Writing is Losing Its Magic...

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A. M. Howard

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I think I'm burned out. I've been working on this blasted novel on and off for almost 7 years (I started my freshman year of college).

It's consumed me--I can't complete anything else. I've tried. I cranked out 47,000 words in November 2011 for NaNoWriMo and hated every word of it. It wasn't the story I wanted to be working on.

When I try to come up with a new story idea, my mind goes blank. I inevitably come back to my 7-year story. The problem is the growing part of me that doesn't want to write anymore. It's not fun. Long gone are the days where I would bang out a short story or three on my old Compaq computer or fill notebooks full of paranormal romance series (before it was popular). You know, just for the thrill of being on a ride with characters.

I think this book has defeated me. I'm torn into two people: one who needs to finish this book and one who is digging her heels in because she can't bear to write another word. They're constantly at war.

Anyone else ever feel this way? What did you do to combat this?
 

Nizuma

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To combat it, I just move on. You said you're split in two? Write another story, one that can make you whole again.
 

Brightdreamer

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Offhand, I'd guess that you're just going through a bit of burnout.

If at all possible, take a break from writing. Watch some movies, read a few books, maybe try some other creative outlet (drawing? painting? competitive macrame?), but let the keyboard get some rest.

If you're feeling this way about other aspects of your life, maybe this is just a symptom of a greater problem, such as depression. If so, don't be afraid to seek help.
 

A. M. Howard

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Oops, realized my post came off way more depressing than I meant for it to be. No, I'm not depressed. Full social life, just got engaged, skittish cat no longer hisses when I walk by. Things are good in that regard. :)

I've just never experienced being burnt out like this before.
 

Beachgirl

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Have you completed a full draft yet? Have you ever turned it over to a beta? If this thing has wrapped itself around your brain so tightly and for so long, it may be time to hand it over to someone else who can help you decide where to go with it from here.
 

A. M. Howard

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I did complete a first draft and had a pretty critical family member read over it. She gave me some great advice, but once I got it back I realized the story needed more and decided to overhaul it. That's when the trouble started.
 

Cyia

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Open your notebook and/or Word document and write the following:

When suddenly, a mountain fell on them all and everyone died.

Your book is now finished. Move on to something else. When inspiration strikes (as it invariably does when one works on something else), delete and/or erase that line and continue the story properly.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D
 

Beachgirl

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Open your notebook and/or Word document and write the following:

When suddenly, a mountain fell on them all and everyone died.

Your book is now finished. Move on to something else. When inspiration strikes (as it invariably does when one works on something else), delete and/or erase that line and continue the story properly.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D


*Opens file of long-stalled ms. Types. Closes file.*

Ahhh. That feels so much better. Now I don't have to worry about them, since they're all dead.
 

A. M. Howard

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Open your notebook and/or Word document and write the following:

When suddenly, a mountain fell on them all and everyone died.

Your book is now finished. Move on to something else. When inspiration strikes (as it invariably does when one works on something else), delete and/or erase that line and continue the story properly.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D

*Slaps forehead* Why didn't I think of that?? *watches all writer angst go float gently out of the window*
 

Goldbirch

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It's not fun. Long gone are the days where I would bang out a short story or three on my old Compaq computer or fill notebooks full of paranormal romance series (before it was popular). You know, just for the thrill of being on a ride with characters.

I can relate to this. When I started to feel at least somewhat adult, I felt like I should get more serious about this writing thing. So I tried to push my craft further and faster, and set more ambitious goals for submitting. And somewhere along that road, I lost the fun.

Also, like you, I got engaged. I had new demands on my time and emotions. I was too happy in the real world to want to give time to my story-worlds. I struggled with this for over a year, and then took a break.

Now the stories are calling again. Was a break a good idea? I don't know. I used to write every day without trying, and now I need to reestablish that habit. But I didn't know what else to do, and the situation seems to have improved.

Life happens. Don't worry too much.
 

CatchingADragon

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I guess I'm sort of at war with myself too; the part of me that says, "Ack! This is work! Don't do work!" And then the part that says, "Wouldn't it be so cool if there was this wizard who had to keep his powers a secret..." or something.

