The Wall
Have you hit it yet? The wall? That thing that stops us from moving forward?
I have. I’m there. My story is a total piece of shit and I can’t go any further. I want to print it out and toss it in my fireplace to use as kindling. It’s crap. It’s worthless. I’ve never written such dreck in my entire life.
Fortunately, I’ve been writing long enough to know I hit this wall with every book I write–the point where I realize the book I’m writing is toast and I need to start over.
So what do I do when I hit the wall? I keep going.
Imagine that with every book you write, you hit the wall, stop, dump the entire thing and start over with a brand new project, one you love. It’s so much better than the last one that wasn’t working. Your fingers fly, the story shines…
Until you hit the wall again. And believe me, you will. So you stop, dump the entire thing and start over with a brand new project, one you love. And so on and so on…
As Lauren said in her post yesterday, revisions are your friend. But you can’t revise what isn’t written.
So while I’m stomping around and cussing and hating life and this story, I keep going. I will finish. I have to finish. And when I do, I’ll turn this piece of shit into a book.
Kick that wall down or walk around it. But don’t ever give up and start over. Kiss of death for a writer.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:31 am
It is awful isn’t it, the temptation to only work on WIP’s that are running smoothly. The characters make sense, they behave and do your bidding, when the other lot… You can get on bended knee and not get the thing to work your way no matter what you threaten them with, or bribe, or blackmail.
I have watched my Story Dump pile keep on piling up and it made me itchy because it was testimony to the fact that I couldn’t finish anythi
There is something to be said for running up that hill when you’d rather slide it down on your ass because that is what you’ll feel like. At least I did. A jackass who can’t finish anythi
So I’ve made a habit of running for the door. And there is a door in that wall. I go in search of it. Doesn’t matter what I’ll find on the other side: a way out or just another dead end. No matter how minuscule the hatch, how small the ‘Exit’ sign, no matter how hard the search, I know it’s there.
There is a door. There always is.
December 12th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Yeah, I am at the wall right now. I’ve actually been kind of embarassed about checking in, so… I kind of haven’t been. It’s frustrating. I know I need to push through it, but I feel like I took a wrong turn somewhere and I’m just sort of floundering and trying to find my way back to the path.
December 12th, 2008 at 8:07 am
A few weeks into Sven I hit a wall and decided to toss what I had (which was about 30K) and totally start over. I questioned my sanity at the time but this was a wall I’d hit several times before and had pushed through but had gotten nothing but a crap draft. Starting over is a super-radical decision but one I don’t regret. I’m at the 21K mark now and moving at a much better rate. Some mornings I think I’m going to hit a wall and I don’t. But at the same time, because I’ve pushed through walls in the past I know I can do it again.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I think this wip is one long wall, lol
For a fortnight, I’ve written no more than 500 words on it a day. I can usually manage 1k min, 2k on a good day, so now I feel like throttling the bloody thing and moving onto something else.
But…it has to be done by the end of December. I’m at 12k and I think it’s a 25k story (sometimes they surprise me and it’ll be a little bit longer) So, I have no choice but to battle through it, cursing the characters and writing in general, lol
At least the sex scene is now half done
Fingers crossed it moves faster after that.