Do you think this means that it is boring? I am in the process of rewriting and I have been writing this book, on and off for four yrs. I find the creative writing really exciting but the rewriting less so. I am finding it hard to feel motivated. I have read this chapter so many times.... Hi, btw, I'm new! Haven't customized my page, I may never!
True, Maia, but the reader won't have gone over the story as many times as the writer. I think it's natural for you to lose a bit of the excitement after a number of rewrites. But how many rewrites have you done? You have to ask yourself if you're just being too picky?
I found my self in this situation and ended up scraping 17 chapters of hard work that just didn't move or excite me. I couldn't get the rewriting to work nothing seemed to fit and out of frustration scraped every bit of it. I wish I hadn't jumped the gun and dismantled it as I did. I have learned so much more over the past year that could have helped to save my work. It is a lesson learned. Just hang in there and try to be as objective as you can...stepping away for a while might be necessary as well. You can then come back to it and give the story a fresh approach. All The Best
I have to agree with Chimmy. First, don't scrap it. Second, take a break and let your sunconscious mull things over.
I have never been bored writing, but like you, I can struggle and become less enthused with revision-its the most difficult part for me. Like Banzai asked, check yourself to see if you are editing your ms to death. Been there, done that It doesn't mean your spark is gone-some things are just tedious.
Working on/thinking about the same story for so long/so intensely can be difficult, no matter how much you love the story or think a reader might appreciate it. And then finishing all those rewrites of a novel requires committment and hard work, so it's tough. Whenever I get discouraged, Kizzymai, I think about how much my characters and story mean to me, and that I owe it to them to finish the work. That keeps me going.
No, sometimes you just get bored with a project. Or maybe you feel like you want to do something else? In my experiance, when I'm bored with something, a good way to make me reinterested is to either get feedback (good or bad) on it from someone else, or to read up on a topic pertaining to the book. For example, I got reinterested in my NaNo novel from last year by reading a book on Native Americans.
Kizzymai, I guess the first question that comes to mind is: Are you bored with the novel's contents or are you bored with the revision process? It is difficult to answer specifically unless one knows the answer to that for sure. Nevertheless, four years...if you've given some serious time inbetween revisions, and it's getting hard to do much more with it, consider that there comes a point of diminishing returns in revision efforts. Eventually, it is the best you're able to produce (at that moment in time/point in your writing career). However, if you're still finding plot holes, major gaffs, grammar issues and typos...and you're struggling to fix the problems...and you're getting bored with it because the associated storyline doesn't really keep your interest--it may speak to the overall pace and quality of the work. In the end, the writing process includes revision and editing, and sometimes parto fo the process that just must be worked through. Hang in there and do what it takes to get your manuscript in shape. Terry
Sometimes I find the original writing to be more boring than revisions, depending on that work. I am not even sure I am a writer at this point, even though I joined these forums. But as someone who writes, (whether that makes me a writer or not), I can say that time away really helps. Like my nanowrimo novel. Didn't review a single page during November, (which is you know the point.) But once the deadline came, I saved the file, and have not opened it since. 6 months on, I am starting to get curious about rediscovering the piece. I may find it's salvageable. I may not. But i can say that when I do finally open up that somewhat dusty file, my eyes will be far fresher. It's harder, I think when you are really in love with your story, setting and characters. I have heard people advise both ways...to fall totally in love with it and make it a part of you...and to keep your distance..not fall in love with characters, and just see it as a car mechanic fixing a car. Not as romantic as the myth, for sure, but it may just help one be more objective at times. (Not that it's easy.)
