Funny. Are you my twin? Seriously, I have the same problem. I've started over from scratch 3 times - scrapped a couple of full manuscripts all at 80,000+ words. Right now I'm about half-way through and I'm about ready to throw in the towel (currently a 88k). If it simply gets nowhere, maybe you need to plan an outline that you stick to? An outline that goes from the beginning all the way to the ending, marking all the milestones and perhaps even briefly how each milestone is reached and how they are overcome. I also like jannert's advice above me, eg writing backwards. Yes, there's probably nothing more discouraging than starting over and over and over and finding it never finishes. For me, it's not so much that I never finished. I've finished twice, in fact. I just decided to ditch the entire novel and start over because well, I realised it didn't make a damn bit of sense. And while you sound like you've started and stopped a dozen projects - for me, I've only ever written this one novel. For me, I am seriously close to just giving up and starting something else. But at the same time, I'm wondering if it's an attitude problem? All this time, I'm just thinking, "I just wanna get it done." This implies that I see it as a chore to get out of the way. This also implies that I'm not prepared to put in as much effort and time as it takes for it to finish, as though any haphazard finish would do (not true). I just wonder, what if I just wrote it? Just write it for fun again. Of course, my key problem is I no longer have fun with this novel cus it's become the bane of my life, but I do like the story and I do like writing. So what if I stopped caring whether it makes sense and just pushed through it? Let anything happen, see where it goes. I can worry about it making sense once it's done, and this time, DON'T bloody ditch the whole thing to write from scratch. This time, make the events come together rather than latching onto a better idea each time and end up having to change the whole novel. And yeah, I think it does boil down to whether you believe in your novel, in yourself. Bottom line is, we're both discouraged. It's not that we can't write, not that we're not disciplined, not that we don't wanna finish. It's not that we give up easily or that we can't stand back up or we are lazy. It's that we've gone down so damn many times you wonder what it's all for and if you're not just banging your head on a dead end. But I dunno, where there's a will, there's a way, right? (I'm grinning at this now because my MC is Will hahaha ) I haven't a clue what to say to encourage you to carry on, but carry on. You've come this far. You've put this much in. You can't let it go to waste. That's the only thing keeping me with my novel - I can't just let all this... disappear. 3 years and 300,000+ deleted words and a 88,000 half-finished manuscript, all just... GONE. GONE the moment I decide, "I give up." I dunno about you, but I can't let it happen. It's so easy to, so easy - just move on to a more interesting idea and this novel would be behind me, and I would do that too if I knew I'd come back but I fear I never would, once I move on. You just gotta push through. And hey, maybe see if you can find someone who would read what you have of your novel. It's easier when you know someone enjoys your story and thinks you should continue because they love what you've written so much. It gives you hope, and a little bit of joy. It confirms that there's something special there even though you can't see it anymore. So yeah. Don't stop.
You may want to think through an idea before you commit to it. I agree with @jannert - you should have an idea of where you want to end up. I usually start with an idea of who my MC is, what the struggle is and how it will likely end. Once I have that, I flesh the idea out a bit, add a character or two, then go. If, as the writing evolves, it occurs to me that my originally conceived ending place doesn't quite work, I tweak it. Or even change it completely. After all, an outline is a planning device, not a law. Good luck.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000m1w9#summary Poor Porto Rico... Church isn't possible for me unless God raptures me there. I don't mean to sound negative, but I'm good in that way... Having a forum is more the expense of paying the rent than knowing the mechanics these days. Attracting a membership is more difficult. Without members, you have no forum. If your forum becomes disenchanting, you risk losing members you do have. Right now I have to decide what is most important. It's Monday the 13th. The weather is becoming abnormal. Luckily I'm blessed enough to have dreams about my work. That's a sign you're good! Not dreaming about your work is a sign you aren't. My bag is really physics. Last night I had a dream so vivid of the mechanics of a hyperdrive that I woke up with a headache. https://www.writingforums.org/threads/dark-energy-considerations-mainstream-scientific-speculation-versus-outside-speculation.129731/#post-1176988 This thread probably isn't your thing, but as well as discussing the possible technology of faster than light travel, there's a nested room for discussion that, in addition to depicting that science, depicts an explanation of why Genesis 1 is likely very chronologically accurate.
