What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

Sonsofthepharaohs · Sep 18, 2014

phantasy said:
Either I go read a scene in novel with a similar flavor or intention, or I go write something new for awhile. Honestly, you just need time. I also mentally obsess about the problem for awhile and let my brain subconscious process for a few days.

Yeah, I've been trying that for a few weeks. Mentally obsessing about it seems to be making it worse

phantasy said:
Or...your scene sucks. No offense, this might mean there's a lack of excitement for you in the scene, you may need to add some punch to it. Something that'll make it exciting for you to read. It doesn't have to be action. It can be witty banter, stronger voice, an interesting mood or description, etc.

I recognised this a while ago, and brainstormed with a writing buddy until I came up with something to make it more exciting, add more conflict to it. But the blockage happens before that can be introduced, so it's still not helping. I'm a linear writer, so this blockage is holding everything else up, not just in the scene, but the rest of the book.

phantasy said:
Or...ask someone for help. I can give you a quick look if you want.

Thanks, that's kind of you, but I don't know how much help you could be without knowing the story. This takes place in chapter 25, 120k into the story, and context would take a long time to explain... plus, there's really not enough scene to even comment on. It really is just random disjointed sentences that don't add up to much

phantasy · Sep 18, 2014

Kallithrix said:
I recognised this a while ago, and brainstormed with a writing buddy until I came up with something to make it more exciting, add more conflict to it. But the blockage happens before that can be introduced, so it's still not helping. I'm a linear writer, so this blockage is holding everything else up, not just in the scene, but the rest of the book.

Then, whatever scene this is, may need to be gotten rid of. I'm sensing a lack of tension before the conflict starts? Can't say how important it is, but if not much is going on the reader might not even care about it.

Or you just need to pass by it fast. You can write a couple general sentences of what's supposed to happen, then move on to the next scene. Don't let it stall you, it'll make things worse, you need to be writing and exercising your skills. You may not figure this out until the book is done.

I know how tough it can be. Good luck!

Sonsofthepharaohs · Sep 18, 2014

phantasy said:
Then, whatever scene this is, may need to be gotten rid of. I'm sensing a lack of tension before the conflict starts? Can't say how important it is, but if not much is going on the reader might not even care about it.

I tried skipping over it and reporting the highlights in a later scene, but... that was even worse. The thing is, I think it's inherently quite an exciting and important scene - the shit has just hit the fan, and the MC has been summoned to a crisis council with his superiors. The three superiors each propose a different course of action, and each is equally as bad for the MC - not only will it mean losing his job and giving his arch nemesis (antag) more power, it would be a huge injustice towards the group of people about to be wrongfully blamed.

He needs to challenge their assumption about who is actually responsible for this disaster, and convince them to let him deal with it his own way. The head of the council agrees to give him three days to prove his theory and catch the culprits, or they will invoke the antag's plan.

In the midst of all this is a coded conversation going on between the MC and the antag, whereby they each threaten to expose secrets about each other to the head of the council in order to discredit the other. The reader knows what they're referring to, and that they can only reveal their damning secret about the other at personal cost. It's a stalemate, but it's the first time they have really shown each other their hand.

I think once it gets going it will be a tense scene. It's the getting going part that's giving me the trouble.

I will try to write past it, but knowing a scene is unfinished always leaves me with this nagging little splinter I can't help thinking will go septic if i leave it...

J.S.F. · Sep 18, 2014

Newest project is up to around 15000 words, not all quality, but it's off to a good start. It involves a forensic scientist, an individual who has a habit of stealing organs, a hitman for the Mob who won't take no for an answer, and a whole bunch of corpses. We'll see...but it's fun so far...

WriteMinded · Sep 18, 2014

Kallithrix said:
I. Can't. WRITE!

Been staring at the same scene - actually the same opening paragraphs of the same scene - for weeks now, and I simply cannot bring it to life. It's just a collection of random sentences that all serve some individual purpose, but don't add up to any sort of coherent scene. No matter how much I brainstorm it, outline it, try to re-imagine it, it still just won't friggin BUDGE.

What do people do when they come across this problem?

Sorry, I know how that feels.

Can you work on another part of the book for a while?

Start the scene at a later point?

Throw out those sentences and start with a blank page so you aren't stuck in the same circle?

Take a vacation?

Get a massage?

Melanii · Sep 18, 2014

rwm4768 said:
You could even combine the two. Dark fairy tales can make great stories.

This is probably odd, but it's like, I know what fairy tales are, but at the same time I don't. XD

I have to figure out what makes a story a fairy tale and not just some fantasy. Then I can begin to do a dark fairy tale.