I can't write if I feel like I'm forcing myself to, if it feels like I'm imposing some chore upon myself. Actually, I can't even think of writing as writing; I have to think of it as storytelling or as daydream record-keeping. I get anxious when I think about all the tens of thousands of words I have left, or how fast the days are passing by. I have to focus on what excites me about the characters and the world I created, what excites me about a specific scene.

At the end of the day, I really don't have to write a book. It's not going to suddenly make me a better person, it's not going to add years to my life. So if I'm doing it, I should be enjoying it. No pressure.

See if you can remember why you started writing in the first place. What was the spark of inspiration that excited you about your story's world or characters or events? If there's nothing exciting about your current novel, don't feel bad for moving on. The point of it is to be in love, after all.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D

That's awesome! :D My characters will be suffering many deaths from now on...
 

jaksen

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I think I'm burned out. I've been working on this blasted novel on and off for almost 7 years (I started my freshman year of college).

It's consumed me--I can't complete anything else. I've tried. I cranked out 47,000 words in November 2011 for NaNoWriMo and hated every word of it. It wasn't the story I wanted to be working on.

When I try to come up with a new story idea, my mind goes blank. I inevitably come back to my 7-year story. The problem is the growing part of me that doesn't want to write anymore. It's not fun. Long gone are the days where I would bang out a short story or three on my old Compaq computer or fill notebooks full of paranormal romance series (before it was popular). You know, just for the thrill of being on a ride with characters.

I think this book has defeated me. I'm torn into two people: one who needs to finish this book and one who is digging her heels in because she can't bear to write another word. They're constantly at war.

Anyone else ever feel this way? What did you do to combat this?

I laugh at seven years.

Though I've finished many stories and in the last few years, five novels - I have a novel I began in 1970.

1970.

I continue to work on it. Will it ever be finished? Perhaps before I die. Who knows?

But in the meantime I continue to write (and sell) short stories. My 1970 novel is part of me and I don't lament its existence or the fact I can't seem to finish it. It is what it is. One little part of my writing - or me - that just isn't complete.

Write other stuff. Don't let this unfinished, seven-year old novel become the reason you don't write other things.
 

katsincommand

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Declare a truce. Don't finish, don't abandon. Just set it aside.

I agree with this. Maybe you're not ready to write the novel the way it needs to be. Maybe you need to write something you're not so heavily invested in. Something different. Funny and light and with no penalties if you screw it up.

Remember the joy you felt when you started the novel. Find that. Enjoy it. :)

Eventually -- and I mean after you've revised a new novel -- then go back to that one. You'll have distance and a clearer perspective.

Just my 2.5 cents. :)
 

rwm4768

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One book for seven years. I think you should take a break. I've had one I've been working on that long, but it's been on and off. I'm currently on my third attempt at writing it. The first was horrible. The second was written better but didn't work. But I see how you can feel so strongly about this project. For some reason, my first novel just won't let me go either. If this incarnation doesn't work out, though, I think I'll convince myself to move on to something else.
 

Mrtouf

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I don't know if this will help but here goes anyway. The problem with a length of writing is that you have a different idea on where the story is going at each stage. Run into this snag myself. So when you read through it, things can seem a bit disjointed and incomplete.

The trick here (I think) is to not attack the whole book and make it all consistent at once. Choose one part that doesn't flow smoothly into the next, and think about what you need (or don't need). For sanity's sake, keep a note of what you change and why you changed it.

Or in a nutshell, divide and conquer. :)
 

Silver-Midnight

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Open your notebook and/or Word document and write the following:

When suddenly, a mountain fell on them all and everyone died.

Your book is now finished. Move on to something else. When inspiration strikes (as it invariably does when one works on something else), delete and/or erase that line and continue the story properly.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D


Nice. :D

--

I know what it feels like to go through burn out. I just went through it. I'm kind of going through it now still. There are some days I hate writing and I just get frustrated. The best advice I can offer is force yourself to take a break: read, go outside, relax, just move away from writing for a little bit. Give your brain a break from it all. That sounds a lot easier than it is. Trust me. I'm still trying to teach myself how to take a break sometimes. But it is needed. Give your brain time to think. Start on something new, even you work on that newest project alongside your old one.
 

gothicangel

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I did the exact same thing. I worked on a crime novel from 2001 to 2011. I did send it to agents and got some favourable responses. I ended up killing it with love. Then I ended up trunking it last year.

It didn't beat me, I just out grew it.

