Hello Everybody

I am having some problems continuing with my first novel.

I started slowly (over a year ago) but in the last few months have been really working at it. It’s now sitting at 6 chapters and 23,000 words and I’m stuck. I’ve read that there’s sometimes a problem continuing after the first quarter/third of a book is finished and the first “scene” is over.

Well that's exactly where I am. I keep starting chapter 7(I know what must be in it) but my inspiration has gone. Everything I write is dull, lifeless and frankly boring. It’s a horrible feeling, because I was feeling really happy and upbeat about chapters 5 and 6.

So I am asking for advice please!

What should I do? If the parts I’m trying to write are dull, should I just somehow omit them from the story? Should I find an alternative way of telling that part of the story? Or should I just leave it alone to gather dust until the muse strikes once again?

Any help / comments will be much appreciated!

Hi,
Yes, I've heard that there's a natural sticking point around that number of words. Are you writing to an outline - do you know what happens next, and if so, is that not inspiring you?
It's a toughie, but I'd say don't put it in the drawer and wait for inspiration to strike - inspiration is likely to cuddle up in the drawer too! Personally, I'd be inclined to forge on with it - as Emma says, write your 'shitty first draft' and once that draft's finished, you'll know much more clearly what works and what doesn't. I wonder if, because you've been really pleased with your last two chapters, you are comparing what you're now writing subconsciously and 'failing' it? In my own experience, writing is rarely smooth - there are peaks and troughs and everything in between. The trick is to keep writing through it - give yourself the permission for a while to write utter tosh, and I'm sure that the energy and inspiration will return.Good luck!
Susiex

Hi, Yes, a third or a quarter of the way through is often a sticking point, where you've used up your first bout of creativity, and - like a marathon runner - you hit a brick wall. I'm not sure if the important thing is to keep going, to write through it. It depends on you. You could try reading the last chapter and see if anything sparks off it. If no inspiration comes then I'd be tempted to move on to another writing project, and come back to this one as the mood strikes.

On a general note, there are often parts in the first draft where one skips over things, and it can help to go back and write them out more fully.

Also, 'scenes' - these are often short set pieces, and several can make up a chapter - so, eg, in it's simplest form: a scene in a coffee shop where A meets B - when they leave, together or apart, that is the change-over point to another scene.
Alternatively, the novel may be made up of two or three Parts: eg, Part 1 is set in 1860, Part 2 in 1980...etc.



- NaomiM

Hi, yes, I'm another who sticks a third of the way in. As Naomi says, the initial drive has died down, but you're not near enough the end to begin to feel you're rolling down the hill.

Personally, I'm of the keep-ploughing-on school, keeping going just plonking the necessary words down, accepting that this is shitty (aka boring) first draft. Sooner or later either you'll feel it gaining momentum, or another, different road will suddenly open up in front of you and you'll storm off down that on, and come back later to tidy things up.

But I know others who would put it in a drawer, keep on brooding over what should happen next, and come back to it when they feel energised about it again. Though as Susie says, you could get diverted from it for good.

Then there's a version of the Chandler techique: when you don't know what to write next (or what you thought you would write is suddenly dry-as-dust) make a man come through the door with a gun. In other words, can you do some free-thinking in and around your plans for the next chapter, and see if anything suddenly jumps up all multi-coloured and scary and blasts the dust away?

An in-between strategy would be to put it in a drawer for a week, say, or even a month. Then get it out whether you want to or not, sit somewhere else, and read it through as a reader coming new to it would. Hopefully you'll regain all the sense of the story's momentum you once had. Get to the end, stand up, go to the computer/notebook, and start writing what would happen next, even if it's quite different from what you thought it would be.

Emma

I would just add that as this is your first novel, it's probably best to do as Emma suggests and write through it. Maybe you won't keep much of what you've written but at least you'll get to the end of the first draft and have something to edit (you can't edit/rewrite blank pages) and it's all good practice. A writer needs a certain amount of steely determination if they are to finish anything, and at some point you'll look back and realise this was the easy bit.


