Imagine you are writing a particular scene or sequence and you have that feeling like in a dream where you're trying to run but you're just standing still, or you have a feeling of pulling a boulder through mud, because the writing is just going so slow and you're bored with it and you can't wait for it to end so you can get to the next juicy, interesting scene ... In that moment, how do you know whether a) it's a normal boredom that is born of writing the narrative filler that is necessary but mundane for us to write or b) it's a red flag boredom that is born of writing shit, a boredom that is warning us that what we are writing is actually boring and will bore the reader and should be scrapped right this second??
I tend to push on and then, if I go back and decide the scene is boring, I can delete it in the second draft. The book I'm thinking of is quite episodical, so it won't miss a scene or two.
I push on and go back to reread. Sometimes I leave the scene bare-bones, and write another scene. Fill the boring stuff with more interesting stuff when the mood strikes me. The mood strikes me next to never, though.
My goal would be to finish it, let it get stale, and then figure out in a few days what's wrong with it--because, yes, if it's boring to you there's a very good chance that it's boring and needs serious changes. But there's no point in having to restart the investment in the scene later; finish the dreary thing and then use it as raw ingredients for the fixed version. Now, I have found that what I write while feeling inspired, and what I write while I'm essentially carving the words one by one and sticking them to the page with chewed gum, can often be the same quality, and in fact the chewed-gum bits can be better. Inspiration and enthusiasm in the moment quite often have nothing to do with the quality of my writing. So there's a good chance that the scene will be boring, but there's a non-trivial chance that it won't.
Thanks for the consensus, guys! I stuck with the chapter, scrapped a few paragraphs where I was going off the rails into 'dying-of-boredom-because-this-is-so-irrelevant' territory, and actually ended up quite happy with the chapter on the whole (it goes without saying that it's still draft 1 and needs massive work). Thanks for all your advice. What would I do without you guys.
I remember in my first attempt at writing a novel, there were certain emotional strong points that I wanted to write, and everything else seemed less compelling. It's one of the reasons that attempt failed. What I have since learned is that everything in your story needs to be important to the reader on some level in order to keep the reader engaged. That doesn't mean that every page has to contain eye-popping heart-stopping gasp-producing omigod climaxes. But it all has to be either making the reader want to know something or letting the reader know what that something is. In his book Story Trumps Structure, Steven James uses the notion of either making promises to the reader or keeping those promises. So, if you're finding yourself getting bored, take a deep breath and then ask yourself what your scene is giving the reader that the reader will want. If it's just "narrative filler" fluffing up the word count, cut it. Replacing it by setting up the reader to want to know something about your mc, or the time/place, or the antagonist. Then drive your story to reveal what the reader now (presumably) wants to know.
I sincerely believe that you can only have clear vision after a sufficient amount of time has passed. I think the time required is different for different people, and will also vary from work to work. This is the old 'stick it in a drawer' method, but it really works. At the least it will likely end the ambivalence you feel about that passage, a signal to keep and modify or zap and restart. I vote push on, finish, then hide it from yourself for a while. "You can't edit nothing." Also... In this sort of case I try to separate my how and why, to pinpoint what's bothering me about the passage. I read back over it and ask myself is it WHAT'S being said or HOW it's worded, which is bothering me?
I have often found having a fresh set of eyes and different perspective on a particular scene can help. It can either be re-written to be less boring, or if that is not going to change things then delete it.
This is interesting. When I first read your post I thought you meant a different person, a reader. Then as I reread it I think you were referring to one's own fresh eyes. But it triggered a thought, about others' eyes: I always take a break for a fresh view (my own eyes) but I'm reminded just now how much another's perspective can also help. (isn't this why we seek readings in the workshop?) Speaking of readers... I have three types of readers (pre-beta). 1--I have a person in my town I know f2f; she gets first crack. With her I have a total 100% comfort level (like the old walking through the mall in your underwear dream lol) so I don't feel threatened at all. I take the temperature first by sending it to her. (WIP - sometimes semi-rough, but usually fully constructed and polished) 2--Then I have some writer buddies I'm close to. I send each one pages or chaps for feedback and input. (WIP) 3--Next, I have some reader friends who don't write but like fiction so I email them pages as a sort of litmus, to gauge interest or garner comments. This is my wild card fishing stage where I'm just trying to see what comes back. I make it a point to not lead the witness, so I don't give them any info at all just send out a PDF of the pages or chapter(s). Beyond these there'd be a beta. Tougher to find, but essential.
