I'm not really asking you guys to tell me if my story is stupid or not, but I'm at a point in my novel where I'm questioning everything. I'm probably about halfway. And what was once brilliant prose and a (falsely) believed sophisticated story is now starting to feel really stupid. Why an I falling out of love with my story? Is there something about the halfway mark? I feel like I can write a better story that has nothing to do with my current scribbling. And that sort of got me wondering if there's something that happens in the process of writing a novel that makes us want to quit it. Everything starts to seem like a better idea. Have any of you been in a similar spot? Ever think your story is really stupid? If this is just some sort of mental hurdle, how do you get through it? I've got a lot more time to spend with this story if I keep going. And I don't want to write it while I think it's stupid. I don't imagine that will help the story much. I write short stories too. I completely have a love-hate relationship with just about every piece of writing I do. I love it for a few days. Then a week later it can be trash. And the pieces I've published have been so worked all while loving and hating them. It's easier to see a shorter piece of writing through to completion. Still, there are many I just abandon and write something else. But that's okay. I bang them out regularly. The novel is hard. And to think I an only halfway through the story is exhausting. I want to do this, but I'm really questioning if I can. And is there a point if its got a really stupid plot and characters and setting?
I don't know, but maybe you should take a break. I have the same thing with any sort of project I undertake, and I find that if I just leave it alone for a week or two and come back, it really helps to clarify my thoughts on it. I don't know if that helps.
I'm with this guy. it sound's less like your story is bad and more like you need a bit of a breather from it.
Put it away for a few weeks or months, then pull it out and re-read it from beginning to end (or wherever you stopped writing). It'll be a fresh take and should be easier to see what works and what doesn't. Don't worry about re-writing the bad bits...just take notes as you read and come back to them after you've finished re-reading.
A short story is a sprint, but a novel is a marathon. The thing is, with all the work that has to go into a novel, it's hardly surprising that you can't remain enthusiastic through the entire project. It's even worse with a first novel. You learn so much over such a lengthy first project that you'd HAVE to feel a bit discouraged looking at the parts you wrote at the beginning. It's okay though. Get through that first draft, even if you have to find someone to repeatedly nag you, and then you can fix the initial crud during the first revision cycle. But there's no question about it. A novel is a big project, and you can't possibly ride an emotional high throughout its creation. You have to develop work habits that carry you through it even when your excitement flags.
It's not uncommon to think poorly of a first draft. The beauty of modern authoring tools is that it's easy to revise it. Finish your story, see what you get. Then see if there's not a better plot, setting, or characters you can hang off the skeleton of what you've made. In my own WIP, the need to shorten the first book (originally coming in around 270K) sparked a complete change in the plot, but it got the book down to 180K. The conflict with the original antagonist got resolved two books earlier than I had planned, and resolved beautifully, much better than before. I have a new antagonist developed during book 1 and ready to take over the main antagonist role for books 2-4. And this (a major revision to a first draft being much different and must better) is not uncommon.
I actually have certain hurdles in my novels a clear page count that if I can't get past them I'll probably abandon the project. It's happened so many times and has shifted over the years that I have to literally force myself to keep writing. It started with a paragraph - I could not get past a paragraph when I was twelve, grew to one page - then twelve pages - lately it's about forty pages about 1/4 the story. What I do is remind myself - you're doing it again, self sabotage and you'll have nothing to work with if you don't keep going. While working on the first draft of my WIP I had several hitches - the ending was the worst. Right now during editing I'm full of self doubt will this thing work. But I've put in too much time to quit now. Can you honestly say you're distancing yourself enough to be objectionable and even reasonable about your own work or are you just being unnecessarily hard on it - especially if it's in the first draft stage? Cause I can't think of a story idea I've had that I've found everything to be brilliant or didn't question the characters even when I'm done I still question. So maybe not all writers are that fair on their own work. My dad gets like this about his art. He'll cut a sculpture apart and rework it or sell it for cheap cause he can't stand to look at it anymore.
I've been working on my WIP for...uh....about eighteen months? I'd say that maybe every six weeks (I said once a month, but I think six weeks is more accurate) I hit a stall where I'm unable to make perceptible progress, and I have to have faith that my brain will untangle the issue and progress will resume. About half those times I also think that the whole thing is a waste of time, and I again have to have faith that it isn't and that I'll get over that feeling. And so far I've emerged from every stall. I deal with it by writing scenes, usually scenes that I don't have any specific plan or plot purpose for--I just write whatever I wanna write. Sometimes when I emerge from the stall I realize what I was exploring and how I needed that exploration to get past the tangle. Sometimes I have no clue, but I'm still past it. So if I were in your state, I would absolutely write, feeling stupid or not feeling stupid. You don't have to write critical scenes, but I'd recommend staying inside the novel, writing stuff, and having faith that it will untangle.
You say you go through this every time you write something, @deadrats . I wouldn't worry. It's just part of the way you progress. I think we all have moments (for me it's not during the writing, but after it's finished) when we think 'god... who will want to read THIS?' As @peachalulu suggested, it can also happen with artwork. (I remember that phase myself ...this drawing/painting is SHIT!) This disenchantment is not the same as getting a naggy sense that something isn't right. (Pay attention to that one.) But if you regularly get an overwhelming feeling that the whole creation is SHIT, just wait for the feeling to pass (it will) and move on. Welcome to the crowd! B-but, what if it IS shit? Fear not. Somebody else will tell you that!
As others have said, taking a break is good. It is also important to remember that you can edit things, now or at the end. I would also add that it is always option to stop and do something else, though this is better before you spend any significant time on the project; as just vetting ideas. If you do dump an idea, if can be good to recycle elements of it I find, when you get to doing something else in proper and see spaces where those elements might fit. Sometimes just the thing your old idea needed was the differences brought by what you are currently working on and that brings out the best in both. But again, getting stuff done is certainly the priority.
