Novel Do your novels ever feel disjointed or incohesive when you've gotten far along in the process?

Up until sometime last year, I could conjure up ideas like nobody's business, but I couldn't make it past the 30,000-word threshold in a novel (mainly due to structure issues and overcomplication). Now, I'm almost at the 50K mark, which is beyond exhilarating for me. I'm at the halfway point on something that I'll actually finish.

But, as I get further in, sometimes I start to feel like it's a bit "disjointed," for lack of a better word. It still flows properly, but I find that the focus will shift a lot from one aspect of the novel to another, or from one supporting character to another (not in terms of POV, as the whole thing is 1st-person from my MC, but in terms of who I focus on developing in general). I often wonder whether or not the whole thing even flows cohesively.

The obvious solution for this is to read over the whole thing to refresh myself, which I do periodically, but now that I'm almost 50K in it's not that quick and easy anymore. It's not a matter of quickly skimming through a short story or a novel draft that's just a few chapters long, it's almost like reading a full-on novel written by someone else. Therefore there are parts of my novel that I haven't looked at in ages, and although I do know where it's going and have a general map of the whole thing, I also sometimes wonder if it's going to just feel like random pieces stuck together.

Does anyone else experience this when you're getting far along in a WIP? And how do you fix it or ensure that the plot is well-integrated?

 

Always. I don't write linearly. It's a like a chain of islands and the water level is dropping slowly. Eventually they all become one landmass.

 

Thanks for the speedy reply. Glad to know I'm not alone in this.

But how do you ultimately reverse the process of global warming ice cap melting, in order to get the water levels down to get that cohesive landmass?

 

Re-reading from the beginning periodically is the best way to go. Even if you skim in spots (which you will), it's the best way to make sure your story is flowing the way you want.

Keep in mind that once you finish the first draft, you will (after a period of time away from the work) have to read through several times as you review and edit.

Good luck.

 

Thanks, I'm glad to know that this is a normal experience.

My concern is on the bigger-picture stuff, like plot trajectories and how things ultimately tie together. Not just "conflicting details to edit later" or "dialogue style in the beginning doesn't fit who the person later evolved into." I mean like, big things--I 'm worried that if it's too disjointed it will turn into a hot steaming disaster, and if so, how exactly do you identify and fill the holes?

 

I think your very concern is why the island analogy of my process works for me. There are fixed points along the chain of my archipelago. Occasionally one of the islands slumps off into the depths, succumbing to its own weight or precarious topography. That's okay. I don't mourn the loss. It's amazing how often those lost bits rise again, elsewhere, in a different chain of islands, to be repurposed with just a little change of landscape and fauna.

To bring it back to flatter terms: I typically know where my story is going to end. I know what I want to say with the story and I know what I want for the characters. I'm not along for the ride as they "show" me what they want. They do what I say, and they know the goal.

 

Why has this thread brought out the analogies?

 

I use speech cards (rectangled cardboard lined things you buy from newsagents) and I put a name of the 'part of the novel' on top of the card and fill it in with a brief paragraph explaining what happens, justifying why it is necessary, and do this for each part of the novel I've written. Then I lay them all out in order somewhere in my house and see how the story flows. (most of the time I stick them up on a wall) It saves me having to reread the book again and again, because I find that I just end up tinkering on sentences again and forget the structure I'm meant to be working on.

I sometimes do this before I write, but often I leave it until I reach a point like you describe, when I need to be able to see the blueprints of the book more clearly.

My house is covered in story maps.

 

Have you considered that no, your novel is not too complicated or disjointed, you're just looking at it from the wrong angle.
"Saggy Middle" is a common affliction in art, the point in the middle of the process where you suddenly feel like everything is crap and want to give up. Don't.
The middle of a novel is the most complicated part. Your characters are in the middle of their arcs, your plots are at maximum pelt, everything is scattered about. If you've not written the end, where all these threads come together, of course you'll feel as though you're losing control.

Keep in ploughing through, get out finished, and then look at it from above, not from inside.

 

if i were in your position i feel like i would try to break things down in to more manageable chunks and reduce each chunk down to it's base parts: "MC chases the man in the cloak and falls down a flight of stairs. He is furious that he allowed the mysterious figure to escape again and wonders if his ankle is broken." For me, forcing myself to back out of the nuts and bolts of the story helps me realize redundancies and opportunities to make new connections.

that said, this is probably my biggest mental barrier preventing me from moving forward on my own project. i haven't opened scrivener in weeks because i'm scared that all my hard work will end up reduced down to a mess of confusing, fragmented ideas and i won't know what to do. so i suppose my advice is best taken with a grain of salt.

 

I knoooooooooooow. i just started reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and i anticipate it will deliver a much-needed kick in the pants.

or i could just, y'know, write. that's definitely an option.

