I have hit it. My writing is sloppy, chunky, crunchy and I can't seem to get into the flow of my 16, 000 weekend. I am desparing of finishing a decent, readable novel. I feel like I'm drifting around and my characters want to take a break, they don't trust me writing them anymore. So I've hit the wall. I feel like I'm borrowing through it with a spoon. Like Andy in Shawshank Redemption.
So I know that I'm halfway there.
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Superhero name...Sparklebutt
52,823 / 50,000
Nov 18, 2007 - 14 23
Amen! Go tell it on the mountain.
I hit that point quite suddenly and messily last night. I'm stlll trying to recover. This evening I'll be going out to see a movie -- hopefully the different type of input will clear the clog in my creative gears. I didn't write anything last night but I'm determined to knock together something when I get home tonight, no matter how bad it might be.
Hang in there. There's lots of others in the same boat (cold comfort, I know, but at least you're not alone in your misery...)
55,387 / 50,000
Nov 18, 2007 - 22 36
Decent? Readable?
Who said there was a requirement to be decent or readable?
Case in point: In coffeeshop tonight, I am writing endless stream of dialogue in carriage mostly consisting of variants on everyone trying not to talk about the dead guy. My sister is writing a raunchy sex scene. My brother in law has abandoned his novel for the night and digressed into a random meander about the band Kiss.
Take a night off. Like Laurie suggested; go see a movie or read something else for a while. And then, if you still don't know what to write, pick it up at a point father along. You can always backfill later. Have your characters get into a sugar packet fight in a restaurant or something and see where it goes.
Don't give up, just give it twenty four hours and something COMPLETELY different (I find video games work well here) and come back to it. It's quite normal to hit the wall at some point; usually it's week two, you're just a bit of a late bloomer. :)
-Bets-
50,016 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2007 - 14 14
Dang. I hadn't written since Saturday, and all I've managed to scratch out today so far are 800 words. And that took two hours. I would like to bang my head against this wall.
(headwall)
And now one of my characters chooses to have an existential/identity-based crisis! I only hope he doesn't come out of it a stronger person or the ensuing (I hope) catastrophes won't be as much fun.
EDIT: Maybe I should add, though, that I gave in last night and let myself watch a movie for the first time in ages. Somehow, Batman Begins did a good job of clearing my head. Mmmmmmm, Dr. Crane.
50,009 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2007 - 14 44
I hit sludge in my case, then. Heh. I just kept moving way too slow, and now I'm 6k in the hole. But I'm slowly getting up there. It helps when I talk with people about whats happening in my plot. That way I can plan it out, sort of.