When the book turns to work.. http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206 Writing_Ninja I love to write. I love it when people hear my voice. In nanowrimo, I happily plotted along. Of course what I wrote was a piece of crap, but it was a piece of crap that was workable and loveable. I've been stuck after Nanowrimo ended. I have written a few paragraphs here and there. I know I need to rework my whole plot line and story. Most, if not all, scenes are still usable. But since I have to rework it a lot, I find myself really sick of writing. I want to print it out and light it on fire. I don't really need a break as I haven't done much with it. But I really really really feel discouraged. I do deal with health issues, so it is very easily for me to fill over burden with things. I do Tai chi and all that stuff to help myself feel better. I have reached a point of being sick with everything. I guess I really just needed to rant. Has anyone else dealt with discouragement with working hard on their writing? Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:55:35 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1137971 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1137971 Itzika The only NaNo I ever finished (2010's) needed the following rewrites: - I had to cut half the main cast so I could actually develop the people who were left. - I had to cut a plotline I added just so I would make it to 50k. - I had to rewrite the way people joined the "family" so that they actually had time to get ridiculously good at what they did. - I had to come up with more subplots and more conflict for the main plot so it would actually be a decent-length novel. The result of all that? I've barely touched it since NaNo 2010 ended. I outlined the new draft, made the cuts to my cast, and wrote most of the new prologue/chapter one. Then I quit. I want to work with it. I want to get it into something good. It's an interesting plot and I love the characters, but a massive rewrite is just too much for me. It's why I don't outline my books--if I already know what's going to happen, I won't finish. So yeah, I've definitely dealt with discouragement. The other thing I've finished, a novella, I edited a bunch and then decided I wanted to change the premise of and make it into book two in a series. Once again, haven't touched it since. So if you're sick of it, there are really two things you can do. One: Try to find a way to make it fun again. Two: Ditch it for a while and find a story that interests you. Just because you haven't done a lot in terms of wordage doesn't mean you haven't done a lot. If you've been working on it for the past two and a half months, it might be time to take a break. What I did when I started editing my novella was I printed it out and made notes about what needed changing. You might try that, so you have something solid to work from. Use sticky notes if the changes won't fit in the margins (like for plot and story). That way you can work on it anywhere. And if you really get sick of it, you already have something to set on fire. ;) Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:31:44 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1138959 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1138959 Lydia_Ember In general, the editing process is not as dynamic or fun as churning out a draft for NaNo. It does get discouraging at times, especially when major things kike a main character, plot point or other major thing needs changing. My 2010 draft followed the wrong mc V_V# Taking a break from it doesn't mean you abandon it. Besides, if you seperate yourself from it for a bit, you may be able to see it differently and find the "spark" again. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:52:23 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139019 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139019 Writing_Ninja Thanks everyone! Good ideas Itzika. I'm going to do that when I have the whole first draft of my story. Last night after whining, I came up with the idea to trash the ending of my story. I've been trying to write it for months. Made me realize how I lost the direction of my whole story. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:58:50 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139139 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139139 aliaswriter This is exactly what had happened to me. November was hard for me because I was sick a lot during that month, so I had to write furiously in the end to catch up. Of course, because of that my writing was crap. So after November was over, I had a hard time trying to fix what I written. The scenes were still good, but the writing was terrible, and it was hindering me to write more. I couldn't think past it in order to even make it so that it made sense. And even though I had a general idea of the direction I wanted to take the story, something was missing that would make it cohesive, something that I couldn't put my finger on. So I ended up no longer interested in working on it. It got put off to the side. I don't even have a first draft done yet. But my sister kept telling me to finish it since I already worked so hard on it. So I sat down and really looked at it, and reworked the plotline. I still kept the individual scenes since they were each significant to the overall story, but I really assessed how to move the story along from Point A (the beginning) to Point B (the end). I first wrote out, in order, key events that would need to happen, then I listed each scene under the appropriate group. I then made scene cards for each, and wrote out a brief summary of the scene, and anything specific I wanted to make sure to include in the scene. I also noted, when necessary, to keep track, when a specific scene needed to occur (before or after so-and-so). Then I took the scene cards and transferred them to outline form, then checked it to see that it fell in a logical timeline. I saw where I needed to move scenes around, rewor scenes, and add scenes to the plotline. Now loose ends are tied, and everything makes sense. After I figured out what exactly I needed to write, I got excited about my story again. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:04:24 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139274 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139274 Writing_Ninja Yep. I was sick all november and had to rush the end. I think I have 20 pages of scenes that I won't use. Not that I purposely wrote bad scenes, but I was trying to do anything to move the plot along. :P I'm glad your story was exciting again. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:16:09 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1141760 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/50206?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1141760