I don't know that anyone has claimed you can produce good literature without editing - I know I have not. It is definitely possible to produce a first and only draft which is of publishable quality, however.
I think the point is that the writer who edits as (s)he goes, if rigorous enough, produces a first draft that will in fact be the final draft. In my current project, I am doing way more editing as I go than I usually do, but that doesn't change the fact that I will have a "first draft" that will still need to be heavily edited.
Here's my 2p, for what it's worth: The original Honda Civic in 1973 as imported into the U.S. was this: A Honda Civic today is this: Along the way they have had some duds and less than successful efforts, but the only way for them to have progressed from that first little boxy, no-frill-having, near micro-car to the slick little sci-fi lookin' wedge was to have finished the thing, bumper to bumper, and that required plenty of planning, year after model-year. Perhaps you're trying to be a pantser and in reality you're a planner. You're starting at the wheels and trying to get to the drive-train, but in order to do either you need to have in idea of what you want out of both so that they go together. You don't want a transmission that rips out the transaxle, or a 300 hp motor on wee skinny tires. Perhaps you need to have an idea of where you want the story to end so that you can decide the steps to get there. I'm not saying you have to be a planner (people tend to get very defensive on the topic), but maybe give it a shot if you haven't already. It might prove to be the mode you need and you may even settle somewhere in the middle zone between planning and pantsing. Nothing wrong with that.
@jannert - if I remember correctly, I think @shadowwalker edits as he (she?) goes along, which I think s/he considers as one draft rather than multiple drafts? So by the time s/he's finished, the draft is considered to be publishable, which means no further editing needed.
Well, damn. I feel kind of lame. I nearly suggested that, if the novel that the OP is working on just REALLY doesn't work for him (her?), that maybe it's okay to let it go for now, and work on something else to clear their head. I recently realized that I have had to let go of a novel that I had been working on since I was about twelve? Though I still have the manuscript, in case I ever wanted to go back to it. But okay. If you really believe in your story, then keep working on it, as the others suggested. I do believe that I can go back to that novel eventually, though I have plans to revise a new story that I am only three chapters into, with plans to condense chapters 2-3... so obviously, I won't be working on that old novel anytime soon.
@DrWhozit - you make it sound like your disenchantment is the downfall of the forum. I think you're being a little dramatic. The forum is rather vibrant, so I trust there're a number of people, myself included, who are quite happy. It is reasonable that not everyone will always like a forum, and like I say, perhaps this one isn't giving you what you're looking for - and that's okay. Many people on here are part of multiple forums, and each one, depending on the community, would have its strengths and weaknesses and different offerings. I think it's also a little presumptuous and judgmental to assume Daniel's maintaining the forum solely for cash (and to be fair, let's say he is doing it for the money - what's the crime? Don't we all do jobs, many of us doing jobs we might even hate, precisely for the money?). In any case, I think Daniel's working hard, and trying his best, and if there're things that leave you wanting, then maybe you should post in the Suggestions and Feedback subforum and see what responses you get? Always good to get more ideas for improvement after all. I agree that you should dream big Thanks for the links, I'll give the physics one a read later. Had a look at the earthquake one but it's a little technical - I'll probably look it up on another news site where the writing is more story-orientated. For right now, I need to start dinner before my pastor gets here!
@Mckk That isn't what I was saying at all. If I died today, this forum would march on till the net collapses or someone invents a way to prevent that formidably. Neither was I saying these guys are in it fro the money, rather I was saying keeping a forum up and running isn't cheap, although there are less complicated ways to do so that may or may not be less costly. I'm not certain that disenchantment was the best wording. If anyone is to blame it's myself for delusional high expectations. The earthquake is just one of the alerts the USGS sends me when there's a quake of M5+. It's just looking like Porto Rico is now included in Mother Nature's bucket list. Most planetary geologists agree that we are overdue for a M9+ and some of my own comparisons suggest it might be associated with the next jump in our shifting magnetic poles. The question is no longer "if" but "when and where?"
