- Joined
- Apr 1, 2017
- Messages
- 59
- Reaction score
- 10
I'm rarely suffering from witer's block--bless!--but when it does hit me, it hits me really hard. Writing my first novel took me four years because when I got stuck I got stuck for, like, half a year or so, oops.
Anyway, I didn't get stuck in my new WIP so far and I'm already at 75 k words. That's really something!
Okay, not true, I got low-key stuck twice but I knew exactly how I wanted the scene to play out I just didn't know how to jot it down exatly. But now I'm stuck in a way that I don't even know what to write. I've written about 10 k words into this writer's block and some of it feelt good and accurate to write, but the last 2 k were just ... WTF. They feel so wrong. It took me a week to analyse but I finally know what happened: I had this plot point in my outline and I knew I had to get there somehow, but they way I got my characters there didn't make any sense. They behaved OOC to get there just because I needed them to get there at all. So, of course all I need to do is think on this for a little while, then change it, problem solved.
But--
My basic rule for this first draft is: don't you dare go back and edit anything, I'm warning you! (It's been going well so far! Honestly. I'm not being sarcastic here.)
Now, I'm the type of writer who writes down all of his story chronologically. I need to feel the way the reader will feel. And even if I'm absolutely excited for a scene and can't wait to get to it, I will write every scene that's supposed to come before it first.
My writing has never been so rough as in this darft. I leave out words all the time if I don't remember them immediately, I randomly make notes in between lines when something comes to mind, even if it's got nothing to do with that particular scene, and I will leave out transitions between actions if I don't immediately think of good ones. (Heck, I even left out whole scenes.) It's the best method I#ve ever used for writing. But with my current issue, I'd have to leave out several connected chapters and add them later when I'm working on the second draft.
I'm so excited to get to the chapter that comes afterwards, but the chapters I'm thinking about skipping are so important for character evelopment and plot, I'm not sure if I'll convey the development properly if I'll just skip them. I need to see my characters evolve in front of me or I won't be able to keep on writing them properly. But to go back and edit that one point where everything started getting OOC feels weird to only think about. I'd have to go into full-on editing mode and then back into jot mode afterwards and that's just as hard as trying to think about how the characters changed during that plot- and character-relevant chapters that I'm about to skip. Maybe.
Any advice on this dilemma?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Anyway, I didn't get stuck in my new WIP so far and I'm already at 75 k words. That's really something!
Okay, not true, I got low-key stuck twice but I knew exactly how I wanted the scene to play out I just didn't know how to jot it down exatly. But now I'm stuck in a way that I don't even know what to write. I've written about 10 k words into this writer's block and some of it feelt good and accurate to write, but the last 2 k were just ... WTF. They feel so wrong. It took me a week to analyse but I finally know what happened: I had this plot point in my outline and I knew I had to get there somehow, but they way I got my characters there didn't make any sense. They behaved OOC to get there just because I needed them to get there at all. So, of course all I need to do is think on this for a little while, then change it, problem solved.
But--
My basic rule for this first draft is: don't you dare go back and edit anything, I'm warning you! (It's been going well so far! Honestly. I'm not being sarcastic here.)
Now, I'm the type of writer who writes down all of his story chronologically. I need to feel the way the reader will feel. And even if I'm absolutely excited for a scene and can't wait to get to it, I will write every scene that's supposed to come before it first.
My writing has never been so rough as in this darft. I leave out words all the time if I don't remember them immediately, I randomly make notes in between lines when something comes to mind, even if it's got nothing to do with that particular scene, and I will leave out transitions between actions if I don't immediately think of good ones. (Heck, I even left out whole scenes.) It's the best method I#ve ever used for writing. But with my current issue, I'd have to leave out several connected chapters and add them later when I'm working on the second draft.
I'm so excited to get to the chapter that comes afterwards, but the chapters I'm thinking about skipping are so important for character evelopment and plot, I'm not sure if I'll convey the development properly if I'll just skip them. I need to see my characters evolve in front of me or I won't be able to keep on writing them properly. But to go back and edit that one point where everything started getting OOC feels weird to only think about. I'd have to go into full-on editing mode and then back into jot mode afterwards and that's just as hard as trying to think about how the characters changed during that plot- and character-relevant chapters that I'm about to skip. Maybe.
Any advice on this dilemma?
Thanks in advance for any help!