Wow. Thanks everyone for the ideas and thoughts. I'm not bored with the story when I read it through to myself and sometimes I get really excited at how well I have written it, I can't believe it was me. At the moment I am not changing much because I am happy with this bit of the book but the boring part is having to go through it, changing the tense. I left the book for a good while to brew and came back and immediately decided that the whole book has to be in the present tense, which makes it more immediate and alive. So that is laborious. But I also want to change parts of the plot. I have cut a lot out of Part one. But PArt two (where I'm at) is all good, so all I am doing is changing the tense. So that is why I am bored, I suppose. It is almost proof reading. Once I get to the parts I want to change, I will engage more creatively with the book. But also, I take the point about having worked on it for too long, possibly. I want to get this book finished and sent out. My personal deadline is Sept. I really appreciate all of your input and am really glad to have found this forum. Writing is a lonely, frustrating business at times. The highs are high but the lows are low. And you are on your own. (Not anymore!) Thanks again x
i can't say i've ever been bored doing a rewrite... the opposite, actually, as i find myself feeling surprised that i wrote it so well and react to it pretty much as i hope total strangers will... i don't mean that as a brag, just a fact...
In a strange way, I view "boredom" during re-write, as a blessing! I find it exceedingly difficult to "edit" while I am in love with my characters, plot and witty writing. Only when I reach that I-don't-give-a-crap state of mind, will I have the ruthlessness to "cut" those previously sacred bits of prose. So, I say, bring on the boredom...and a case of Red Bull. I'm ready to thrash my manuscript! .....NaCl
I have tons of projects going on, and honestly I'm bored with a bunch of them, but that's just because they take so long to finish. But the one thing that keeps me going is that when I'm done I know it'll all be so worth it. And it is a good time to take a break every now and then. If you're feeling bored, try something new. Start on something else until your original motivation is restored.
I don't know if I get bored but I get frustrated when it doesn't turn out the way I want it to. I should be more patient, easier said than done, I guess.
I would probably see this the same way as a song. You hear a new song which is awesome, and you love it. But eventually, it stops being so good, and you decide that it isn't very good anymore, even though other people hearing it the first time would love it. You can go away for a while, listen to it a few years later, and remember how awesome the song was. So even if it doesn't seem so good to you anymore, it might be good for others.
Good analogy I am guilty of loosing inspiration in something that I'm writing. However, I'm almost always able to get my inspiration back and continue writing. I think of it as just another obstacle while completing a piece of writing.
I am finding that the more I force myself to work on it, the better. ie taking a break would further alienate me. It's the getting back into the flow of the story every day. I have three children and very little time to write. I can get so distracted with email and the web and put off starting. So I am trying little and often and reminding myself why I am writing it in the first place. There is that feeling that nobody cares if you finish this thing or not. Nobody cares if you fail, if you never finish it. I just wrote a bit I am proud of. Which will help me when I get back to it later tonight or tomorrow. Perseverance is the lesson here. It's easy to give up. It's harder, but more rewarding, to keep at it.
Sitting in front of my computer screen and forcing myself to try and write witty things every day gets tiring. I wish I was one of those guys who has the ability to turn every situation into something interesting and funny. Bill Bryson does a good job of this.
Do YOU care? That's the single most important fan of your work...by far. As long as the writer cares, everything will work out in the end.
During one of those uninspired funks, grab a piece of paper and write an embarassing scene featuring your main character...I like to put my MC in the middle of a train station, a paper bag over his head and his pants down around his ankles. Patrons stare in disbelief, some calling out angry epithets, at the obscenity. Now...get your MC out of this situation with a shred of dignity remaining! Silly huh? This stupid exercise gives me a break from the intensity of being "forced" to write. I have fun solving this "problem". I also try to keep my MC in his "role"...i.e. a shy, bright person will react very differently than an aggressive, hard-charging MC. Just a thought from the "salt-mines". (BTW - if you are curious about how I got my character out of the train station...dignity intact...I'll be happy to provide the solution. ps..."dream sequences" are cheating!)
My advice would be to stop doing self-edits and begin getting some peer edits. Ask around, search google, maybe even offer it to a few people here. Most feedback is helpful, whether or not you choose to acknowledge it - and maybe that is the next step for the novel after four years of writing and self-edits .
