Ergh

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

Help!

I hate my story all of all of a sudden. I was going gangbusters, and then, pltthhh.

I think I'll chock it up to being a newbie to this, also, next time I need to flesh out my story a little more than I did.

Anyone else with this issue? Do you think I can overcome this?

I'm under 10,000, but not by far.

Comments

[merrymagpie.livejournal.com]

Don't worry! It will either pass or you'll come up with a way to fix it. Bouts of self-loathing and despising your work-in-progress are very common emotions, I've found. :)

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

...yes, it seems you are right!

[jenny-1981.livejournal.com]

yeah... i was feeling that way over the weekend.

I think you just have to find a part of it you like, and go with it.... Is there something with one of the characters that you'd like to explore? For me, my story goes over the course of a year, so I chose a holiday and began writing... what does my main character do over christmas? That led me off on an entirely different tangent.... and it is beginning to flesh itself out.

i dont think you need to write in order, i started off that way, but then i decided that i'll write the parts that want to be written and go back and fill in the blanks as the mood strikes, as long as you know your basic plot line...conflict and resolutions... it works so far, but im only 1/3 of the way through the 50 K, so we;ll see how it goes in the end

good luck, hope that helped

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

That's a good tip... I have something I want to write, the characters do something funny, and I want to GET to that point, and I've been just writing chronologically. Maybe that will spark my interest again.

Thanks for the advice!

[amberdine.livejournal.com]

One of my writing teachers (http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/index.htp) said that when you get stuck, start a new paragraph that begins:

Suddenly, a naked woman screamed.

...and see what happens. You can edit out the naked screaming woman later. ;)

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

I guess that is the literary "picture the crowd naked" thing!

[cats-haven.livejournal.com]

Yep, got that going now, which is why I have more than one story to work on this time. My first one went well, very slow, hardly moving at all then it went to crap in a heart beat. I've set it aside for now to work on another until i figure how to salvage the first.

Of course, both stories aren't what I normally write.

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

It's really hard... since I'm not really a "writer," or at least not really a "novelist," I guess... I'm also trying something different, too.

[liz-ensley.livejournal.com]

Heck, send in the pirates. Every story needs pirates. >=)

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

You have, in an odd way, inspired me... there will be at least ONE pirate!

Arrrrrrrrrr.

[liz-ensley.livejournal.com]

Heh. Arr, I be scrapin' yon barnacles off me coffeepot, now.

[tweetyiscool29.livejournal.com]

I'm having the same problem. Writing a prequel to last year's is starting to have downsides... I keep mixing up names (wanting to put the names of the MCs of last year in the place of the MCs of this year).

And last night my "alien" characters decided to speak in their language...which kindly reminded me how very much I hate it when they do that. Translating it is sooo time consuming (to the point that it's teh last thing I do before signing off for the night, lol)

I think it's just a normal week 2 thing. Hopefully things will perk up soon.

[rachelraven.livejournal.com]

Good God, I'm glad I'm just writing in English! I don't think I have it in me to translate "alien!"

[nanofluffmo.livejournal.com]

Lol by the time I finished, *I'd* be speaking alien, and they'd lock me up in the loony bin so I could gibber madly and bounce off walls without hurting myself.

Come to think of it, I could stand to do that now...

[tweetyiscool29.livejournal.com]

Lol, well, translating Alien->English isn't a problem, cuz I already have an idea of what it is they're saying, it's English->Alien that's troublesome. Silly me for coming up with such a strange and annoying method, lol

[erneuerung.livejournal.com]

What I chose to do when I got to that point (and it's not something I really recommend because it's frustrating as all hell) is to retype what I've written so far. And add things in. And pretty soon, it's fuller and I'm much less overwhelmed by the sheer sparseness of the thing.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Blow something up.

Seriously. It doesn't have to be a physical explosion, but turn something on its head and see if you can't rekindle your love by trying to get your characters out of peril.