Blinkk · Sep 18, 2014

Kallithrix said:
I. Can't. WRITE!

Been staring at the same scene - actually the same opening paragraphs of the same scene - for weeks now, and I simply cannot bring it to life. It's just a collection of random sentences that all serve some individual purpose, but don't add up to any sort of coherent scene. No matter how much I brainstorm it, outline it, try to re-imagine it, it still just won't friggin BUDGE.

What do people do when they come across this problem?

Ug, that hurts. I know this feeling all too well. I had to scrap my intro scene and rewrite it and that process took me four months. I pretty much just kept bashing my head against the keyboard until progress was made. Must've tackled that dumb thing close to twenty times.

I can't tell you what worked for me. Each rewrite was a step closer to the final product, but I didn't realize it at the time. The only thing I can tell you is that by not writing, you're not getting closer to the right version.

I feel like this advice doesn't help much.

Maybe try scrapping it, writing it again, then taking the two versions and combining them? That's what I had to do several times.

Melanii · Sep 18, 2014

I've felt that way before. Not sure what I did, though. I think I ended up restarting the whole book.

Speaking of, I believe I have some sort of love-hate relationship with my WIP. Somedays I can't get it out of my mind and all I want to do is write it, and other times--like today--it feels forced or... or something.

I'm not sure what I'll do, though.

phantasy · Sep 18, 2014

Kallithrix said:
I tried skipping over it and reporting the highlights in a later scene, but... that was even worse. The thing is, I think it's inherently quite an exciting and important scene - the shit has just hit the fan, and the MC has been summoned to a crisis council with his superiors. The three superiors each propose a different course of action, and each is equally as bad for the MC - not only will it mean losing his job and giving his arch nemesis (antag) more power, it would be a huge injustice towards the group of people about to be wrongfully blamed.

He needs to challenge their assumption about who is actually responsible for this disaster, and convince them to let him deal with it his own way. The head of the council agrees to give him three days to prove his theory and catch the culprits, or they will invoke the antag's plan.

In the midst of all this is a coded conversation going on between the MC and the antag, whereby they each threaten to expose secrets about each other to the head of the council in order to discredit the other. The reader knows what they're referring to, and that they can only reveal their damning secret about the other at personal cost. It's a stalemate, but it's the first time they have really shown each other their hand.

I think once it gets going it will be a tense scene. It's the getting going part that's giving me the trouble.

I will try to write past it, but knowing a scene is unfinished always leaves me with this nagging little splinter I can't help thinking will go septic if i leave it...

This does sound like an interesting scene! All that possible wit and intrigue...Tough too, but maybe you should pump yourself up a bit. Like 'a challenge, I eat challenges for breakfast!'

It also sounds like you're having writer's strange fright. Where you think it's suppose to come out a certain way and if doesn't why even try.

Hmm, my next suggestion would be for you to just free write the scene. Write bad, write strange, write out of order, write what comes to mind. Make it messy, go in and out of POVs, tangents. Just pages and pages of free writing, until you either get into the flow or you find snippets you like to use for later.

Good luck!

Atalanta · Sep 18, 2014

I counted all the queries I've critiqued in QLH and I'm up to 55. As impressive as that sounds (or maybe it doesn't?) it still hasn't banished the darkness from my brain. I'm still completely clueless when it comes to my own query. It's tremendously frustrating.

msza45 · Sep 18, 2014

Atalanta said:
I counted all the queries I've critiqued in QLH and I'm up to 55. As impressive as that sounds (or maybe it doesn't?) it still hasn't banished the darkness from my brain. I'm still completely clueless when it comes to my own query. It's tremendously frustrating.

Just post it! Let us help banish the darkness from your brain.

rwm4768 · Sep 18, 2014

Atalanta said:
I counted all the queries I've critiqued in QLH and I'm up to 55. As impressive as that sounds (or maybe it doesn't?) it still hasn't banished the darkness from my brain. I'm still completely clueless when it comes to my own query. It's tremendously frustrating.

I know the feeling. Critiquing other queries helps you avoid some of the big mistakes. But you still have to work to figure out the right details to include in your query.

Blinkk · Sep 18, 2014

I get a whole week off! I'm going down to my grandparents to house sit while they go away on vacation. You know what this means, right? No work, no responsibilities, just me, grandpa's dog, and a good ol pen (or word doc).

I've got a friend's story to edit while I'm there as well, and the experience is going great. She's actually part of this thread which is really cool.