I realised I didn't really like crime fiction. Now, what I love is historical fiction, and I've [just about] written two books in just over a year.

Laying the book to one side doesn't mean you've failed, it means you have developed.
 

bearilou

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Open your notebook and/or Word document and write the following:

When suddenly, a mountain fell on them all and everyone died.

Your book is now finished. Move on to something else. When inspiration strikes (as it invariably does when one works on something else), delete and/or erase that line and continue the story properly.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D

Cyia's a genius. I'm going to do that from here on out.
 

Eddyz Aquila

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A mountain you say? Sounds...heavy :D

Joking aside, writing should never lose it's magic. Hence when you take too long on a project, declare a truce as others have said, and write something else.
 

ArachnePhobia

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Ouch. I feel your pain. Elaborations to follow.

Cyia and Silver-Midnight's advice is excellent, and

gothicangel said:
Laying the book to one side doesn't mean you've failed, it means you have developed.

is so, so true.

When I was in that same funk, here's what got me out of it: I wrote prompts, short stories, and flash pieces that had nothing to do with "The Novel's" universe or characters. Most of them were braised garbage in a light crap sauce, but some of them did turn out useful. The larger point was, every project I completed returned a little bit of the confidence and writerly identity "The Novel" had sapped from me in its eternally-incomplete state. As a bonus, I could still consider "The Novel" in the works. "Oh, it won't take me long to toss off a thousand words." "This'll only take about five scenes. I can do that in a few days. Then it's back to work on the book." "It's just a prompt. It'll never see the outside of my journal." Etc.

Finally, those elaborations. For ten years, I let an albatross of an epic fantasy suck all the joy out of writing. No matter what I did, I could not make it work the way I wanted. I pantsed. I outlined. I winged the characters. I wrote profiles. I injected Burroughs-esque science-fantasy elements. I took them out again. I never got further than 20k before tearing it up in frustration and starting over.

Eventually, after setting it aside for those short stories (and two novellas), I finally geared up the courage to pull "The Novel" out again. This time, I finished it. It was the story as I had envisioned writing it all those years ago.

I immediately trunked it because I realized how hackneyed it was. I had built it to such giant's status in my head, had become so emotionally invested in it, and it turns out, it was just another formulaic save-the-world-from-the-evil-emperor, with nothing good to set it apart from the crowd. There were plenty of bad things to set it apart, though. The heroine was as self-absorbed as a cannibal sea sponge. The male characters were fantasy stereotypes. I swerved to miss the tavern opening at the beginning and plowed into every cliché after it.

But like the slasher movie villain that grabs the final girl as she tries to step over his prone form, "The Novel" is always there. Two much better novels, ten short stories, and countless pieces of flash fiction later, every so often I still catch myself thinking...

"I should go back to that, see if I can save it. If I just fix this and that and..."

*cue Psycho violins*
 
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fivetoesten

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Open your notebook and/or Word document and write the following:

When suddenly, a mountain fell on them all and everyone died.

Your book is now finished. Move on to something else. When inspiration strikes (as it invariably does when one works on something else), delete and/or erase that line and continue the story properly.

Keep killing them with rockslides until you reach the actual, non-mountain-death-related end to your story. \

:D

...adding my voice to the chorus of appreciation. Stupid mountain.
 

ohthatmomagain

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Do you think, maybe, you are scared to *be* finished with the novel? I mean, you've spent 7 years with it.. that's longer than some relationships. Once you type, The End, and send your baby to the world (ie agents/publishers) its gone. Maybe you are dreading 'Empty Nest'?

Or... I might be talking crazy ;)
 

randi.lee

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Sometimes a concept is not ready to come into fruition. I played around with a work for nine years before I got serious about it. Put it away, try something else for a while. In time you'll be ready to return to it and it will no longer feel like such a frustration :)
 

Susan Coffin

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Oops, realized my post came off way more depressing than I meant for it to be. No, I'm not depressed. Full social life, just got engaged, skittish cat no longer hisses when I walk by. Things are good in that regard. :)

I've just never experienced being burnt out like this before.

Oh, that's good about the cat. It your cat loves you, everything else falls into place. :D

I can see how you are torn. While it's difficult to conitnue on something giving you so much angst, it's important to finish what you start. Maybe a BIC schedule is in order for each day? Maybe an hour, no more and no less, when you just sit down and try write?
 
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