is this normal?

Status
Not open for further replies.

BenStephenson

Registered
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
halifax
Website
oncetherelivedaboy.blogspot.com
i've recently completed the final draft of my first novel, and got an agent, and the book is being sent out to publishers currently. near the end of the writing of the book, i started a new project. that was like five months ago. but now, i can barely work on the new project at all: everything i write seems like something i WOULD write, or something i've already thought about, or something boring, and it's making me just doubt my writing completely, and almost hate writing. i feel like i might have written the only book i will ever write.

i feel like these might be normal problems, but it's really scary. just when i thought that i might be able to make a career out of this thing, it seems so so so far away from me. i don't even have interest in it. i can barely even read books.

if anyone has experienced this, what did you do? did you take a long break from writing?
 

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman
Super Moderator
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
22,454
Reaction score
4,956
Location
In chaos
First thing, Ben: congratulations on finishing your first novel, and on finding yourself an agent. Who is it? Did you check them out fully here and at Preditors and Editors before signing?

The problems you're having with your writing now seem pretty normal to me. I think we all have similar problems at one time or another. I can't tell you how you should deal with them, but I usually write a few different short pieces, or some non-fiction, to distance myself from the troublesome project. When I return to it I can usually work out what's wrong.

Good luck.
 

BenStephenson

Registered
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
halifax
Website
oncetherelivedaboy.blogspot.com
hey, thanks. yeah, i've been working on some smaller pieces, and a lot of poems and small random stuff, but i've been worrying that those things are feeling more meaningful to me now i guess (which isn't a negative thing, except that i do have another half-of-an-idea for a book, that i wish i could work on).

my agent is John Pearce. he's with westwood creative artists (a canadian agency). i did some research on him before signing, yeah. he has been pretty awesome so far. he used to be a publisher and has lots of experience in the business. he used to be timothy findley's editor and stuff. i kind of lucked into it, i just approached him at a conference and told him i had a manuscript he might like. haha.

ugh
back to writing side-projects, i guess. maybe i'll just intuitively know when i should be working on the new book again.
 

LittleSpider

Has a toddler with a bright future in comedy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
57
Reaction score
4
Location
Boston-ish, MA
Website
www.teenmama.org
After I wrote my first/only novel so far, I didn't write much at all for several months. I think sometimes after big projects, so much has been taken out of you (you in the general sense) that you need to rest for a little while. You've been immersed in one world with one set of characters, you've told one story you absolutely had to tell, and now you're a little empty. I generally think one needs to write every day whether inspired or not, but the time after finishing something really big might be an exception to that.
 

BenStephenson

Registered
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
halifax
Website
oncetherelivedaboy.blogspot.com
thanks, spider
that's exactly how i feel. empty, and like i've left behind that old world.
i'm also worried that if i plan the next thing tooo much in this time, that it'll go in a direction it isn't necessarily meant to. yesterday i decided to just let myself be ok with taking a break for a while, and doing other things.
how's your next project(s) going?
 

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,212
Reaction score
15,821
Location
Australia.
i've recently completed the final draft of my first novel, and got an agent, and the book is being sent out to publishers currently. near the end of the writing of the book, i started a new project. that was like five months ago. but now, i can barely work on the new project at all: everything i write seems like something i WOULD write, or something i've already thought about, or something boring, and it's making me just doubt my writing completely, and almost hate writing. i feel like i might have written the only book i will ever write.

i feel like these might be normal problems, but it's really scary. just when i thought that i might be able to make a career out of this thing, it seems so so so far away from me. i don't even have interest in it. i can barely even read books.

if anyone has experienced this, what did you do? did you take a long break from writing?


It's normal. Don't panic. You need to fill up again. Read, chat, listen to music, get out and go people-watching, see films, read some more, go to the theatre, opera, listen to comedy. Catch up with all the things you missed while you were immersed in the writing.

At my house we call it "Feeding The Beast".

Very best of luck with your submission!
 

