McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Oh crap - I'm stuck...

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blgarver:
Okay guys, I'm in the panicky part of finishing my first book...i'm about fifty or so pages from the end.  I think.  I didn't outline this one so, you know, it could go anywhere. 

But now I'm losing steam...I'm about 320 pages in and I'm losing it.  I'm hesitant to write the coming scenes because they feel forced and unintersting.  Yeah I know, shame on me for not outlining, but it's just the way I do it.  I'm gonna have to outline my next book, because it's too big to handle otherwise. 

Anyway, I'm sure all of us have gotten to points where we lost steam and have no idea where to go, or if we know where we want to go, we have no idea how to get there.  What do you guys do to freshen up your mojo?  Rekindle the passion you had just a few days before? 

Could it be that it's just cold feet about finishing my first major piece?  I'm starting to lose confidence right here at the end?  Has that ever happened to anyone?  I'm freaking out here, because I want to finish this thing so I can breath for a week or so. 

Well, until I hear back with some ideas of how to fluff the pillow of my mind and spice up the passion I once had for this story, I'm gonna go to the bookstore and flip through some of those inspiration books to see if I can kickstart anything. 

Thanks!

waiting desperately,
BLG

Josh:
A few ideas. But first, a few questions.

Are you stalled because you just don't know where to take it? Or do you know how it ends, but realize that the conclusion doesn't have the spice it once did? Sure, a big part of it can be nerves, and congratulations on getting this far. A lot of people with ideas for a story never even get around to actually writing it. Know this--you can get the story done. You've come this far. You will finish. Don't think of it as defeat, nor do you have to sail through the ending as fast as you may have some of those sticky thickets at the beginning or middle portions. The ending is important, so it's not a bad thing to spend your time on. Also know that once you've got that first draft, you can always come back and change it. Better to have the draft and know it will need some work than to not finish at all. Get through it, give yourself a breather, and then time for revisions.

Now for the ideas.

1. Write a synopsis of everything that has happened so far. Start at the beginning and summarize it in a couple of pages up to where you are. This will help you regain a bit of focus as to what is actually happening in the overall scheme of the story, and might actually help you remember a few points that you might've forgotten along the way, ones that could help you tie everything together.

2. Give your characters some sit-down interviews. Literally type up an interview with your main characters (and some minor ones if you want) and ask them what they think of the story so far, and how they want to see the ending happen from their perspective. It can be fun when their answers take on a life of their own.

3. Write some backstory stories. One thing I enjoy doing with a character is to take them and write an entirely separate quick short story about something that happened in their life before, after, or alongside the novel I'm working on. Sometimes it helps me understand them better. Sometimes it just spotlights a part of their world I never knew before. Either way, it keeps me in that particular setting and character, but lets me expand from the constraints of that particular story that is giving me trouble. Don't let this sidetrack you entirely though. Maybe spend a day or two at it, and then go back to your main project.

4. Give yourself a short breather. There's nothing wrong with that. A day or two (not much more, I'd say) to just let the ending and all the plot threads sit in a pile. Mull over it. Write some notes. Give it time to stew. Your brain has been bashing out this story for a bit now, right? It may need to catch that final wind, but it will happen. Trust me. I know the exact feeling you're talking about, and it is simply a matter of checking the knobs on all the doors and trying to figure out which one has a tiger and which one has a lady behind it. One of them will unlock and open for you to step through. You'll find yourself wriggling with excitment and anxious to get to those final scenes as everything starts to fall in place.

Good luck, and good writing.

www.jrvogt.com

terioncalling:
Usually when I get stuck I just sit back and wait for inspiration for continuance to come.  Though that's probably not the best idea and is the reason I haven't yet rewritten the second chapter of a story like I've been meaning to for about a month.

Take Josh's advice more than mine.  Me and my uuber sense of procrastination are going to be over here in a panic because I'm about to be late to my Shakespeare class, heheh.   ;D

Kali:
Go back and start your first top-to-bottom edit.  Fill in the plot holes, add in descriptions where you realize you were vague, fix the typos, reword klunky sentences. 

If you've done that, I will note that the incredibly prolific mystery author Lawrence Block advises to sometimes just push through.  He says that he remembers writing scenes in novels that felt forced and stilted, but when he goes back and reads the published novel he honestly can't tell the difference.  It was his mood, not the writing that was off.

If that doesn't appeal, try writing the summary outline you'll need to send to some publishers.  This is not an outline like you learned in school.  This is a synopsis of the story:  what happened, who it happened to, what the reader sees.  Do NOT leave out things to make the editor want to read the book to find out what happens.  They're not amused by that, I hear.  Just write the synopsis.   Not all publishers will want this; you'll have to read their guidelines.  Some want a cover letter and the first 50 pages, some want the cover letter only, some want a cover letter and the first three chapters, and some will want a synopsis.  So have one handy.  These are NOT easy.  There are some good outline/synposis examples here. http://www.sfwriter.com/ouindex.htm

And while you're at it, work on your cover letter.  One page, no more, brief description of the novel.  There're websites out there with sample cover letters that'll help you see how you should arrange yours.  This is a good article on writing a query letter: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/query.htm

Let us know how it works out. :)

etoiline:
I'm having this trouble too--I've got the very last page written, but the chapters leading up to that are driving me bonkers. I even have a vague outline of what's going to happen, but it's a little scary to realize that 'hey, something I've written is approaching its end.'

What I really need is time to sit down and go over everything and just hit my ideas over an anvil until they're malleable enough to fit together. I know they do, I just haven't found that spark yet.

Thanks for the ideas, esp. the synopsis and cover letters bits. Hopefully I'll have time to implement them soon...

~Cal

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