 

I make things up as I go, and reread often to keep things cannon and correct when needed. Though I feel
that there are some things that I need to change to make them better than what they are now, so they don't
feel so out of place or not as exciting as they should be.

Sounds like your MC is doing a bit of a what I think of as 'nothing', or filler stuff. I noticed this about one
of my favorite authors, that in the middle is just a lot of not much going on, until the final act. This is something
that can happen in longer works, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Every story has peaks and valleys, it is
unavoidable. It just depends upon the writer to use them to their greatest effect.

For instance in my first novel trying to keep with a bit of realism, I have an MC that is writing up a combat report.
But since the events have already happened, he thinks about something else while occasionally checking in with
the fact that he is doing something mundane.

In another part there is an MC that is going through her morning run, and using a prior event to think about
things and reflect upon them as they effect her from where she started and where she is now. Again occasionally
mentioning that she is doing something mundane, while delving into her own thoughts.

While these things are what I like to call valleys or lulls between the action sequences, they do help to develop
the characters. Just don't have a whole bunch of valleys, or too many peaks. Try to find a balance to them.
You can always find a way to get out your slump, and get things the way you want them. If you need try asking
for a fresh set of eyes to look at what you have, sometimes a fresh perspective and opinion can be useful.

 

So, so much. To extend @Wreybies ' geographic metaphor, mine isn't so much a chain of islands as it is Earth's surface during the Hadean epoch--just a giant morass of lava, occasionally whacked out of shape by asteroid impacts. The atmosphere is a poisonous miasma. Gonna have to let it cool off a bit, before the first signs of life can emerge.

 

Thank you for all of your suggestions and thoughts. They're all great points. I especially like the Saggy Middle idea. And for me, it's not a matter of having too many subplots or characters (on the other end, I'm not sure if I even have enough), but more a matter of focus that alternates instead of blending. Instead of being a mix of integrated parts, I feel it jumps from one part to another to another, in terms of what's being focused on. If that makes sense.

 

Exactly. This response is the one that I relate to the most. My narration style is first-person present, which definitely contributes to that "live time" vibe. Adding those types of connecting paragraphs later on in revision will be extremely easy to do. Thanks!!!

 

From what I see on forums, the majority of writers have a certain word count point where their confidence fails. 30k is quite common.

I don't know if you wear makeup but it's like when you do a heavy eyeshadow look for a night out or whatever - there's always a point where you look in the mirror and think, "Fuck, I look like a panda who's been punched in the face." But you carry on blending and a few minutes later you look like an attractive, unassaulted woman.

Writing is the same. You have to plough through the moment of no confidence. When you read the whole thing back (and unlike previous posters I would recommend you DON'T do this until you've moved past the wall) you will realise it was fine all along.

I've learned to avoid reading through works-in-progress too often. After a while it's so familiar to you that you don't take it in properly, and it feels flat and unemotional. You can't judge a work that you know too well, which is why you can only recognise flaws after you've put it away for a few months and come back with fresh eyes. I try to plough through. I think ploughing through is the answer to many common writing problems.

(Plough = plow for USians and possibly Canadians and Otherans.)

 

I'm stuck with it as a default, though. I've a crap memory (common ailment amongst interpreters), so if I don't get it down when it comes to me I soon only have the memory of a memory.

 

Due to poor planning on my part, fudging the middle part of the book where the plot is the heaviest, I've gotten myself into a bit of a bind sorting out the mess. If I, the author of my novel, keeps having to stop because I've confused myself with the plot, then potential readers would stand no chance!

Countless times I've made changes, although plugging in some plot holes has proven challenging without more fudging. Having learnt my lesson, I think it's very important to spend longer ironing things out in a natural fashion rather than panicking and coming up with a contrived solution.

I've finished a first draft, and rewriting the off or defunct sections now. One thing I can recommend from my limited experience: I found first just typing up the plot helped clarify my thoughts and identify where exactly the issues were and what needed fixing. I literally just typed up every single thing that happened, chapter by chapter, scene by scene, as well as all the backstory and important things that happen before the book takes place. I can't remember exactly, but it was 10-15k words, with some notes in red with my thoughts (my novel is going to be a long one). It certainly helped elucidate some of the bigger issues, and already I was getting ideas how to solve problems that I had been no answer to for well over a year.

I think a "summary" of events like that would be quite useful, as it gives you good notes to refer back to without trawling back finding a needle in a 50k haystack each time you get mixed up. And that's just made me think, I should really open up my extended summary again because it's getting to the point of closing those final plot holes as I get to the end of rewriting that it would be really useful to have an 'update'.

Good luck - I hope you manage to sort through it, and by these responses, it seems you're not alone with this issue.

 

We know what ploughs are, thanks. But if you could explain what "colour" is, that would be helpful.

 

What I want to know is... Do you pronounce that you-ehs-ians, oo-sians, or uh-sians?

 

U-S-A-ians, or Murricans when they're being all "Murica, fuck yeah!"