Hey everybody! Hope you’re all doing fantastic! Today is the first Wednesday of a new month so it’s time again for another IWSG. :D
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here. There's also a brand new website now so be sure to check it out here.
So I’ve been intermittently working on a Young Adult Faery
novel for a couple months now and I’m about a third of the way through the
novel and I hate it. All of it. I want to light it on fire and watch it burn.
My main character seems to lack a drive to do anything and the story feels
flat. The beginning came very easily, but I have to admit beginnings are
probably the easiest part for me. I also have a deadline on this project since
it is for a class I’m working on so I can’t afford to set it aside for now.
What did you do when you completely fell out of love on a project? Was there
anything you did that helped you reignite that spark and helped you finish the
project you were working on?
Let me know in the comments below! :D
When you fall out of love with a project, moving ahead is hard. I'd suggest you surprise yourself, or let your characters do it. Try to come up with the most unexpected thing you can that's consistent with the world you've created.
ReplyDeleteOooh, Faery stories are fun! :) I don't like deadlines though, so I share your panic a bit here. I have written things that I absolutely hate though and that feeling always bugs me.
ReplyDeleteWhat I usually do when I fall out of love with writing something, is a little bit of Q&A with my imagination dept. Do you remember what made you want to write it in the first place? Was it a particular image in your head? Something that stuck with you long enough for you to want to make it into a story? A song? A memory? Can you grab onto that feeling again? If you can, try using it as motivation to finish the story. If that doesn't help, then consider the absolute worst thing that could happen to your main character--and let it happen. If they need to survive that terrible thing, then make sure they really, really have to work for it. That may help to inspire you a bit. Good luck!
I'm working on a similar project - finishing off a trilogy actually - and hit some of the same walls. (I think it has something to do with the whole otherworldly thing.) If you want a beta read, feel free to drop me a line. I just finished an M.A., so I get the whole writing for class thing too. I don't usually offer this sort of thing out of the blue, but it sounds so similar to the work I'm writing I'd probably learn from reading.
ReplyDeleteWriting for class ... I just forced myself to do it. I think writing for class is one of those things that in and of itself tends to make it all a hundred times harder.
I've had that feeling several times through the many drafts of my book. I've also heard from published authors about also have a third or halfway through malaise. Opening up and letting your characters surprise you in free writes, taking a short breather and reading, revisiting pivotal scenes to see if they are holding their weight, and walking while you let the idea simmer all can be ways to push past the blahs. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAhh I know your pain! This happened to me at the beginning of the year with my NaNoWriMo novel...I'm going to be completely honest now and admit that I gave up on that book in the end. For me, something about it just wasn't working....I still have all my work/scenes/synopses etc for it saved, and one day I'll probably come back to it and try and sort the whole mess out.
ReplyDeleteWith my current project, it hasn't gotten to that stage yet(!) but I do find it hard to make my writing flow sometimes - sometimes everything just feels so clunky or cliched, and I just want to burst into tears. But whenever I get too down about it, I take a little break then come back to it with fresh eyes. What usual gets the spark going for me again is when I think 'screw it' and I make my characters do something they would never normally do - then I start to get enthusiastic again when I don't know exactly where a scene will take me.
Good luck! You can do it :)!
Rachel
I had a similar experience with my WIP. I just blogged about it this week, in fact. In my case, it took a long conversation with my husband -- in the hot tub, with a martini -- for me to get re-excited about the story. He convinced me that I was downplaying its potential, and he reminded me that I have felt this way about other stories before I finished that first draft and fell back in love with it.
ReplyDeleteSo, maybe you can talk to someone about this project? Explain what you wanted it to be and why it seems to be falling flat. Sometimes the solution comes by talking about it.
When I fall out of love with a project, I usually write an alternate scene or "spinoff" type thing. Usually it doesn't make it into the story, but sometimes I can use it in promo or as a teaser on my blog. It helps me to think of my characters in a setting or circumstance that is outside of the plot. Usually, that helps me regain the spark.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get your spark back, and finish your project before the deadline :)
Good luck! And happy IWSG day :)