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Bored by my own novel

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DaveSendler

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Hello everyone,

I'm currently writing the first draft of my third novel (shopping the first two). I'm 14,000 words in and I'm, quite frankly, bored stiff. I don't really understand why that is, but right now, the idea of going back to writing it makes me feel ill.

I suppose my question is... is this common? I never had this problem writing my first two books, so that might be why I'm more worried than I should be. If you've experienced this, can you provide any tips to move past it, or should I just abandon this project and go on to something else?

Thank you all in advance for any advice.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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I've gone through stages of being fed up of my novel, because I've been writing it forever and I know it so well I think I just get sick and tired of it, but no, I've never been bored by it. Anyway, 14k in seems a bit too soon to be bored. By now you should have had the inciting incident and be well on your way to the first major plot point, where everything changes for the MC and they make a decision that propels the story forward. If you're bored, it may be that you're still wallowing in set up and nothing has really happened yet.

So cut straight to the point. What is the story about and what happens to set that in motion?
 

DaveSendler

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I've gone through stages of being fed up of my novel, because I've been writing it forever and I know it so well I think I just get sick and tired of it, but no, I've never been bored by it. Anyway, 14k in seems a bit too soon to be bored. By now you should have had the inciting incident and be well on your way to the first major plot point, where everything changes for the MC and they make a decision that propels the story forward. If you're bored, it may be that you're still wallowing in set up and nothing has really happened yet.

So cut straight to the point. What is the story about and what happens to set that in motion?

No, the story is well in motion; the inciting incident happened in the first chapter and the protagonist has just made the first big decision to propel the plot forward. I'm where I should be in terms of structure.

I'm starting to think that this may be something that seemed exciting when I planned it out, but in reality just... isn't. Which is pretty bizarre, I admit.
 
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Cathy C

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It happens. Sometimes an idea sounds better in our head than on the page. When that happens to me, I tend to shelve it and work on something else for a while. Sometimes, it's while I'm working on a different story that I realize what was bugging me on the other story. :)
 

Bufty

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Welcome - :hi: You have no profile or introductory post and these might help folk respond more appropriately to your question.
 
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LJD

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I feel like this a lot, and my usual approach is just to plow through anyway. But...have you tried taking a few days off?
 

Taylor Harbin

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I've gotten exhausted by a project, but not really bored. If I look at a project and go "meh," then either 1) I'm doing something wrong or 2) I'm not ready to write it.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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Welcome - :hi: You have no profile or introductory post and these might help folk respond more appropriately to your question.

I dunno, I found the question quite specific and introductory enough to form a response. Not sure whether that response was helpful, but we'll tease out the problem in due course :)

DaveSendler said:
I'm starting to think that this may be something that seemed exciting when I planned it out, but in reality just... isn't. Which is pretty bizarre, I admit.

So is the plot just not 'big' enough to sustain a novel-length story? That can happen, in which case it might work as a short. But if it's just not an interesting enough idea, then I don't know whether it can be salvaged by changing it slightly, for instance throwing in another complication or sub plot, or whether it's time to trunk it. I'd suggest writing out a synopsis and letting someone else take a look at it to see whether they think it sounds interesting.
 

Jamesaritchie

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It's all too common. So what? You started it, so finish it. I find my thrill in the writing itself, regardless of the project.
 

CathleenT

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You might consider an add in the beta forum, offering to swap first chapters with another writer, or responding to one of theirs.

And look for areas where you can contribute to the discussion to build posts for SYW (you need fifty). Critting other people's stuff is an excellent way to build good will in this area and nets you posts at the same time. Plus, critting has helped turn on the editor light in my brain, and many others have said they felt the same.

I had a novel I'd begun that I didn't have any idea what to do with a few months ago. I've been revising since that time (beta reading six other novels and lots of SYW crits), and now I've come to the conclusion that I told the story through the wrong character.

This stuff helped me. I'll throw it out in the hope that some of it will help you as well.
 

DaveSendler

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Thanks for the responses everyone :)

After spending most of the day thinking on it, I understand why it's not working for me. Although the story has conflict, it isn't strong enough, the protagonist is too reactive and I just don't like her. She's a good person, but she's... kind of, well... boring. She becomes interesting, but it's taking too long.

So, with that, I think I'm going to move onto something else. But thanks again everybody.
 

VeryBigBeard

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Spending a day thinking through a problem is what writers do. It's part of our work. No job is rainbows and sprinkles all the time.

I think it's important to know the difference between bored by one's work and stuck or exhausted as Taylor says. It's OK to have hard days and tough sections, and it's natural that the words and the story just won't feel right while you're in there. That's different from everything coming out fine and it's just not interesting you at all. That can be a warning sign.

It's obviously very different for different people and it can be quite a subtle difference between difficult (even difficult to read, whether intentionally or because of early draft) and boring. It can help to put it aside and then re-read it as a reader. There's a balance that should exist between euphoric passion for what you're doing and your worst inner demon telling you it's all guff. Neither is right, so just keep going. Having a boring section isn't a fatal flaw. Not caring about your work, though, is much more often deadly.
 
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gettingby

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I recently wrote a boring chapter. It was an important chapter, but I found it boring to write. In a way, I am glad this happened because I don't want it to happen again. I realized that I was going off a bit from the main story to introduce more characters and give more background. The balance was off. I was trying to do too much in that chapter, and it slowed things down. I had to think about it for a while before I could pinpoint why it was boring, but it wasn't impossible to fix.

What I also did was write a chapter from the middle. It was a more exciting chapter. Writing it proved to myself that this story is not boring. Now, I know the kind of stuff I am leading up to. And I want to have the feeling run through the whole book. Jumping forward like that helped me feel more grounded in the book and realize the tone and pacing that I want to be consistent.

I have seen James say before to finish what you start, and I have to agree with him. I used to start a lot of things. Getting a new idea is much easier than writing the whole story. At one point, I probably had a dozen beginnings. I guess you could say I was getting bored of my ideas. I actually don't know what I was thinking or why I kept starting new things, but it was a problem and a bad habit I had to break. Only you know how invested you are in this particular work. However, if you find yourself bored by your next project, the problem is probably more with you as a writer than the story.
 

rwm4768

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Bored by one particular project? It's probably the story. Write something else and come back to it later.

Bored by most (or all) of your projects? You might have a problem as a writer. You need to sit down and finish something.
 
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