What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

I kept running in circles as I pantsed my way through my current WIP, so I finally decided to do a scene-by-scene outline. The end is closer than I thought it was!

Solution to a huge plot problem just leapt up and hit me in the face. Yay!

ArachnePhobia said:

A) I realized I've got a near-identical scene in two novels, and I want to remove it from the novel in which it's least effective (we'll call this Novel #1) and replace it with something better suited to that story. This would require rewriting that scene and also changing a few lines in a later one, but that's it.

B) I figured out I could remove a horror cliche I've never really been satisfied with from Novel #2 by simply flip-flopping two scenes in chapter 3. This would require a little bit of rewriting in all of those scenes.

C) I figured out a great plot twist for Novel #3, but it would require subtly altering scenes in a certain subplot and then near-fully rewriting the ending.

D) Totally new novel on which I have done no work but some brainstorming.

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I did end up doing B first, but when I had the time left over I went ahead and did A, too. So now that leaves me deciding between C and D. Do I let C (a recent completion) cool and work on D, or do I tidy C up as much as my current view of the project will allow so I won't be distracted while working on D? Hmmm... C... or D...

Ripples. I'm rewriting and integrating some suggestions from betas. They're relatively small things, yet somehow they create a ripple of effects that must be tracked down and dealt with.

I'm working on a new project I'm pretty excited about. Also trying to get my head back in the game by re-immersing in things like AW and authors on twitter and the blogstream.

ArachnePhobia said:

I did end up doing B first, but when I had the time left over I went ahead and did A, too. So now that leaves me deciding between C and D. Do I let C (a recent completion) cool and work on D, or do I tidy C up as much as my current view of the project will allow so I won't be distracted while working on D? Hmmm... C... or D...

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Officially started work on C tonight.

So tired. When will this rewrite be over?

just read my first draft. Am I insane?

I killed every single person in the book including the narrator and it felt great.

Poet of Gore said:

just read my first draft. Am I insane?

I killed every single person in the book including the narrator and it felt great.

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That sounds like quite an accomplishment. I'm good at killing off characters, but not quite that good.

Trying to make pieces fit. I can do it, I've it done before.

I'm discovering things about one of my characters that will add a whole lot of weight to a situation I had already planned for later. Oh, I love this about writing!

Launching a blog, submitting short stories and getting back into the swing of things. Diving in head first this time around.

There's way too much I could say haha! Sometimes brainstorming sends me on a wild goose chase for a while.

But I guess that's my answer, all the brainstorming I still need to do. All the unanswered questions, all the raw characterization.

The usual I guess

Poet of Gore said:

just read my first draft. Am I insane?

I killed every single person in the book including the narrator and it felt great.

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I did that to a WIP that was fighting me once; finished 'em off with a supernova. It was cathartic.

As for my writing right now, I'm between projects. Mostly I'm frustrated that I can't seem to write a short story and keep it short; I've written two while on hiatus from editing larger works (kept hitting a wall there), and they've come in at about 11K and 12-13K. Granted, they're rough drafts (I'm letting them settle a while before I look back over them), but the whole point of this short story thing was to learn to write shorter, less wandering tales. They also took far too long to write. Grr...

I want to spend time with my characters without writing the actual novel. Does that make sense? I'm really tempted to write a one shot side story that takes place away from the main plot, just to hang out with the characters. I'll give them a weird problem they have to overcome. None of it will even be part of the story...I just feel like hanging out with the characters a little before I write the big scenes.

Very Small Breakthroughs.

Taking a day off from writing really helps me see things more clearly.
Also, I got a bunch of books that I can't wait to read!

I'm trying to decide how the story ends and I have 1-2 chapters left and dragging my feet. Part of me is scared to have it finished lol.

Loving the stories and loving writing, but tired. Not related to the writing but is sucking some of my energy from it.

I'm still going through a debilitating illness and I'm trying to get back into the pace and focus of writing. Energy and oxygen levels are low and that hampers things. I'll just take it slow and easy and see what happens.

tri

triceretops said:

I'm still going through a debilitating illness and I'm trying to get back into the pace and focus of writing. Energy and oxygen levels are low and that hampers things. I'll just take it slow and easy and see what happens.

tri

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So sorry to hear this. Wishing you the best of health.

triceretops said:

I'm still going through a debilitating illness and I'm trying to get back into the pace and focus of writing. Energy and oxygen levels are low and that hampers things. I'll just take it slow and easy and see what happens.

tri

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Being creative while fighting illness is a really tough thing to do. Healing takes an enormous amount of energy. Good luck in both your health and writing.

I had a breakthrough last night and figured out how to solve a minor problem that's been puzzling me for awhile, in the plot. Hooray!

Today, I will write some more of chapter 6.

Blinkk said:

I want to spend time with my characters without writing the actual novel. Does that make sense? I'm really tempted to write a one shot side story that takes place away from the main plot, just to hang out with the characters. I'll give them a weird problem they have to overcome. None of it will even be part of the story...I just feel like hanging out with the characters a little before I write the big scenes.

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Yes, it makes sense. I did that yesterday, oddly enough. I wrote a one shot with one of my MCs, to help flesh out some of his backstory for the actual novel. The scene probably won't make it into the book, but it sure was fun to write. I love hanging out with the characters; they really do become like friends after awhile, don't they?

I seem to be spending more time reading books about writing than actually writing. But the more I learn, the more my writing improves.

LizzieBrooks said:

I seem to be spending more time reading books about writing than actually writing. But the more I learn, the more my writing improves.

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Been there, done that... though, ultimately, I find that my writing improves the most when I actually write. Reading about writing, or thinking about writing, or daydreaming about writing, only gets you so far; at some point, you have to try applying those hints and tips and lessons you're reading about. Some of them will work for you, some of them won't, but you won't know which is which until you give 'em a test drive on the page.