Where To Take This Story?

Button · Jun 18, 2005

Hello!

A couple months back, I started writing yet another novel. I wrote two and I have them sort of on pause but didn't want to stop writing. I had a great first two chapters for this new one that I absolutely loved and then my computer busted. (Remember to back up your writing!)

Anyways, I re-wrote the first two chapters after several months of being depressed about loosing my good chapters but now... I wrote chapter three, had trouble with it so skimmed it really and then tried chapter four. The problem is... I'm not flowing with this book like I am used to.

I'm wondering now about it. I'm ready to scratch chapters 3 and 4 and go in a different angle. Nothing new for me. I thought about starting over completely, but I LOVE the first two chapters, even after the rewrite and I love the characters that are in it now.

So I was wondering about some advice. Should I keep trying to get past 3 and 4 and get deeper into the story line before making a choice? Or should I scratch it already if it is giving me so much trouble?

Just curious if anyone else ran into this.

Hermit · Jun 18, 2005

Give it up. End of story.

Let the character's live their lives. If you have to dictate what/when/how they do things........ then they aren't real.

Your indecision is because you're not happy how YOU told the story or stories. Take some time and develop your characters and let THEM tell the story. That's what gives 'depth' to a story.

When you're sick of writing chapters then simply write silly scenarios for your characters on your word-processor and delete it after your done. (Ie....I'm tired tonight so I write how Scott, my character, gets pissed off when people yawn.....has nothing to do with my story but I can still write and feel good.)

Best Hopes!

katiemac · Jun 18, 2005

I thought about starting over completely, but I LOVE the first two chapters, even after the rewrite and I love the characters that are in it now.

This, to me, is a dangerous statement. You have to be willing to let go of the writing you love if it isn't working for the story. You have to make cuts to make it work. I've heard other writers hear say that to ease the pain, they'll paste the cuts into a new word document, so they're not actually gone. (Plus, who knows, you'll have a new use for them later.)

When I finished the first draft of my WIP, I realized that by the time I reached "The End," the beginning was an entirely different story than the end. The plot and the characters evolved, but it didn't match up with the beginning. So I've since rewritten that beginning. The writing isn't as good as my first draft was, but it the story itself fits together.

Writing can be a puzzle. If you keep writing, get through those 3 and 4 chapters, and write crap - it's okay. Just do it everyday, and maybe you'll realize, by writing, what's wrong. I never would have figured out what was wrong with my beginning until I reached the end. Maybe you'll have a similiar experience along the way.

Good luck, keep writing!

Sharon Mock · Jun 18, 2005

Only you know the answer to your question -- you're the one writing the book. The rest of us can only make educated guesses.

That said...

Unless you know what went wrong and how to fix it, I'd plow ahead and fill in the gaps in the second draft. Backtracking is, in my experience, immensely demoralizing. I'd avoid it as much as possible.

scribbler1382 · Jun 18, 2005

You could try getting a running start at it. Sit down and read through the first two chapters again, only this time, type out the last two pages. See if it gets you rolling.

Another idea is if you know a high-point in, say, chapter 6 that you're trying to get to, after chapter 2 write [some stuff goes here] and then start from your high point. Later, when you come back to fill in the "stuff" you should have a much better idea of how to bridge the gap.

Good luck!

hpoppink · Jun 18, 2005

Speaking as an amateur ...

I recently had the opposite problem -- I hated my beginning! I hated my characters! Ugh! But I kept writing, and now I'm really enjoying myself.

Those characters I hated? Much, much more likeable now. That beginning? One of the first things I'm going to cut when I'm ready to revise. And because I kept writing, I now have a good idea about what to put in its place.

I guess that would be my suggestion. You say you hate what follows your first two chapters, but that's okay for now. Just keep writing, and along the way you're likely to come up with the perfect chapter 3 and chapter 4.

Mistook · Jun 19, 2005

Keep the first two chapters and go with the new direction in 3 and 4. Never fight inspiration.

Button · Jun 19, 2005

I may just have to rewrite, keep it going... but I have to keep these characters.

I was on to something months ago when I started this, I'm hoping to get it back.

I can't help it. I knew the first two chapters were really really good, I think I waited too long to get started again.

I've skimmed chapters before to get to the meat, I was just hoping to get through at least chapter 3 as a major character pops up for the first time there and I didn't want that to get by without establishing who he is first.

Characters can be so frustrating when they don't pop out and do something, they always want you to do something and THEN they take over.

Garpy · Jun 20, 2005

If you get stuck like that....try another project and then come back to it afresh.

I'd say if chapters 1 and 2 are really that good, don't lose them whatever you do.....hopefully some future agent or editor will get sucked into whatever the story ends up being by those two magical chapters.

zornhau · Jun 20, 2005

You can replicate your brilliant writing because it is implicit in who you are.

My - unpublished - advice: either revise the chapters to add some running conflict to the novel, or bin them and start again.

Mike Martyn · Jun 20, 2005

I had a great idea for my second novel but I couldn't seem to develop a plot. I'm not an outliner, by the way.

So I did bios of my main charcters using first person, as in "Hi, I'm Ben Jenkins."

He just "told" me this morning that only a month ago he found out that the man he thought was his father isn't which explains why Jenkins Sr. beat him up all the time when he was a boy. It also helps develop a decent plot because his actual father is... Well, I don't know yet.

Try it for what it's worth. Note, I'm just new to writing and hav en't been published so takre anything I say with a grain of salt.

Writer2011 · Jun 20, 2005

I have a similar problem....When I start writing a novel (only completed one) I tend to hate it, don't even want to keep going...then somehow I keep moving forward...I guess my biggest problem is that i'm worried no one will like or read it... Guess I shouldn't worry about the small things and worry about getting the thing finished.

Bill

Where To Take This Story?

Button

Resident in Question

Hermit

katiemac

Five by Five

Sharon Mock

Wing nut

scribbler1382

Write For You, Edit For The Reader

hpoppink

Mistook

Neverending WIP

Button

Resident in Question

Garpy

keyboard monkey

zornhau

Swordsman

Mike Martyn

Writer2011