I need help!!! I have written this short story which still needs re-writing. I have tried everything to get me back into the story but nothing has worked. I have tried working on another piece of work (advice given by my evglish teacher) reading a good book and i have read a thread on another forum about getting back into hte re-write but nothing has worked. What shall I do???
Try critiquing yourself. Step out of author mode, and look at the writing as if it were someone else's work. Be ruthless, but specific. Do print out the piece, double spaced, and go at it with a bold red pen. You want the critique to stand out like spatters at a bloody crime scene. This is where your practice in the Review Room can really pay off. Once you have mapped out a ton of changes to make, it should give you the motivation (and roadmap!) to go back in and make those changes.
Wow that was a uh...very vivid picture you painted that. But still sound advice!! Tell us how it goes Fantasy Girl!
what seasoned writers have that you need to cultivate, is the ability to read and critique their own work as if they were total strangers... even better, is to be able to read your work as if you were your own worst enemy... when it can pass that acid test, you know it's ready to be submitted!
You could try putting it away--I mean, really "away"--and writing it all over again from the very beginning (as if the whole story was lost entirely), which might serve to refresh your interest and enthusiasm and infuse you with newer and fresher ideas. What compels me today is likely to be at least subtly different or changed in some way from the day I began (or finished or thought I had finished) the original version--hence my biggest vice, endlessly rewriting my stories. But the upside of that particular downside for me is that I discover new approaches to the same thing (which is pretty reassuring if you ever lose a story from something like a computer crash). Once you have your energy and interest rejuvenated, you can always go back to the original, 'long as you preserve it intact, bringing your newly discovered ideas and enthusiasm with you. Might even find your newer approach is better in at least some subtle or profound way (which can be very useful in the rewrite).
