Writer's Fatigue

I experience fatigue during the middle, during the endless revisions. When I can (finally) see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'll get a burst of energy and want to work nonstop until I'm done.

Busha777 said:

I likened writing a novel to running a marathon. And like running a marathon, when you are closing in on the finish line, fatigue sets in and you feel your creative energy sapping away. The burst of energy you started with is not there the further you go, and you begin to experience diminishing returns. I sometime feel that and at times I have had to halt and regroup myself. Have any of you ever experienced that?

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Yep. Been there, done that. Over and over.

I definitely feel it from about the halfway point. First half, I'm having a good time and not worrying about finishing. Then it starts to creep in that I've been doing all this writing and don't have anything to show for it. Day after day, night after night, more of the same and no book. Toward the end, though, three-quarters or a little further, I start to feel like I'm writing downhill. The story is there and just needs the final chapters.

I think marathons are different. I never ran a marathon but I've done a few double-centuries on my bike. Twelve hours in the saddle. Fatigue sets in after the first hundred miles, and keeps getting worse until maybe the last half mile, when you can see the finish line, and you perk up a little. For me, writing a book is nothing like that. I can take a break whenever I'm tired and start fresh the next day.

I feel my writer's fatigue in the middle of the novel. I have a burst of energy near the middle and again at the end when everything is rolling toward the finish line, but the middle stretch often gets mentally tiring for me. It's not because nothing is happening (there's usually lots happening) it's because I've gotten stuck or a new idea came up or I'm feeling overwhelmed or any number of reasons. Then I get fatigued again when I'm on the third or fourth set of edits and I've looked at my own writing so many times I'm starting to question whether or not it's even good.

To combat that, I write in sprints where I work on more than one thing at a time (usually just two). So I might be working on my novel but then I might take a week off when I feel the fatigue setting in to write a short story. It keeps my creative energy moving but it lets my brain reset from the world that's fatiguing it. It works well for me.

Kameron Hurley writes about this a lot. In particular how the fatigue sets in once you start writing for money, to deadlines, and no longer for fun or with room for error.

I myself am trying to shift from the "high vs crash" writing cycle to a more moderate and less sapping way of doing it. Turn it into a "long stroll" or at least "power walking" instead of "marathon"or "bursts of sprinting".
Turn it all into an appreciation of "regular and reasonably confident mild pleasure" as opposed to "bursts of ecstatic terror".

I tend to feel that fatigue during the middle (when that initial burst of energy has waned) then again at the end. With the one in the middle I try and distract myself with other projects until I finally get back into the mood, but the one at the end I still struggle with. A lot of people seem to get more energised toward the end, but for me the last chapter is just as hard as the first - when I know exactly what I want to say but the blank page just sits there and I can't bring myself to write what's in my mind.

In the middle for me, when it's hard to see the end, is when I experience this "writer's fatigue."

Oddly, I get it at the end. When it's near but not yet in sight. I tend to get overwhelmed and tired and want to work on something new and shiny.

Middles, OTOH, are endlessly engrossing. Complications with no consequences, except for those that give birth to even more complications. Such fun, until it's time to pay the piper. Then, see above.

I tend to get it when I know what I'm working on isn't worth a three-toed sloth's fart on a rainy day in the Amazon rain forest, and won't be accepted anywhere. Which means I'm tired a lot of the time.

caw

(edited because I have been gently reminded that my original spelling ("toad") didn't exactly convey what I meant. I shall castigate my typing fingers accordingly.)

caw again.

I find it hardest from the quarter to halfway mark, when writing is like wading through mud with your feet tied together. But when I reach the second half of the novel, it's like a weight has been lifted and I'm back on solid ground on a gentle downhill slope (with feet untied).

My fatigue kicks in towards the end. I guess the unconscious doubts start slowing me down, and I create self-made obstacles.

It feels like writing through a wall of fog, or wading through mud. But, I keep going. Even if I can only write ten words in that moment. I'll try to make them ten good words, and keep going bit by bit.

For me middles are harder when I'm pantsing than plotting. There's a lot of "Is this going the right direction?" involved. The transition between middle and end is hard for different reasons - now I have to tie up enough of the plot threads I created in the middle to reach a satisfying conclusion and that can be terrifying.

I have a friend that told me once that the folks who win marathons are the ones who are willing to just shit their pants and keep running instead of stopping in the port-a-potty along the way. When it comes to writing a book there is a bit of a correlation between pushing ahead even when you're tired and certain that everything sucks and shitting your pants to reach the finish line.

That said, it's important when you hit that slump to keep putting good stuff into your brain. Music and stories you enjoy, physical activity to keep the blood flowing, etc. Basically, the creative equivalent of hydration when your muscles are starting to cramp up and you just want to quit. Make sure you aren't punishing yourself just because things aren't as easy as they were at some other part in the writing process.