For what it's worth, I really love the community on here. I've met some great people, gotten golden advice and grown tenfold.

AND I might even gather up my courage and finally post my first chapter in SYW. It's a novella, and it's already been read by two people, but for some reason I get a little scared when posting on here. You guys are good writers - the family members I gave it to are not. Haha, but it gets easier to be critiqued by your peers each time you do it, right?

Lillith1991 · Sep 18, 2014

This story needs a damn climax! My brain is obsessing over it and won't let me move on to plotting the end until it does. I wish I was a pantser, then I would just be discovery writing instead of fighting to find a climax for a story that's only got a couple mental snippets.

Marlys · Sep 18, 2014

Kallithrix said:
I tried skipping over it and reporting the highlights in a later scene, but... that was even worse. The thing is, I think it's inherently quite an exciting and important scene - the shit has just hit the fan, and the MC has been summoned to a crisis council with his superiors. The three superiors each propose a different course of action, and each is equally as bad for the MC - not only will it mean losing his job and giving his arch nemesis (antag) more power, it would be a huge injustice towards the group of people about to be wrongfully blamed.

He needs to challenge their assumption about who is actually responsible for this disaster, and convince them to let him deal with it his own way. The head of the council agrees to give him three days to prove his theory and catch the culprits, or they will invoke the antag's plan.

In the midst of all this is a coded conversation going on between the MC and the antag, whereby they each threaten to expose secrets about each other to the head of the council in order to discredit the other. The reader knows what they're referring to, and that they can only reveal their damning secret about the other at personal cost. It's a stalemate, but it's the first time they have really shown each other their hand.

I think once it gets going it will be a tense scene. It's the getting going part that's giving me the trouble.

I will try to write past it, but knowing a scene is unfinished always leaves me with this nagging little splinter I can't help thinking will go septic if i leave it...

I hear you--I have to write in order, too, and if I can't get past a scene it means there's something wrong. Sometimes it's the scene itself--I need a new take on it.

What would happen if your character gets called to the conference...and he's drunk? Or he's just got some good/bad world-shaking news, and is having a hard time concentrating? What if someone else in the scene isn't acting according to expected script--he's getting either unexpected help or unexpected trouble?

Shake him up, and try writing it that way--and tell yourself it's just an exercise. Maybe it will turn out great. Maybe it will reinforce that the way you originally envisioned the scene is perfect...and now that you've got this version on screen, you can tweak it to make it what you first pictured.

There's another possibility, though--sometimes when I can't get going on a new scene, it's not THAT scene that turns out to be the problem. It's an earlier scene that is nagging at me, and I often don't identify what the problem is until I go back and re-read carefully. So give a hard look at what you wrote immediately before you got stuck, too.

Best of luck!

Sonsofthepharaohs · Sep 18, 2014

Marlys said:
I hear you--I have to write in order, too, and if I can't get past a scene it means there's something wrong. Sometimes it's the scene itself--I need a new take on it.

What would happen if your character gets called to the conference...and he's drunk? Or he's just got some good/bad world-shaking news, and is having a hard time concentrating? What if someone else in the scene isn't acting according to expected script--he's getting either unexpected help or unexpected trouble?

Shake him up, and try writing it that way--and tell yourself it's just an exercise. Maybe it will turn out great. Maybe it will reinforce that the way you originally envisioned the scene is perfect...and now that you've got this version on screen, you can tweak it to make it what you first pictured.

There's another possibility, though--sometimes when I can't get going on a new scene, it's not THAT scene that turns out to be the problem. It's an earlier scene that is nagging at me, and I often don't identify what the problem is until I go back and re-read carefully. So give a hard look at what you wrote immediately before you got stuck, too.

Best of luck!

Thanks Marlys. I've been chipping away at it again today, and something is shaking loose, but I'm still not sure it's going in the right direction. Why is it that when you want characters to be focused on one thing, they keep getting distracted by trifles and going off on tangents?? *sigh*

SpinningWheel · Sep 19, 2014

Where has my motivation gone?

MakanJuu · Sep 19, 2014

Was wondering about adding a quick POV scene cut into the middle of scene three from a character in the other room, but it was not working out the way I'd hoped & was really just in the way. Ironically, also worried about the conversation she's overhearing. It feels way too much like exposition & not very organic.

carlstevenswriter · Sep 19, 2014

My thought of the day on writing is "What does the cover really have to do with the writing?" I have never read a book for the cover. If you have, could you please explain why to me? Thanks.

