OMG, How did I Not See This Sucks?

Maryn · Feb 23, 2009

I'm over 100,000 words in (yeah, I know, I've got some serious editing ahead) and suddenly I realize my WIP absolutely sucks. The gradual descent from "funishment" into degradation is abrupt, the character's motivation for staying both murky and stupid, some of the best scenes are neither erotic nor plot-developing, the twist ending's foreseeable, the conclusion sappy. At least my hero is still cute, but that's about it.

Ugh. I'm tempted to abandon the first draft and leap into a second, after doing some serious overhauling on plot points, with an even more detailed master plan.

What do the rest of you do, soldier on even when you realize the draft is irredeemable, or start anew?

Maryn, tempted to take up quilting instead

scarletpeaches · Feb 23, 2009

Write through the blahs, my child. All will become clear.

I hope.

Seriously. How do you KNOW it's past all hope? Maybe you're just having a negative day?

scarletpeaches, hoping there's hope for Maryn.

Julie Worth · Feb 23, 2009

Give it a day. You might feel differently tomorrow.

ELMontague · Feb 23, 2009

Soldier on, Maryn. A finished work can be fixed. An unfinished work never finishes without slogging through the first draft. I myself have three 'unfinished' works in the 30-50k range and if I had just slogged through the tough points on anyone of them, I'd have another novel to clean up and try to sell. I keep telling myself to sell the first one, then pick one of the partials and finish it. But then I've also outlined seven more and last week's practice session spawned a mammoth writing session that will be a fourth unfinished work if I'm not careful.

sunandshadow · Feb 23, 2009

Read Edward Gorey's _The Unstrung Harp_ and realize that you are communing with writers throughout history?

heretic_scribe · Feb 23, 2009

I agree and disagree with the rest. I agree that you should wait a while and come back to it with fresh eyes to see if it's as bad as you think. If it seems salvageable, then finish it. if it's still a steaming pile of feces, there's no point in adding to the pile. You might be better off to use it as a lesson of what not to do, salvage what you can, and start again.

I hit the same point you have when I was at the 30,000 word mark, but I pressed on, refusing to quit. Being hard headed only earned me one thing: Twice as much work when I stopped at 65,000 words because I couldn't fool myself anymore. I didn't want to do it; I kicked and screamed over it, but rewriting it was the best thing I ever did, because I'd learned how to avoid the tar pits that had bogged me down the first time.

NVS · Feb 24, 2009

I offer the following with respect and admiration for your presence on these forums...

Clichéed but true (and I find too many clichés to be this), I am my own worst critic. Has it been beta-read? You're self-medicating and asking for a prescription; you may need instead is a second opinion.

(borrowing your sign-off style, hopefully just-this-once flattering by imitation)
NVS, doped up on OTC cold medicine.

JulieHowe · Feb 27, 2009

I don't know you but I promise you that your writing doesn't suck. Don't burn the manuscript (or the floppy disk) in the fireplace just yet. The writing's good. Just walk away from the computer before you hit the delete key and kill 100,000 words that might be your absolute best work.

Soccer Mom · Feb 27, 2009

Maryn! You know we all get that way. Soldier on through and then write your second draft. You can't have perspective when you're in the throes of your ms.

Soccer Mom, who always feels that way when writing a novel

Maryn · Feb 27, 2009

After a 'vacation' from my WIP this week, I've had a lovely time lolling on my mental beach drinking imaginary drinks with make-believe umbrellas.

I yanked the main character out, gave him a makeover, and wrote two short stories around him. Well, one-point-five, since one's erotica and one's suspense, the beginnings and endings the same. I'm not sure either one is any good, but it was nice to be away from the WIP.

Plus, it'll be nice to have something I can show my critique group, which doesn't do erotica. It's been too long since I wrote anything I'd voluntarily show them.

Maryn, whose group handles death better than sex

SFLP · Feb 27, 2009

Great idea, putting the MC in another story. Keeps you in tune with him until you're ready to deal with the WIP and gives you a new perspective on him at the same time.

Maryn said:
Maryn, whose group handles death better than sex

I laughed my butt off when I read that. (Thanks. I needed a slight reduction.)

MelodyO · Feb 27, 2009

Get a second opinion before you walk the plank, my dear. Maybe you just have the first draft jitters. I've read a lot of ~~porn~~ erotica in my time, and it's a very difficult genre. Don't be too unforgiving, especially during the first draft.

Gillhoughly · Feb 27, 2009

“It’s perfectly okay to write garbage-- as long as you edit brilliantly." --C.J. Cherryh

smoothseas · Feb 28, 2009

Here’s hopin’ that with the time that’s passed between then and now, you’ll be looking at it with fresh eyes this morning.

seas, who’s crossing fingers for Maryn, that she’ll have an epiphany, and find that quick fix for that particular wip.

Sakamonda · Mar 2, 2009

Maryn, as someone who has edited and acquired your work professionally, I think it is HIGHLY unlikely that anything you write would suck. Just saying.

Maryn · Mar 3, 2009

How nice to hear that! I appreciate it.