- NaomiM

I was on a week-long workshop with Michele Roberts recently. The whole course was about firing inspiration and imagination, rather than the technical side. She advised that when you get stuck you should jump to another part, one that you feel more inspired to write. Another big scene, the ending, a choice encounter, a bit of sex, man walks in with a gun, etc. Up till now I've been a dogged plodder, working my way through the first draft following my plan slavishly, ignoring the dry patches; but I might try her approach next time.

~Rod

I think you should not give up, but do some brainstorming and try to spark the story up again. There's this tool free online:

http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/Brainstorm/BswOverview.aspx

click on 'random word' to get the form up. You type in your problem (whatever the point of plot is that you're stuck at) and it generates some random words for you to brainstorm on. It's cool!

I hit this wall a lot. I battled for a year once trying to rescuscitate a project because I was determined not to give in yet again. It was all in vain and when I finally, albeit very reluctantly, gave up I went on to finish my third novel. Since then, I have used the 20K battle as an indication of whether I need to give up. If I meet a total, unnegotiatable wall, then I move on to another project. If I can work through it, I'm on my way to completing another novel. This may sound like an overly black and white reaction but it works for me.

I have also started to ask myself questions about why I do this and the answers have been interesting and have helped me understand more about why I write. Basically, I have some great ideas and think up some fantastic situations but I find I can't translate these all into the sort of stories that I want to tell and enjoy. Instead, I find I am trying to stretch to writing a story which would be brilliant from someone else but seems trite to me and/or unfelt, if that makes sense and for this reason I don't enjoy the process.

Also, I lose faith if I think that it is unoriginal or just not special enough. I have also had great ideas, done weeks of really interesting research and then crashed and burned because I have discovered everything about what was going to happen too early on and lost interest as I tried to write it all down.

I don't for a second mean to imply that you should give up, we all work differently, but don't get bogged down in the feeling that you should be doing something just because. That is unlikely to be productive.


S

One thing that's worth remembering is that nothing you write is ever, ever wasted. Whether you go on hammering away at this one, and eventually look back and realise the 20K wall was, as Sarah T Suggests, telling you this novel didn't have a future, or whether you end up replacing every single word with something else, or whether you decide to abandon it completely, it's still writing that was worth doing: you learn so much about technique, and there may be characters/ideas/situations which you return to in other forms. And, ultimately, you'll have found out some important stuff about your writerly self and how it ticks.

Emma

Hello everyone

Thank you very much for all you replies. Sorry for my delayed reply.

To susieangela: I am writing to a very vague outline, but I think you are right, I know what happens next and it’s not really inspiring me. Presumably that means I must change the story, because if I’m not inspired to write, nobody will want to read it!

I also think you’re right that I’m comparing against the last two chapters. I enjoyed writing those and it all seemed to come out “just right.”

To NMott: Another writing project?? ☺ But I’ve got to finish this best-seller first! Seriously though, it hadn’t crossed my mind to start writing another book. It took me such a long time to get started on this one. I think my problem is that I am trying to get it perfect first time round – which I’m sure is adding too much pressure.

To EmmaD: Thanks Emma. The Chandler technique sounds very interesting; in fact just thinking about it has given me an idea to put in this impossible 7th chapter. The free-thinking has worked fairly well for me so far. I have been fortunate enough to think up some interesting extra bits as I wrote the first 6 chapters, and they made a big difference. In fact, they’ve helped setup some good plot twists for later on.

To Rainstop: Thanks Rod. That’s actually how I started writing this book in the first place – I started at chapter 3, and then worked backwards! Now you could say why don’t I jump on to start chapters 8 or 9 and come back to 7. Well … (if I’m being honest with myself) it’s probably because this part of the story is not as well planned as the first part was.

To Steerpike`s sister: Thanks, I tried it. Didn’t help much this time, but I can see that it could.

To SarahT: That is very, very interesting. I have thought the overall story through quite a lot but I am intending this novel to be the first of 6 books. I have planned in a general sense what happens in each book. I am determined not to give – this is my first novel attempt. I think that if I give up this, I may never come back and try again. The bit I’m not enjoying is when my characters have to (for example) go somewhere, I don’t to make the journey too short (in the story) but I don’t want to write boring “journey prose” either.

