This may seem complete nonsense, but I've recently finished a novel (perhaps finished is not quite correct but right now I'm at a point where I can't do anymore with it). I've put it away for awhile and want to start on my next project. I have the plot, the characters, and all the ideas in place to begin, but I can't. I seem to be a little scared at the prospect of taking on such a huge challenge all over again.

The other book was fine because it was a new experience for me and I had no idea how hard a journey it was going to be, but now I do know and I can't seem to put a word in place to start me off!!

Is this normal or am I just making excuses? I desperately want to start, but each time I try my only thought is "God this is hard" over and over again!!

Kitkat, it's sooo normal, and specially, as you say, when you've got a new self-awareness (not to say self-consciousness) about what this writing business entails.

You may need more time away from the previous one: if you leave it longer with all this lovely new stuff bubbling away in your head, you may find that one day the lid blows off the pot and you just have to start writing.

Or, take your eyes away from the new mountain peak, which seems an impossible climb, and just tell yourself you're going to write the first chapter. Or first page. Or first sentence. You can stop after that... but I bet you won't want to. (I wait till the first sentence occurs to me, and once I've got that down the second seems to arrive, and so on.)

Or are you daunted by the thought of getting it right? (Lots of us are, though your post doesn't sound quite like that.) It's worth remembering that everything you write is provisional, nothing is set in stone, and once you've got something - anything - on paper, then you can start getting it right.

Emma

Thanks Emma. I feel slightly better knowing it's normal!

I think my main concern, as you say, is the huge mountain in front of me. I've already accepted that I need to write something and I can always correct it later, it's just that the whole process seems so daunting now!

I think I'll take a breather, put everything to one side, and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Oh gawd, sooo normal, like Emma says.

Every time I stop writing for a few days I have to psyche myself up to start again. I sort of lose my nerve.

I agree with the others - totally normal. I'd say just write some bits - maybe start with a bit of dialogue if that's the stuff that comes best to mind - or maybe an internal monologue of one of your characters, thinking about some key problem they are facing in the book. Without even the intention/expectation of actually using it in the finished book in this or any other form, necessarily - just as a way of exploring the characters/relationships/issues, and/or experimenting with their 'voices', biut at the same time getting words flowing and breaking that blank-sheet-of-paper feeling.

I'm a great believer that the best way to banish the hold of the last book is to get stuck into the next one.

Rosy

When I feel like that I tell myself I'll only write for fifteen minutes. Once they're up I'm usually into it, and if not, I do something else, as planned. I also like sidling up to it by making 'notes' which are actually a rough draft of a scene.
But if you've just put down the pen on the last book, a bit of fallow time is probably necessary.
Cherys

the best way to banish the hold of the last book is to get stuck into the next one.

It can work quite well too to write something different for a while - short fiction, poetry, non-fiction. Not only is a novel a very big mountain to contemplate, if you're writing novels with even half an eye on getting them published, that outcome can really dominate your thinking. Whereas trying something (maybe for the first time) for which you don't have such fierce ambitions can free you up, give you a sense of achievement much sooner than a novel can because it's shorter, and remind you why you do this stuff.

Emma

Yes, this is something I recognise. I haven't written fiction for ages now. I need a good kick up the arse.

*boots Roger*



Kitkat - I would divide it up into a lot of chapters, or small boxes or draw a diagram and slot all the action in. Draw lines to sew up threads in the novel.
Maybe write the start of each chapter, or write the chapters that are easiest first.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, there's certainly a lot of useful tips here.

Gillian - very spooky, I did just that last night. I sat down and put the whole idea into neat little boxes, each scene, every twist and turn that I had in mind. I figured even if I take a step back for a few weeks, at least I won't forget what had been rattling around in my head! I have to admit after I'd finished, I felt a lot better. I'd arranged my thoughts into some sort of order and I began to picture it all a little better. Very useful!

Kitkat,
Do you have any scenes in your head and little boxes that really excite you? Maybe drafting them out would start you on the way, or flashbacks, that you don't need to use, of how characters met, or interacted before the story started. I have tried both these things and find it helps, especially when the chapters or sections I need to write won't flow.
Take care and enjoy the sunshine
Tracy

Ouch, Gillian! But thanks! Ngggrrr (sound of straining) - no, still no fiction! I think I need more drastic treatment!

Kitkat, I felt similarly after finishing my first novel and knew, for me, it was important to make a start on the 2nd, to prove to myself that wasn't all I had in me.

After a lot of procrastination, I set myself the task of very quickly jotting down a few very different novel outlines under strict time limits - a bit like rapid sketching. Somehow, without thinking too intensively, it seemed to get the ideas flowing and I came up with a couple of rough plots I quite liked, chose one and am well into it now while editing the first.

Hope this helps,

Susanna

I'm in the same situation - have finished the first and edited the living daylights out of it only to fear that it's still crap. I've started the second but it seems so futile. Don't think I'm scared to write, just disheartened. Yet I have to do it anyway. Sigh.

I don't have any advice to give other than to get on and write any damn thing, which is what I'm trying to tell myself.

mmm hmmm, I know this feeling. I'm just starting to edit first proper novel and am terrified it's rubbish and don't want to do it. I think it's all part of the process, though.
If you've got your plot, which it sounds like you do, why not write about your characters - sort of back story, nothing that has to be used, but maybe by getting to know them they will be greater in your mind and you won't be able to keep a lid on them, as Emma said. This really worked for me as I enjoyed making up little stories about people which wouldn't be seen but would affect their behaviour. I suppose because the pressure was off. This, however, has not helped me to think of a title, which is way too much pressure...!
Good luck and how exciting to be starting again on another idea - have a rest first though.