@DrWhozit - ah, thanks for clarifying. Sorry for my misunderstanding in that case I haven't a clue what shifting magnetic poles are though. By your estimation, when and where would an M9 earthquake hit? (Japan again?) How bad is an M9? (I've never lived in any earthquake zone so I'm not familiar with all the earthquake gradings.)
@Wild Knight - lol yes I think it is sometimes good to let things go too, and writing new things can sometimes give you new inspiration for an old project But then again, there's a difference between putting it away for a breather to clear your head, and giving up.
It sounds like you've already made up your mind. I've got a folder named "Abandoned Projects," that has more content in it than my "Finished Work," folder. I abandoned each of those projects for a reason- a damn good one- and, typically, it was because I wasn't skilled enough to tell the story properly. I'll probably circle around there in a few months, when I'm a little better, to dredge my past for ideas. Do I feel guilty walking away from a project when it got hard? Yeah, but I've found that forcing myself to write when there's no connection with the work will lead to a hackneyed story. It's far better to walk away than ruin the marble. That being said (The prefix for any abrupt change in opinion) it's incredibly important to actually finish a story. The disgust that causes me to abandon work tastes different from the disgust that a first draft creates. You have to refine your palette so that you might distinguish between them, lest you use the former as an excuse to avoid the latter.
The USGS is predicting a M(agnitude)9+ between northern California and Washington anytime. It was a M8.5 that leveled Port Au Prince, Haiti. A 9+ in the predicted area would begin crumbling the Cascades on the western side. I'm more concerned about these methane plumes in the arctic and tundra. My take. History repeats itself as in the days of Noah.
If you are in the habit of quitting writing projects, you'll have to either break that habit, or forget about being a writer. If you choose to break the habit, why not now?
Well, my take, as usual, is a bit different. You want to write. That's obvious. And you do, at least begin stories. So you have the desire, and the perseverance to continue, even when it looks like you're getting nowhere. That demonstrates that you're a little crazy, which is a prerequisite to writing. People pay money to view the results of our craziness. So the problem isn't in the basics. It appears to be in the methodology. First, you to begin writing, and then hope come up with ideas as to what to have the characters do next. First mistake. We don't tell them what to do. We work behind the scenes. We toss bodies in their path, set fire to their house, have the protagonist accused of a crime they never commited. We trip them, torture them, and mislead them. We send danger and fear, and even romance their way. But we do not tell them what to do. The closest we come to that is to change their personality, as needed to make them want to do what needs doing. That may sound like the same thing as making them do it, but it's not because it's the protagonist who's making the decisions, based on their needs, their desires, their personality, experience, and the situation. And what they do had damn well better make sense to both the character and the reader. We also provide the protagonist with The Problem. The story revolves around it. It's something the protagonist needs to do or get but can't (because we, bastards that we are, keep putting it out of reach). S/he wants it and needs it, and by making the reader see the situation exactly as the protagonist does, so-do-the-readers. We aren't telling a story. That's for children. We aren't informing the reader on the details of the history of a fictional character. That's as interesting as a history textbook, and the market for history books, real or fictional, is a bit limited. No, we're forcing the reader to play a grownup game of Let's Pretend. Although it sounds a bit silly, readers want to worry. We introduce them to our protagonist and make him/her their avatar. We place them in that tiny slice of time the protagonist calls "now,"and then move time forward, moment by moment, focusing on what matters to the protagonist. That's not the plot. Not the scenery. Not the history of how things came came to be as they are. We focus on what matters to the protagonist right then, to make the reader care. And how we do that isn't something we learned in school, in life, or by reading for pleasure. It's not something that will come to us as we write as a reward for having a sincere heart. It's the learned part of the unique profession of writing fiction for the printed word, which is unlike verbal storytelling, film, or stage writing. You can't write and then fix problems in editing that are there, in the first place, because you're missing knowledge of the things imposed by the medium for which we write. So what I'm leading up to is that if you don't understand the structure and the elements of a story when told via the print medium, of course you're going to be discouraged. You're going to write a scene that meanders and has no proper focus. Later, when you read it back, the reader in you will see that something isn't right, but because you're missing data you won't know what's wrong just that it's not what you hoped it would be. The solution? Do a bit of research into the tools and knowledge the people who make it look easy when we read their work depend on. And I don't mean to mimic them. If Stephen King said he rubbed dog shit on his nose before he sat down to write I wouldn't simply duplicate that. I'd try to find out why, and what it does for him that's repeatable in others, and if it was something that might help. Then I might go looking for Fido's bathroom. Your public library's fiction writing section can be of a huge help in avoiding the pitfalls that so often trip a new writer. My personal recommendation is to seek Jack Bickham or Dwight Swain's name on the cover.