If you're writing "filler", then that's a red flag itself, you should never be writing filler. Description is not filler if it's important on some level or sets a mood. Some of my favorite authors that I have a love/hate relationship with, like Tolkien especially, have an extreme tendency to be long-winded, and it's boring as shit, but it's still not filler. If you are bored of it though, then cease and desist, stop what you're doing and go back to the point where it became so. Somewhere along the line, things went terribly wrong, and your gut is trying to tell you that. A scene doesn't always have to be action packed, but it does need to be interesting on some level. People might be telling you to push forward and go back and edit, but in my opinion it's a trap to do so. Save what you have as a separate document, then go back and start over from where things went wrong. From my experience, if you continue, then try to edit it later, then you'll keep looking at the mess you wrote and keep trying to polish the same turd until it looks better...but it's still going to be a turd, just with a shinier coat on it. Your mind gets stuck in a loop, and it has more trouble getting rid of things that need to go because subconsciously you don't want to just delete it now, and you also can't see beyond the issues since you're staring at what looks like a finished product that needs to be "edited". Editing doesn't mean you can just go over it and suddenly fix what's wrong. To properly edit, you must first have something good that's worth doing so. That's not to say you have to write it perfectly the first time, because there's no reason to edit something that's already perfect, and that's impossible to do anyway. I'm saying it just has to be good, it has to be interesting and have story elements that work together, then you can edit. After you've rewritten your previously "boring" scene, then go back to your separate document that had the boring version...study how different that was, and learn from it. Now go and sin no more. haha
I think, for this writer, it could be a hangup between the how and the what. Maybe instead of rewriting the boring scene from scratch, he could just scrap it altogether and find a totally different way of delivering that story point. Maybe even put it in the hands of a different character. Or maybe with more analysis and cogitation he will realize he doesn't need it at all. I think this happens to new writers (which you alluded to) ...they get too attached to their own words. So I totally agree with you about that loop thing you mentioned. But I think there's also a big danger in trying to 'know in advance' exactly what should be written, before one starts typing. That IMO can lead to a rigid method where writers are paralyzed, unable to put anything down because 'it's not quite perfect enough yet'. In my experience is a perfectionist's trap which can lead to huge discouragement. This is why I advised him to finish the scene and lock it away for a while, so the loose end of leaving it incomplete won't float in the back of his mind; he can get closure now and revisit it later. And technically he can choose to redo the scene ANYtime, whether he finishes it now and redoes it, or leaves it half done now and returns to it in a month, or deletes it right now and thinks of something totally new to replace it. I think all three are right, depending on who the writer is and the circumstances. (I do a combo of pansting and planning, at different stages) Also I think boring is a context, and is subjective. But if he has that 'boring impression of his own work then there's definitely more work to do. A hundred things could be mentioned as to what those could be. Really I just think it's the writing process in general which we are all talking about here. But this means different things for different people, and also things happen in different order for everyone, and with different emphasis, etc. (lol, it sounds like I AM in a loop here) Oh well, I hope some of this made sense. Cheers!
True, sometimes it's good to finish maybe, but I guess for me this really just hurts my process and cripples my ability to write if I go back and try to fix it. I've restarted my first chapter 3-4 times already, and now that I've scrapped it a bunch I finally came out with something that's decent. I just started going back to edit, and I found that I was much closer to having something good as I went through it, especially when compared to the previous version (which is why I suggested keeping the old, finished or not, so you can compare). It also greatly helps to get some serious outside opinion, someone you can trust to be critical, knowledged and also a fan of the genre. My book starts out in a completely different place than it did before, and mainly because I had some harsh critique about the starting point. I think for those new to writing, it is best to write a bunch of stuff that's mediocre and even terrible, and yes, go back and try to fix it, by all means. It will give a lot of experience, and help them to see what went wrong, getting words on the paper is the best thing you can do at that point. I'm not sure if OP is new, intermediate or what. That would certainly make a huge difference in what's best to do. New writers need to know that they have to finish a couple books, or at least one and a bunch of short stories, and then file them away under practice. Have to get something under the belt. When I was eleven I actually wrote five hundred pages of crap, but I knew that getting it done would help me improve at the very least (it was truly awful, I'd hate to even see it today). It helped though, and later in life I kept writing stuff and practicing, now I'm at the point where I can see what I did wrong back then. Even though I thought my first book was bad, at the same time it was good for my age. I actually wrote that much stuff, and I knew it was rare for a kid to write five hundred pages of a book like that. I feel like I'm rambling now, haha, but I'm just saying that it really depends on the person's experience level. If OP is needing to just write for the sake of learning, then by all means do so. If they are wanting to complete their first "good" book, then they shouldn't cripple themselves by allowing filler and boredom enter their novel, just cut it asap, save if that will help, but do some surgery quick before it gets out of hand....