To EmmaD: Thanks again. My other creative passion is music, and everything you said in your second post also applies to music. Keep writing, because however bad it is, it’s better than not writing. And every word/note you write gives you experience.

Well I have some good news. This morning, I have finally made a proper start on this chapter. In fact, it was about four starts, and three were mostly thrown away, but at least now I have something on the screen (about 1200 words, so I am feeling happier).

Thank you all for you help. I’m so glad I joined this community.

Oh, well done, Tyrone!
And what a brilliant reply to each and every one of us!
Susiex

Thank you!

And it's the least I can do. If you are all kind enough to spend your time trying to help me, the least I can do is reply to you properly

The bit I’m not enjoying is when my characters have to (for example) go somewhere, I don’t to make the journey too short (in the story) but I don’t want to write boring “journey prose” either.

There are a couple of authors you might consider checking out for inspiration and how to structure such a section so as to keep the reader's interest:
Philip Pullman's 2nd bk - The Subtle Knife - which is all journey. Not his best effort (compared to bk.1), but at the very least you might learn from his mistakes (the boring 'journey prose' you refer to).
Terry Pratchett - many of his novels involve a long journey: Thief of Time features the novice monk Lobsang, travelling with the old mentor, Lu tze. Also Monstrous Regiment, where a mismatched group of raw recruits make their way to battle, with many adventures to keep the reader amused.


- NaomiM

I was going to suggest jumping on to another key scene that you have in your head, even if you haven't reached it yet, but that's pretty much what Rod suggests.

You can always fill in the rest later and in any case, you may find that once you've written that it can be moved around anyway.

Is the problem because you know roughly where you want to go, but there's some boring stuff that you need to get over to get there? My feeling is that if it's boring to write, chances are it'll be boring to read and the reader will be tempted to skim or even skip outright. I've found it's amazing the amount of stuff you think you need in, but actually don't, you can jump forward and refer to these "boring" chronological events with small chunks of retrospective stuff later, in thoughts or dialogue. I have often jumped ahead, with no idea how I'll connect the last part to the next, then it just comes to me when I'm not even thinking about it. Sometimes you just have to trust your brain to come up with the solution when you least expect it.

Having said this, I find a break can be good from time to time. After a week or two, you'll get the itch and have to go back to it by which time you have fresher eyes for what you've written and where to take it (and then of course real life comes at you left right and centre and you can't find the time, until you get so frustrated that you ban everyone from the house for a day and don't move from the keyboard or writing pad, even forgetting to eat).

There's another thread somewhere about thinking time. Don't underestimate the value of thinking time, it's as important as the actual words to paper time.

Some people seem to need to just push on through the tough times, others benefit from occasional breaks, you'll learn which type you are in time. Neither is better than the other, you have to do what works for you.

I've found it's amazing the amount of stuff you think you need in, but actually don't, you can jump forward and refer to these "boring" chronological events with small chunks of retrospective stuff later, in thoughts or dialogue.

I think this is very true, and there's an extremely useful technique in-between a sharp jump-cut and a continuing narrative, which is the single sentence or two, which move the narrative on continuously but swiftly.

But often you'll need to write a scene before you know the book doesn't need it, even though you did. I once wrote a long bus-journey from my character's home to that of his beloved, and later cut everything except 'He rang the doorbell'. But it was a classic example of writing time and words which weren't wasted: the process of deciding what to put in that bus journey meant I decided (aka found out) all sorts of things I might not have otherwise, and they definitely informed the next scene and the rest of the book, and all of it in revision. In other words, in the final novel it was a jump-cut, but I needed to know stuff the reader would be jumping over.

And the other way: generally speaking, I write first drafts straight through from beginning to end, but if I'm having a really crap day, rather than give up in despair when I'm completely blank as to the next bit, I have been known to make a note [D goes to J's house and they have an argument] and then jump ahead to the next bit I can see how to write - him mooching miserably along the Embankment and picking up a girl. And go back and write the previous scene when I do know what it needs. But it's rare for me to do that, because it's harder to know that the narrative drive is maintained, and to get both the foreshadowing and the repercussions of the scene I haven't written yet echoing properly in its surroundings.

Emma