Yesterday I reread both the suspense and erotica 'starring' my character from the malingering WIP. The suspense is better, but the erotica shows promise. Now I'm toying with the idea of rolling them back into a single story.

Maryn, also toying with the idea of loading the dishwasher

MargueriteMing · Mar 6, 2009

Maryn said:
I'm over 100,000 words in (yeah, I know, I've got some serious editing ahead) and suddenly I realize my WIP absolutely sucks. The gradual descent from "funishment" into degradation is abrupt, the character's motivation for staying both murky and stupid, some of the best scenes are neither erotic nor plot-developing, the twist ending's foreseeable, the conclusion sappy. At least my hero is still cute, but that's about it.

Ugh. I'm tempted to abandon the first draft and leap into a second, after doing some serious overhauling on plot points, with an even more detailed master plan.

What do the rest of you do, soldier on even when you realize the draft is irredeemable, or start anew?

Maryn, tempted to take up quilting instead

My advice is to put it aside, and start an entirely new project. If you have a few scenes you really like, steal them if they fit. When you finish it, come back and look at the previous work. You'll have a better perspective on whether or not it's fixable, at that point. Don't make a sudden decision to just delete it all, that could be too hasty.

MargueriteMing · Mar 6, 2009

JulieHowe said:
I don't know you but I promise you that your writing doesn't suck. Don't burn the manuscript (or the floppy disk) in the fireplace just yet. The writing's good. Just walk away from the computer before you hit the delete key and kill 100,000 words that might be your absolute best work.

Hmm, I find Maryn to be a pretty perceptive critic. She was pretty specific in what she didn't like about her manuscript, so I'm betting it does have some serious problems. However, she may overreact emotionally to that realization, so I think she should just set it aside and start something else, to clear her head. When she has some distance, she can make a better decision about whether it can be patched up, needs a rewrite, or should just be dumped.

MargueriteMing · Mar 6, 2009

Gillhoughly said:
“It’s perfectly okay to write garbage-- as long as you edit brilliantly." --C.J. Cherryh

Oh, nice quote.

Stella Omega · Aug 3, 2009

Marin, what's happened with this project?

-Stella, wandering through the back pages

Maryn · Aug 4, 2009

I'm nearly finished with the second draft. It sucks less. The ending continues to moisten my eyes, which means readers should react the same way, since I'm not all that easily moved. Well, except by nursery school Special Friends video I didn't know existed. (The 'kids' are 23 and 24 respectively, their Grammy dead.)

Maryn, soldiering on because she looks totally hot in the uniform

JanDarby · Aug 7, 2009

I didn't see this before.

I get to the "it sucks" stage with EVERY SINGLE THING I write, which isn't so bad when it's a novel, b/c I've come to expect it and I put the manuscript away for a while, but it even happens with short stories, which really puts a damper on my productivity levels. I mean, you'd think with a 15-page story (or at least with a one-page flash!), I could write the whole thing w/o having a meltdown, but no, I have to get the point that I hate it, put it away for months/years, and then pull it out again (whene verything else I'm writing sucks even worse) to finish.

With novels, I go through that phase with each and every editing pass. I've been doing this writing thing for long enough that I recognize it's just a phase, but that doesn't change the way it feels.

JD

Voluptuary_Manque' · Aug 7, 2009

I have more experience as a visual artist than a writer but I can tell folks that most every painter comes to a point where he or she really, really hates the WIP. So what to do? Throw more paint at it! Eventually, the thing works out, at least most of the time. I admit to a few canvases that truly deserved their resting place in the solid waste disposal site.

Maryn · Aug 13, 2009

So it's all the Arts, eh?

I mean, does a CPA ever lean back in the chair and go, "My number-crunching sucks!"? I think not.

It seems when it's something creative, where there is no 100% right-or-wrong about it, it's awfully easy to see it as 85% wrong, on the bad days.

I finished my 2nd draft this morning. It's a whopping 120,000 words or so and needs to be trimmed by a third. (Gulp!) It also insists on straddling genres even when I use a whip and chair to force it back toward erotica. Some days I contemplate glossing over the sex parts and seeing how it reads as a romantic thriller. Other days I think that's the sstupidest idea I've had in quite a while.

Anyway, it needs to rest, and I need to start something else. I have a non-erotic short story thriller to rewrite, and Mr. Maryn, who never, ever gets involved in what I'm writing, has been batting around ideas for a play with me. He doesn't like to write, but he's not bad at the brainstorming part.

Maryn, glad she had people to shore her up as needed

SFLP · Aug 13, 2009

Maryn said:
I mean, does a CPA ever lean back in the chair and go, "My number-crunching sucks!"? I think not.

Funny. As a programmer, I sometimes DO say "this particular routine sucks!" because there usually many ways to accomplish a given task, some logical and some not; some that will run fast, some that will crawl; some tight, some sloppy. They all work in the long run, but some I feel better about than others.

When I'm really "on", my coding is...elegant, I guess that's the best word for it.

I don't know that I'd call programming an art, but I guess there *is* a creative side to it.

Alas, thus far I am a much better programmer than I am a writer.

J.

OMG, How did I Not See This Sucks?

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ELMontague

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