's different for each individual and I can only relate from my own experience. Some can force the dam to break by staring at the blank page, with others it takes the approach of stepping back and finding something else to do. Sometimes when you finally get your mind off the dilemma holding you back a moment of clarity shows up - surprise! It's a good feeling and you'll get there. Write often and well...

Woven, first of all contratulations on finishing the story. That's a huge battle. Second, have you thought about having a couple of beta readers give it a crit? Not your mother or best friend, but someone who knows writing. You could tell them you may have to do a major re-write.

Doing that re-write "in the dark" may be what is so scary. If you have one or two opinions, they could act as a nucleating agent starting the chain reaction of writing/editing to get the story in top shape.

We all get paralysed writing a novel.
You have company.
So go ahead and take a break and come back to your novel.

1) Ask yourself why you want to rewrite it. (E.g. It's wordy, it's melodramatic, it's underdescriptive, and no one will ever sympathize with a character who's this much of a jerkface.)

2) Summarize your answer to that question in one concise, single-clause sentence. ('My MC is impossible to sympathize with.')

3) Go into that blank document and start the first sentence in a manner you think addresses or begins to address this problem. (Write a simple, no-frills hook sentence that makes the MC relatable.)

4) Plow forward, checking in to make sure you're fixing your problem(s).

5) Just do it. I say this quite a bit, and I feel like a tool for quoting a shoe commercial, but it's the best advice I've ever been given. If you don't get to it, you'll never get to it. Just write.

Sorry. I don't really understand the dilemma. It sounds like yours and my faiths are similar. So, I'll just tell you what I did.

A few Christmases ago, I was in the middle of a particularly bloody Sci-Fi thing. Typical secret weapon thing turns on everyone that helped create it. I believe that day in particular is when I wrote a little about one person's background, which included some pretty intense "scientific experiment that's really torture" thing (but they were getting data, so it wasn't for pain's sake)

Not involving demons or anything, but sorta similar. I just kept on writing. Why? I feel like that's what I'm supposed to do. If God has led me to a career in writing, surely He wouldn't mind the subject matter that I wrote on Christmas because He already knows me. I think writing, no matter what or when is a step towards unravelling some of the many gifts He has given me. And, if He's given me those gifts, then surely He wants me to use em. I don't think He'd mind it if I excercised that thought on Christmas, regardless of what I happen to write.

=)

If you need a break, then take one. Spend time with some people and attack your story later. Sometimes we all need breaks.

Oh, and one more thing

Akuma said:

Or just neglect people.

It's what I do. . .

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Ditto on this. I've explained it to all my friends and family. They understand. And by understanding, they are kept in my good graces which means that, once I start turning a profit, they will benefit from all the cool goodies I'll buy for them.

What is my problem?

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You need a break.

Shut down the file and walk away.

Don't even think about it. This is your recharge time.

Enjoy life.

Read.

When you're ready you'll get back to the tinkering.

You've already done the HARD part, which is finishing the project.

Oh, yeah....

You're only allowed to kvetch about complete rewrites when you have to do it on a manual typewriter with worn ribbons, carbons, and White Out! No spell check. No thesaurus. Old school.

I did 2-3 (maybe more!) rewrites on my first book and dreamed of having an IBM Selectric to write on.

A computer with word processing program? I'd have fainted dead away.

Count your tech blessings.

Now, get off this board and take that break!

Just one more suggestion...a thought that popped up. If the new idea is that different from your original fic...could the idea be translated into a second story...a series 2nd, perhaps?

I just went back to a WIP I finished 2 years ago next April and then completed 4-1/2 drafts of. This is after almost 6 months sitting on a shelf. I printed the whole thing out and started attacking it with a red pencil. This will make the sixth time I've gone at it and it improves every time, but I've also distanced myself from the work for days, weeks, and months at a time before going back to it.

You have to give yourself time to recharge the batteries and revive associations with family and friends. Go have a beer or coffee or whatever beverage of choice with them. Take a walk. Go fishing. Read a good book. Read a bad book. Heck, read any book. You'll start seeing things in other people's writing that will make you stop and say "Hey!". An idea will strike you as you walk/fish/whatever at the oddest moments.

In no time at all the paralysis will simply disappear and you'll be back in the groove again.

You have to take a vacation from work from time to time and writing is work just like any other job is.

I know just how you feel. I took the same course with my novel when I finished the first draft several years ago. I know it was completely chaotic and I would have to rewrite it from the bottom up and I think that just overwhelmed me. So I basically started a zillion and one new drafts, and managed to get through a second draft, entirely different from the first, but with the same characters and the same basic storyline. But THAT one was also major chaos and I knew I would have to rewrite it. So again, I did a lot of drafts that led nowhere.

The thing that helped me was to start to rewrite in in an entirely different tone than when I started. I wasn't planning on making it stick - it was just a way of getting the juices flowing again for me. I envisioned it as a dramatic literary novel (I now call that style of writing my Garbo stories ) so I started to rewrite it in a more contemporary and humorous tone. I ended up splitting the original novel into two separate novels and although my tone isn't exactly humor (as I've been told by several people here who have critiques a piece of it, which is just fine with me ) it is definitely much lighter than the original. It was just the kickstart I needed to go on. I'm actually having fun writing the novels instead of feeling like I need to layer on the metaphors to be "artistic".

Tam

Woven said:

And I love these demons! Ah, the guilt!

I'm very excited to write this, but I can't seem to do it. What is my problem?

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I know you later say that you're okay with the storyline, but the words "love" and "guilt" jumped out at me. Writing, in my opinion, is a deeply subconscious process. And you are writing about deep spiritual topics. It can be done and done well, but I think you must be clear on where you stand. Your block may be the same kind of pitfalls we all face, or it could be you're conflicted on a primal level.

Since you've already given this one time to breathe, you might consider starting a work unrelated to demons or angels or spiritual warfare. See how that goes; see if it's clearer for you. That's my advice.

Best wishes!