LittleSpider

Has a toddler with a bright future in comedy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
57
Reaction score
4
Location
Boston-ish, MA
Website
www.teenmama.org
thanks, spider
that's exactly how i feel. empty, and like i've left behind that old world.
i'm also worried that if i plan the next thing tooo much in this time, that it'll go in a direction it isn't necessarily meant to. yesterday i decided to just let myself be ok with taking a break for a while, and doing other things.
how's your next project(s) going?

I haven't started anything else big yet. I've just written short stories since then, while letting the novel "settle" and then editing/revising it. I don't feel ready to start another huge project quite yet. I haven't found another world/idea I'm willing to commit to on that large of a level.
 

MkMoore

Treasure-hunter
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 28, 2010
Messages
185
Reaction score
15
Location
Spaaace
Website
lessthanheroic.net
I finished my first MS on Christmas Eve (technically Christmas, since it was like 3AM. I was a zombie the next day. A happy zombie.) I couldn't even think about a new book for months.

I had a similar experience recently, after I shelved a long project. I felt a little paralyzed afterward, but without the sense of accomplishment. In this case, I actually found it helped to dive into something new, even though I only had half an idea of what I was getting into.

Sometimes, writing is just psychological torture...
 

nocomposer

likes to write stories
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Messages
108
Reaction score
5
Website
www.cravenwrites.com
This is a scary thing to hear!

But, for the sake of argument, so what? You'll only ever write one novel. Is it the end of the world? Is it the end of YOUR world? Some on these forms might say so...hell, I might even say so. But I think we'd be wrong.

You're obviously a capable human being. You can accomplish just about anything you want. Does it have to be another book? A writing 'career?'

Don't get me wrong, it'd be awesome if you kept writing. But writing is no more or less important than lawnmowing or gravedigging or...anything.

In essence: you're the killer bee's knees, the tiger's pajamas. Cheer up!!
 

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
43,746
Reaction score
8,652
Location
Los Angeles
Website
www.amazon.com
I have the exact problem now. I finished my WIP and am submitting them. I also started on a new novel, but I'm a hard to time focusing on it, writing it. It's not that I'm busy subbing...

But at least I'm still brainstorming, and have come up with quite a few exciting plots for the new project.
 

AlekT

Alexander
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
51
Reaction score
6
So, what's normal?

I've always been an avid reader but never felt I had the creativity to write fiction -- short stories or novels. A few years back, on a dare, I sat down and wrote the first scene in what was to become a novel. Nine months later, I had my first draft completed.

Since then, I've pulled it out and edited it through several more drafts, but I have never been able to put it aside and sit down and start something new. That story and those characters won't let me leave them.

I know that all I have to do is sit down and start writing just like I did back then. But, then, I always had a problem with procrastination. Then again, that may be the only novel I have in me.
 

AVbd

Sasha Boyd
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
35
Reaction score
3
Location
NSW, Australia
As insane as you might think me, I always find it helps to just talk to myself when I have problems like this. I'm not a published author though, just so you know. I like to just get everything out in the open, allowing myself to say anything that I think — even if the judgmental part of me says, ‘no, that's stupid, don't say that’ — and then just trying to figure out if it's a reasonable way to think. This page on thought mistakes might be useful here.

Of course, that's just something to think about, and it applies more to me because I've had some pretty shitty anxiety problems in the past that stop me doing even basic things.
 

gayle12

Write. Edit. Publish. Repeat.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
62
Reaction score
6
Location
Portland, OR
Website
gaylefmoffet.com
I think you're all right. I went two months without writing recently and traced it back to general submission fatigue. I'd spent a year writing like crazy and submitting like crazy, and I hit a point where I had a stack of pieces out and decided to take a week off before trying to work on anything else. Two months later, I'm back in the swing. I think your brain recognizes there's been an accomplishment and just needs to reboot. It'll clear up.

Gayle
 
Status
Not open for further replies.