Writers Block, and the dismantling thereof.

[lagilman]

Due to a number of things, including the week at Odyssey, my leg injury, and the freelance gig getting a little busy, I haven't been working on VINEART WAR 3 at the speed needed to get the draft done by July. And when I went back to it, the momentum had been lost, and I was having trouble doing more than 1000 words a day.

I filled up the time with other projects, and kept hacking away, but when you suddenly stall on a project, there's always a reason. I don't believe in writers' block as such: if I can't write, I unravel the story back to where it last worked, and start again. It's hard, and it's scary to let go of hard-written words, but refusing leaves you stuck, blocked.

But in this case, it all worked right up to the time it didn't, and then nothing I put on the page led to the next paragraph the way it does when everything's clicking. And you know when everything's clicking, because your fingers can't keep up with your brain and you're inwardly, insanely content.

Wasn't getting that.

So I did the next best thing, and looked at the remainder of my outline. I joke about my outlines being like Google directions - perfectly accurate until suddenly they're not - but it's a joke with truth. The story grows and changes as it's written, and trying to hold onto the original outline (or even the revised outline) in the face of a clear roadblock is the mark of an amateur, someone who doesn't trust their gut and their training.

So I held my breath, let go of that barest hope of order, looked at the last scene... and the words flowed. 3,500 words yesterday and I feel like I could easily do that again today [which is a solid number for me. If I push over 4,000 my brain tends to shut down the next day]

The chapter I wrote isn't what I had in the outline. Same actions, but different people do different things, and therefore there are different results. Hrm. I guess the book doesn't end the way I thought it did...

Or rather, it does, but how we get there is a different route. The important thing is, we will get there, and it will feel right.

Comments

[barbhendee.livejournal.com]

You are a wise and talented writer.

I've had a few bad experiences where I let myself get "married" to the outline and only come to the realization you did after some very unpleasant struggling.

[eeknight.livejournal.com]

If I'm having trouble producing, it's mostly due to my own modest success. I think I'm a victim of "fat and happy" syndrome, if there is such a thing. Writing used to be an outlet from an otherwise boring grind (albeit a better boring grind than a lot of people have). I figured the best I'd do is earn some vacation money and fatten up the savings account.

When it turned into a full-time gig after a couple years, I think my edge dulled, both because I had fewer frustrations to pour into the work and I had to keep a collective, amorphous, imaginary audience happy --based on guesswork and fan mail -- rather than just writing to please myself.

What's helped me recently is something Alan Moore (From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) said. He claimed that as an artist, he doesn't take on a new project unless he's not sure he can pull it off. He purposely bites off more than he thinks he can chew to keep himself on his toes.

[lagilman]

What's helped me recently is something Alan Moore (From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) said. He claimed that as an artist, he doesn't take on a new project unless he's not sure he can pull it off. He purposely bites off more than he thinks he can chew to keep himself on his toes.

Absolutely. I love writing the UF, and I try to push it a little further each time, but The Vineart War was a muscle-reach, stylistically, and the new project that's percolating... scares me spitless. In a good, "holy shit" kind of way.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I am now thinking of the part of the directions where you're supposed to swim from New York to London.

[stellatangdele.livejournal.com]

And in an alternate universe where you were not injured you will end up writing a completely different novel, and it will influence some future reader in that alternate universe in a different way than the iteration of the novel in this universe.