We all like to write when we’re inspired, but
it’s no accident that writers often compare writing to pulling teeth. When you
are less than inspired, the writing process feels a little like carving up
pieces of yourself, slowly.
The tricky thing about this feeling, for me, is
knowing when to listen to it. Sometimes, the writing is broken. You don’t feel
inspired because you’ve misstepped somewhere along the way. Sometimes, you’re
just in a sticky spot and things are hard. Which is it this time? If you don’t
push through the rough spots on a project like a novel, you’ll never finish it.
But there are times when even if you push through, it is not even close to what
you meant to write. How can you tell? And what do you do if something is really
broken?
To answer the first question, there’s one
surefire way to tell if a story is broken. As the saying goes, if you’re bored,
your reader is bored. If you read back through the draft and nothing speaks to
you, or the parts that speak to you are not working with the rest of the story,
you have a problem. The next step is diagnosis. For me, one of the most
straightforward diagnosis tools is the outline. I will go through the story and
outline each chapter, plotting it out, and identify if something is missing, or
if it just doesn’t work. Then I will figure out what I can keep and what I
can’t, and incorporate the things I am keeping into a new outline. After that
it is about grooming and filling in the gaps. That is precisely the process I took
with DAUGHTER OF MADNESS. I cut at least 20,000 words from the first draft in
the rewrite, and filled in the gaps from scratch.
Rarely you just have to scrap a project. I once
got about 30,000 words into a novel and realized that it just wasn’t going to
work. I didn’t have a clear idea of where the story went next, and I wasn’t
happy with where the story had been. I wasn’t even sure if the original story
idea was still sound. In other words, there were major changes to be made, and
probably only the setting itself remained usable. I have since trunked that
story, though I hope to one day come back to the world, since I enjoyed playing
in it. Often, if a project is not working, you haven’t let the idea percolate
long enough. Give it some time to stew, and you might be able to make something
of it after all.
I encourage people to push through a troublesome
draft when they can, especially if it’s something you were really excited
about. Sometimes the slump is just that, and the story will cohese at the end.
If you write through, you at least have something you can edit and rewrite. If
you never finish the story, you just have a blank page. The agony of pushing
through is better than the disappointment of never finishing a piece.
Amanda J. McGee is fantasy author living in Southwest Virginia with
the love of her life and two cats. She likes baking, gardening, and flights of
fancy. You can find out more about her books and her blog at www.amandajmcgee.com.
Twitter: @skylit1
Facebook: facebook.com/amanda.mcgee13
Patreon: patreon.com/amcgee
Mother of Creation
Daughter of Madness
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2 Comments
Thank you for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteSuch a fabulous cover, I had to come over and say so. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
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