Gringa · Sep 19, 2014

Atalanta said:
I counted all the queries I've critiqued in QLH and I'm up to 55. As impressive as that sounds (or maybe it doesn't?) it still hasn't banished the darkness from my brain. I'm still completely clueless when it comes to my own query. It's tremendously frustrating.

only 55?

POST IT! Everyone's waiting....

Blinkk · Sep 19, 2014

carlstevenswriter said:
My thought of the day on writing is "What does the cover really have to do with the writing?" I have never read a book for the cover. If you have, could you please explain why to me? Thanks.

I will pick up a book in the store if it has a cool cover. I won't decide to read a book solely on its cover, but I'm conscious of artwork (I love artwork) and I'm aware of my browsing habits. Nice covers certainly catch my eye, but if the blurb sounds stupid, back to the shelf they go. Good covers don't hurt.

Just my two cents. (Maybe someone who isn't a visual artists wants to throw in their input too - I may be biased because I really like visual art, and being a visual artist...well...I like my paintings.)

rwm4768 · Sep 19, 2014

carlstevenswriter said:
My thought of the day on writing is "What does the cover really have to do with the writing?" I have never read a book for the cover. If you have, could you please explain why to me? Thanks.

The cover does tend to say something about what kind of book it's going to be, or at least how they're trying to market the book, especially in science fiction and fantasy. More serious books will tend to have more realistic cover. Less serious (sometimes cheesy) books will have one of those ridiculous cartoony covers that makes you cringe.

Then, of course, there are the covers with scantily clad people. Those also send a message about what the story's going to be.

Atalanta · Sep 19, 2014

I'm re-reading Putputt's "Thoughts from an intern" thread, hoping to find enlightenment. I've tried several different ways to approach my query, none of which have worked.

If I rush past the inciting incident to get to the main plot, none of the character motivations make sense.

If I stick to the inciting incident, it bogs down and doesn't get past the first few chapters of the novel.

Either way, there's no hint that the relationship between the two main characters changes dramatically from beginning to end.

And on top of my query angst, I've got beta feedback coming in. I'm starting to feel like I want to crawl under a rock.

:e2violin:

WriteMinded · Sep 20, 2014

carlstevenswriter said:
My thought of the day on writing is "What does the cover really have to do with the writing?" I have never read a book for the cover. If you have, could you please explain why to me? Thanks.

Covers — I think — are supposed to convey the tone and genre of a novel.

I do not read books for their covers, but it is the cover that first attracts me. Is that logical? Maybe not, but maybe it is. After I pluck a book off the shelf, I read the first couple of paragraphs, thumb back a few pages and read some more, thumb back to the mid-section, read again. So it is the writing that is the deciding factor, but I'd never get to the writing if I hated the cover.

However, a book with a cover that repels me — and yes, I've seen a few here on AW — I'd never get close enough to read. However, what repels me may not affect others the same way.

Covers, titles, they are important, but that is just my opinion.

Sonsofthepharaohs · Sep 21, 2014

carlstevenswriter said:
My thought of the day on writing is "What does the cover really have to do with the writing?" I have never read a book for the cover. If you have, could you please explain why to me? Thanks.

I recently clicked on an AWer's link to their book, and thought 'wow! what an awesome cover! that looks like a really professionally produced book' - so I read the sample pages. They didn't really wow me, so I didn't buy the book. I read some of the reviews tho, and was surprised to see several that said they had bought the book for exactly the same reason, because the cover was really awesome! That's the first time I'd ever seen anyone mention that in a review.

I am attracted to book covers, because they indicate what kind of book it's going to be at first glance, and so I gravitate towards the ones that fit my preferences. Historical fic or high fantasy books with really nice artwork tend to pull me in. Covers that are just BIG TEXT in BOLD COLOURS displaying the authors name and the title I am least likely to look at.

In other news...

I decided to just stop fiddling with the scene from hell and go on to the next one. I'm now writing again, yay! (although still will half an eye on that scene, anxiously watching in case it decides to suddenly spring to life again, and then I will pounce on it like a coyote on a baby deer)

What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy

I write weird stories.

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy

Red fish, blue fish...

Derailed

Talking Fruit

Searching for dragons

Talking Fruit

I write weird stories.

Bring me a knitting needle.

New Fish; Stuck on the Dang Hook

practical experience, FTW

Searching for dragons

The Hobbit-Vulcan hybrid

Resist. Love. Go outside.

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy

A would-be bard in the digital age

Searching for dragons

practical experience, FTW

Bring me a knitting needle.

Derailed

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy