the slog

Sorry your 'slog through' period has returned, and I trust it will pass soon, but checking the responses to your previous threads may provide answers to your final question.

celticroots said:

How have you guys dealt with this?

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Every writer hits slogging periods. When this happens to me, I continue to slog until I find better footing. Or I take a break. Or work on something different. Or make something completely unexpected and exciting happen in the scene I'm working on. Any or all of those.

Slog: verb \ˈsläg\
: to keep doing something even though it is difficult or boring
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slog


So... ah... keep going. Or you can just slog somehow, like BethS suggested.

Osulagh said:

Slog: verb \ˈsläg\
: to keep doing something even though it is difficult or boring
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slog

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You feel like you aren't accomplishing enough, in what respect--story development? Page count?

Maybe the why isn't important. Sometimes words flow and sometimes, they dig in their heels. If the latter is happening right now, maybe work on something else. Or forge ahead, even if that means writing just a little bit, every day.

Regardless, right now it sounds like you are putting pressure on yourself.

Don't.

Stop editing pages and taking them to your writing group, and get to work. If you want to show a not to a writing group, or any other beta readers, don't do so with a work in progress. This helps no one, and just slows down the entire process. It also means you aren't writing your novel, you're writing theirs.

Finish the novel, polish it as much as possible, and then show it to your writing group. You get it written a heck f a lot faster, and when it is finished, it will be yours. At that point, your writing group can still give you ideas, but they want be interfering every step of the way.

Do you have a deadline? James is right that you are putting pressure on yourself. Perhaps your expectations aren't realistic. I find very emotional scenes take me longer to do. Sometimes I can breeze through a revision. Others require more thought and research to get right.

Right now I'm revising at a rate of a chapter a week. That's slow. But it's forward. The goal is to be done by the end of next summer. I can do that. It gives me time for other writing and for what life throws my way.

Unrealistic goals can cause you to slow down. You feel like you're trying to do the impossible and won't succeed so you fulfill that prophecy. Don't be too easy on yourself either though. You need enough pressure to keep the motivation up, but not more.

It can also help to record your accomplishments: Word count, time working, research done.

I hope this helps.

BethS said:

Every writer hits slogging periods. When this happens to me, I continue to slog until I find better footing. Or I take a break. Or work on something different. Or make something completely unexpected and exciting happen in the scene I'm working on. Any or all of those.

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Almost every writer.

I don't think I've ever slogged through anything I've written, either in the first draft or any of the revisions or rewrites.

(I sort of edit as I go anyhow, so there isn't very much to edit at the end.)

Many writers then?

There's a graph out there (somewhere, no idea where maybe someone will link it)

It starts off: OMG THIS IS THE GREATEST IDEA EVER, I WILL MAKE JK ROWLING EAT HER MILLIONS

A bit later...Well, it's a damned good idea

Then: This reminds me of book X and film Y and...

Then: This sucks

Then: This is the worst pile of drivel ever written....

I should finish it, because dammit. Also, it's character building

Huh maybe it doesn't suck as bad as I thought

It's ok. Maybe I can sell it?



Neil Gaiman did a Nano post one year about how he gets like this and rings his agent saying it's dreck, he should write something else. And his agent reminds him he says that every book.

It doesn't happen to every writer

But it happens enough it could be considered "normal". It even has a name -- the mid novel slump. Which is exactly where I am at right now. The only way past, is through. One hard fought word at a fucking time.

PS and yes, I have a deadline. And a new job and other woes. Be careful what you wish for!

jaksen said:

Almost every writer.

I don't think I've ever slogged through anything I've written, either in the first draft or any of the revisions or rewrites.

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Well, now you've just gone and made everyone hate you.

Mr Flibble said:

Many writers then?

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Maybe it depends on one's definition of slog?

To me, it means hitting a section where putting down words is like trying to chisel into bedrock with a toothpick. I knew how to write yesterday; why can't I write today?

Or it's when a scene lies there like roadkill that you don't remember running over. The latter is usually because I made a wrong turn somewhere, but the former could have any number of causes (distraction, lack of sleep, and so forth) or no cause at all. It just happens. The key is to remember that the words always come back. Always.