I usually mull an idea over in my mind quite a bit till the metaphorical lightbulb in my mind comes on. I start a file, type in as much as flows, then save out. Do some REM sleep on it. Watch some TV on it, till that lightbulb comes on again. Type it all out and don't sweat the small stuff. Some people work from an outline. Some don't. I need a character name? I roll my eyes skyward, think of someone I admire or despise. Bingo! That person has a new name... to protect the guilty. If I keep starting over, I lose the good part of the deleted file. All else fails, I go into the writers block thread here and spend some whine time. Sooner or later, someone will slap me back to reality. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Winston Churchill
I'm outta here! I was starting to get out of my writer's block, then I caught a case of Wreybies. That's been the real reason behind my dismal attitude. Solution? Leave this forum. Feel free to email me at drcharbonneau@live.com
What I've been taught is that we should make an outline when writer's block occurred. Example: - A plot, then from plot, write 5 acts (act no.1, act no.2, etc) or as many act you want and in that act you jot down ideas or what's next? "when writing, you write as if you're playing a chess"
I use the website imagerydictionary(dot)com to help me with description. Every time I want to describe a place, actions, body language, etc, I just go to that website. For example (whatever is in bold, I took from imagerydictionary.com): Before Imagery dictionary: We met at the concert and took our seats. Patiently, we waited for the celebrity to come out on stage. “I’ve been waiting for this forever,” she said, holding my hand. I realized being here with her was my remedy. Paying the money that I did was well worth it. ***After Imagery dictionary: We met at the concert and took our seats ten feet away from the stage that stood proud in the center of the scene. Gasps of awe spread across the crowd as we waited for the celebrity to come out. “I’ve been waiting for this forever,” she said, grabbing me by the arm with a grin pinned upon her face. I allowed a weary smile to loosen my lips after realizing being here with her was my remedy. Paying the money that I did was well worth it.
This is my first thread on this forum. Just had to get that out there. I'm just kind of curious. How do you other writers cure writer's block? I mean, a lot of times we just sit around and write several pages, words flowing out of us like a high pressure fuel hose out of control. But the next time we open up the document and plans on writing, not a single word comes to mind. No matter how much we try, nothing happens. Some might have ideas in their head, but a large cork blocking the doorway from your brain to your fingers. Me, I usually just open up a fresh document and write the first thing that comes to mind. Anything really. Sometimes I've started a whole new book on that document, and when I do I usually find myself writing that original book again. No more blockage. That's just me though. I find the best cure for writer's block is more writing. So just sit down in front of the computer, typewriter or paper, without distractions, and just write what your brain thinks. Bring a tumbler of single malt scotch or a cup of warm soothing tea or coffee. Shut out the world and just write. So what's yours? What's your cure?
What is your connection with the website you are promoting with the same boilerplate post in both cases?
