Getting over the Week 2 Slump

scheherazade

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My first NaNo week well. I got the story flowing, introduced the characters and the problem, and I have a pretty good idea of where the story is going to go. But my writing is stagnating lately. I feel like there is a gap between where I am and where I want to go. Everything I write seems boring or redundant. I have a hard time getting the words flowing.

Is anyone else having a similar Week 2? What are you doing to get the story rolling and the words flowing again?
 

marie2

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Ugh, tell me about it. I am smack dab in the middle of that. I feel I am getting repetitive with descriptions and what's worse, I have no idea where to go. Or maybe I do but I am terrified of what would happen if I did... I gotta remember now that nano is all about the word count :p

I am trying to sit down everyday and force myself to write at least a couple hundred words.

~goes to stuff her inner editor in a kennel again~
 

Clair Dickson

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Have someone walk into the room with a gun. Or some other similarly unexpected event that doesn't seem to fit right away. Get some action going, raise the stakes.

Or make some sudden turn in the plot. Then you'll have to write yourself out of that. =)
 

scheherazade

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So far I've been writing it pretty linear. I'm thinking maybe I should just skip some scenes that I know will probably need to be written (once I figure out what they are). Or don't worry about the flow between scenes, or accounting for the passing of time. Just skip to the point where something happens again. And deal with the intervening section later.
 

Bubastes

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I'm overdescribing things. I spent 5 paragraphs yesterday describing the lobby of a building. Ugh.
 

dclary

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If I write nothing today, I'll be behind 4600 words. It's frustrating, because I started ahead, but then shrank to just over 1000 words a day. I wanted to write two segments a day, but I've only been doing one.

I've got a week off at the end of the month, so I'm sure I'll finish, but I want to coast into my vacation, not frantically anticipate it.
 

dclary

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I'm overdescribing things. I spent 5 paragraphs yesterday describing the lobby of a building. Ugh.

It was a beautiful lobby.

I wrote a flashback scene over the weekend.

Yup,cut and pasted from the front, into the back, and italicized everything to make it "in the past."

I'm a whore.
 

Yeshanu

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I'm overdescribing things. I spent 5 paragraphs yesterday describing the lobby of a building. Ugh.

:ROFL:

I did that last week -- it took me two chapters longer than I thought it would to get my characters out of Middle Earth.

If it helps, the week two slump is normal. Just keep going and don't give up. By week three, things should start looking a little less mucky, or so I'm told.
 

AnnieColleen

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I must be the oddball. (Surprise there.) Week 2 is going a lot better than Week 1 for me -- easier to get the words flowing and more words per session than before.

Might be because I hadn't written anything for a while before NaNo (taking that time to plan/worldbuild/outline), so I had to get the rust out. Might be the outline. I've had several moments where I wasn't sure where to go next, so clicked over the outline and found my next target. Skipping ahead to the next point where something happens really helps! (I've been having the same sort of description overflow, or at least, mine tends to be "lots and none at all".)

Possibly take an evening and just brainstorm some things to happen next that you can work towards?
 

Bubastes

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It was a beautiful lobby.

To be fair, the lobby is in a building that was a bus terminal in the 1920's, so it has an Art Deco-ish feel to it. Of course, none of that has anything to do with the plot, but still. :D
 

dclary

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Well, I've finally figured out why Terry Brooks reiterates the plot of the novel, and the background information of every character every 8 pages.
 

Elonna

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Yeah I'm behind again too, though I have written a little something everyday since I started. I guess that is something, more than I was doing before NaNo :tongue
 

katiemac

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Possibly take an evening and just brainstorm some things to happen next that you can work towards?

I did this last week, and it helped immensely.

I'm in the slump, too. Technically, at a little over 25k, I'm still ahead, but about 5k short of where I wanted to be. I was hoping to do a full 90k draft this month, but coming up way short. But that's okay--I write short, unlike those who write 5 paragraphs on lobbies (;))--I need to learn how to do that, actually.