I agree that nothing should be "filler". I might use the term "setup" and "payoff", though even the setup needs to have some inherent reward for the reader.
Get someone else to read it. Simple as that. Remember you can always use humour or wit to liven up what would otherwise be a dry sentence / paragraph. Don't leave your reader floudering. Sometimes you'll reach a difficult scene that you've been agonising over for a long time, and boredom will be a possible reaction for you, sitting there at your laptop. So long as it's caused by your experience of writing and not the experience of reading, you're fine. That said, if you often find yourself bored by the act of writing, that's a serious red flag as to whether you really want to be a writer.
It depends. If you are pantsing I would say follow your gut and quit. Quit no matter what if it is just filler. Every scene should be interesting and required for the story. If you have planned all the scenes out so they fall like a row of dominoes then I would say you need to do a more detailed beat sheet for that scene. Identify the who where when what why how and the purpose of the scene. What caused it to happen, what will happen next because of it. Once you have that then the scene should be easy to write. If you are still having problems then maybe you are bored and need a break.
Hey guys, thanks for the awesome conversation! I'm loving hearing everybody's thoughts. So, I think that I have learned something valuable from this thread: 'filler' is a very specific thing, and I used the term incorrectly. What I was referring to when I said 'filler', was 'the more slow-moving narrative that gives the characters a breather after a very dramatic event' or even just 'the real life stuff'. This is a very helpful way of looking at it. Thanks The workshop was invaluable for my chapter 1! So many WF-ers gave incredible feedback that just made a world of difference to not just that chapter, but to my writing practices on a whole. I am now super lucky to have three critique partners. Having that outside, fresh perspective makes such a difference. Hmm. I think, looking back, that nothing actually went super wrong. I was trying to start the scene from just a slightly less cohesive angle, and so naturally changing my approach did help. But in fact the boredom and frustration I was feeling (I have since realised) was based much more in my energy levels and sense of overwhelmed burnout. I had been doing 10 hours a day for several days in a row, revising and reworking the first two chapters, and had hit that creative wall when I posted the original question on this thread. Interestingly, the feedback I got back from two of my alphas was that the second chapter was even better than the first! It was the second chapter that I was stressing out about! Haha. I think that I was just getting exhausted with writing in general. Having been writing for almost fifteen years, now, I have thankfully grown out of that attachment phase to my words and chapters. Killing my darlings almost brings me a masochistic delight, these days. Well, delight might be a bit ambitious. But I know that killing off words and scenes ususally results in improvement, so I don't mind too much. But I religiously save all that I cut, in case I change my mind later on! Yes, this! I've thankfully gotten so much better at relaxing my expectations and giving myself permission to explore and play around with narrative without having it all perfect beforehand. It's been a difficult but liberating experience! hehe. I'm a 'her'. I used to be a pantser. I've been writing short stories for almost fifteen years and have never plotted/planned a single one of those (several of which have won various local competitions). I assumed I would follow the same organic process with writing my first novel, but a dormant plotting demon within came out loud and strong almost immediately!! I've learned to co-exist with said demon over the last year, and in fact we work quite well with each other, these days. Wow. Go you! I started a novel when I was a similar age to that, actually. I got about 100 pages in and then my old 'computer' (a technological dinosaur from the 90s) died and took all of my glorious cowboys vs indians goodness with it! It was such a demoralising experience that I didn't have the courage to attempt another novel until I was in my 20's. I wish I were funny ... how can one write funny characters when one isn't funny?
For me, being funny is writing something that I think is funny and it's pot luck as to whether my mother laughs or not.
