Right guys, here's the problem, I am really struggling to get any work done on my novel at the moment. The book is finished (in first draft form) and I'm trying to edit it into shape. Despite having more time to write than I've had in ages I can't seem to get motivated.
I have sent the usual sample chapters to agents and had 6 rejections so far. The thing is, I've got the concept for another novel and it's pestering me, I'm trying to be disciplined and finish editing my first but ideas for the second keep getting in the way. The upshot is, I get nothing done at all.
Do I shelve the first one, put it down to experience and crack on with the second or should I be firm with myself and finish it properly?

Help!

Gina.

Hi Gina, I undertand your frustration. While it's important to finish editing, you would be more motivated if you had a request for the full ms from an agent. In that case, I'm sure they'd give you a couple of weeks, SO why not get on with No 2 while it's fresh in your head. I find that if I think about ideas too much (and especially if I talk about them) they go stale and I don't feel like writing them.

Anyone else?

Elspeth

My advice would be to shelve the first one (somewhere safe - I don't mean bin it) and stop sending the chapters out. Leave it to mature for a few months and get on with the new project. When the first draft of that is pinned down, in a few months or so, you can go back to the other one and read it with fresh eyes. You'll get excited about it all over again and edit it much better than if you have to work at it.

I think.

Colin M

Gina, I know exactly how you feel and I agree with the others. Whatever you do, if you’ve got a new idea banging to get out of your head, don’t try to ignore it. You’ll only end up losing it and you still won’t be satisfied with your editing.

Get it down on paper or onto your PC. You’ll probably find that after a few days of spew-writing you can put it on one side and finish the editing.

This may not be the professional way to write – but what is? Just write whatever is uppermost in your mind and it will work.

I always write two novels at a time. I’ve never heard of anyone else doing this but it works for me. I don’t have the discipline to concentrate on one right through to the end – or the confidence that I’ll remember a good line if I don’t write it down straight away.

Do whatever you feel comfortable with and don’t try to conform to anyone else’s standard. We write because we are individuals – so do your own thing.

Dee.

Gina,

I agree with Elspeth and Colin.

Put the first one aside and get started on the new idea while it’s fresh and exciting. You never know where it will take you.

Good luck,

Dawn,


<Added>

and Dee...

Thanks, you have all confirmed what my gut feeling has been for months, trouble is I let my head have control over my writing far too much!
I bought myself a new notebook with a lovely purple cover ages ago and set it aside for the second novel. Can't wait to get scribbling in it. I'm so sad, is anyone else a stationary junkie? I can spend hours looking round wh smiths!

I will get writing and post the first chapter soon.

Cheers,

Gina.

Stationery junkie? We should start a support group!

I can spend hours in Staples. Or browsing through the stationery suppliers’ catalogues at work.

I have oodles of notebooks, pens, highlighters, paperclips. I fret if I get down to my last two reams of printer paper. And the saddest thing about it is that I very rarely write in longhand. Everything goes straight onto my laptop…

Dee.

A laptop, I wish. Although I find I can't write the first draft onto a computer. To get into that 'flow' I have to be writing in a notebook, not loose paper, with a pencil, never a pen. I then edit as I type it onto the computer and then cut/paste etc. Without my notebook I can't write at all!

Gina.

"spew-writing" what a colourful image.

I'd agree that's what's needed though, splash this second novel onto the page, and come back to the first later with a fresh outlook.

As for stationary, I seem to collect paper clips, and get distressed when I give people copies of my work, and don't get the paper-clips back. Odd hey?

I know the feeling.

I agree with everyone else. It is best to get on with your new novel while the ideas are fresh in your mind. As for the other novel, just let it be for a while because it can be hard to feel enthusiastic about it after you've been working on it for so long (and also getting rejections).

I'm sure once you get back to it after a short break, you'll find you feel excited about it again and the editing will be much better.

Hope this helps.

Marie

Thanks to you all for replying. I know that the answer seems obvious, deep down I was sure that I should shelve the first for a while. But all the 'write a novel' books I've read seem to bang on about finishing a book. When is it finished though? How long is a piece of string? This book has taken me years, although in my defence I've moved abroad and back and had a baby in that time, and to be honest I'm sick to death of it!
Now to get some research done and get this second one under way.

Gina.

Hi Gina,

I know what you mean. I've been having the same problems with my first novel. I've been writing that one for about 4 years now and in that time I've changed the title 4 times, rewritten the first chapter about a million times and I must be on the 5th or 6th draft of the whole manuscript by now. Believe me, I'm getting sick of it too!

But something keeps telling me not to abandon it.

I find working on other stuff helps a lot. I am currently working on a second novel and I am going to try some competitions for short stories and poems.

Good luck!

Marie

Same view as everyone else Gina. Get writing and stuff what's already been done for a while. By the way I now live abroad and am getting severe W H Smith withdrawal symptons.

Keep going, all the best

Jim

Maybe we should think of our first novels as apprentice pieces, you know test projects where we learn our craft and make mistakes. Read any writer's biography (with a few exceptions) and their early work is not usually highly regarded. I just hope I can finish this second book a bit faster, I can't take another four years!

Gina.