But yeah, my attention is elsewhere. I found first drafts of some short stories I wrote when I was 14 and am really surprised at how good they are. Not publishable, but you know. I was good. And I totally don't feel the same way about the writing quality of this NaNo, but am not terribly worried because there is always the editing process. But after uncovering those stories, I feel like I want to turn my attention to those instead of NaNo.

I'm thinking of hitting 50k on the NaNo draft and while that sits, see if I can do anything about the short stories. After 9 years I still remember exactly what I wanted to do with them.
 

Fresie

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I move straight on to my candy bar scenes--those I can't wait to write. I'll worry about the stuff in between aftewards. When I'm in a state like this, I can't brainstorm anything because I just can't think straight, I can't concentrate.

I'm SO happy I went into it this year with a detailed scene-by-scene outline! Although it's falling apart already as the plot changes and I add more scenes, the outline still reminds me what my book is about.
 

DamaNegra

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No writing slump, just emotional. Yesterday I only wrote about 140 words, so I didn't even count that to my total. Today I managed 1k words, and will write some more later in the afternoon, since I'm feeling much better now. So yeah, no slump for me, the plot is going along really nicely.
 

Deccydiva

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I hit a brick wall last night at 30k. Today, I have had other things to do (didn't even get all of those done either) it's now 8.15pm and I'm just sitting down to have a go. I read some of what I did last night, the last paragraph has the MC and her lover meeting outside somewhere just as it's getting dark. Neither of them has much time. Aha! They live at the seaside... there are empty beach huts at the end of the lane - well there are NOW! :D Plus one isn't locked, fancy that!
Cue sex scene #5
That should clock up a couple of thousand at least...

All this is doing strange things to my mind. Last night I dreamed I was with Simon Cowell... yes, that way... :heart: and he was declaring undying love for me but said he would have to kill himself the next day :scared:I can't wait for tonight's episode! :tongue
 

Mr Flibble

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Oh good I thought it was just me.

No time to write since Friday really ( and not much then even) due to kids stuff, fireworks dos, sleepovers etc ( and ack! I have 5 eight year olds for a sleepover this Saturday, and my daughter's birthday and Ack!) but I'm hoping to get back on track. Maybe that Write or Die thing set on kamakazi?
 

Saint Fool

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The second week killed me my first time.
Last year, I had two characters hijack the writing for about five days. It became a sort of PWP that then had to be integated into the main plotline.
This week, my main characters will be journeying through a wormhole, trying to survive on another planet, and the kidnapped secondary characters will be meeting the villain. I'm hoping that it's enough plot to keep me from slumping. (Note to self: set decoration is a good thing.)
 

DamaNegra

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The second week also killed my first NaNo attempt. Last year, it almost did. This year it's not happening, I still have a lot of steam!
 

Deccydiva

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Hmm. My MC decided the sex scene was a quickie so it only ran to 1,000 words...
I wish Simon Cowell would get out of my head, he's very distracting...:D
 

Captain Howdy

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I wrote a flashback scene over the weekend.

Yup,cut and pasted from the front, into the back, and italicized everything to make it "in the past."

:ROFL:

You got a seriously loud LOL out of me on that one.

My second week is dragging. I shouldn't complain, as of last night I was at 31K. But my story doesn't have a middle act. Act One took up the 31K, Act 2 and 3 is supposed to be a bunch of running around and silly supernatural attacks on our heroes. I have a strong idea for the ending which can easily come out to be 10K so I don't have long to suffer but MAN I could not get my ass in gear to save my soul today. And I'm jobless and single so NO excuses.

So, in a weird variation of "then a gun went off" I had my characters shipwrecked off scene and my hero locked in a room in a convent in France. Ha!

:e2drown:
 

Yeshanu

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Has everyone opened their email inbox and read today's pep talk? If not, go do so now. I've never read a better explanation of why you should keep writing, even if your first draft seems like it should be flushed instead of burned.
 

Kalyke

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I've had a few flashes of really good stuff. I've liked the writing more often than hated it.
 

DamaNegra

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Has everyone opened their email inbox and read today's pep talk? If not, go do so now. I've never read a better explanation of why you should keep writing, even if your first draft seems like it should be flushed instead of burned.

I don't get those :( could you forward it to me?