The writer's block they don't tell you about... · 2:28am Aug 18th, 2017
So, this is the situation with Chapter 5.
The whole thing is pretty much drafted, save for a couple of sections which have their ends completed in bullet points. I know the tone and goals of the chapter, and I'm pretty much set to get it done. Shouldn't take long to complete, right?
In the past few days, I've maybe made 500 words of headway on getting those last notes filled in as prose. It's looking like it's going to be 7,000 words total so far.
See, what's happening is that I've been looking at this relatively boring chapter for so long, I'm starting to lose interest. Chapter 6, where Luna shows up and things get tense again? I keep popping over to write bits in, and may even be able to binge-write the whole thing in a few hours if I just forgot about Chapter 5. Hell, just now I was fleshing out the end of chapter 7 and the beginning of chapter 8, and wrote down a few ideas for plotlines in the Sequel.
This is a kind of writer's block that they don't tell you about. Not the kind where I don't know what to write, but the kind where I KNOW what to write, but I'm stuck on the part that's mostly just necessary plot developments that aren't super interesting to me but have to be there for things to work later, and getting burned out on it from having looked at it for too long, when I'd rather be writing stuff that comes later. I find this sort of thing far more difficult than actually brainstorming up the bullet-pointed version, as that's basically a matter of understanding what I want to write about and how to make it work together. This is the part where I have to sit down and make the notes into words, and my brain just doesn't want to do it...
...So I get distracted, I go do other work, I give advice on how to write, and I make blog posts complaining.
Later, when this fic is done, I'd like to write out some sort of advice doc for writers. This should be a subject, because it hits even when you're doing things right, and can really derail a good workflow...
(and yes, this is all because I had a chapter get over 14,000 words before I split it)
Sometimes this is a sign. You have the road map set in front of you and you have a general grasp about what is going to happen, but then you get uninterested down the line and lose focus because you know where you are going.
Some people are straight shot writers, they can see where they are going and they shoot for it not caring how they get there so long as they do. Others like myself, I care about what i write in between points A and B, more that I can control. I can't just fill the spaces in willy-nilly and it has to be something I'm happy with. It's like this argument over technique in animation called 'Straight Ahead VS Pose to Pose.'
In anycase, odds are you fall in the second group. You need to divert off the road map sometimes, strike a balance between wandering off and going from checkpoint to checkpoint. It's how I wrote 72k words in 4 months. And some people write faster.
4638916
Yeah but... for me, it's more like I have the whole thing written and I just need to find the focus to turn a few stray notes into sentences that make sense....
4638944
That might be the problem there. In my cancelled story I had 5 chapters outlined ahead, but it eventually bored me writing the thing, on top of losing confidence after reading a decidedly less flawed story like Pirene.
It's a good idea to plan ahead but you can't change the fact we are creatures with emotions. Some people easily block them out and finish their work, while the rest of us have to cope with it before we can get anything done. The fact you find it boring and are starting to lose interest is a sign, a troubling sign considering it's supposed to be something that you are working on personally and has you invested.
It's about having to find a balance between looking at and following your outline and doing what pleases you as a writer. And for the 1st group i mentioned, it's just easier for them to strike a balance. It's been over 4 years since I cancelled my last story, and I only found that balance a few months ago. Make sure you are still confident in writing before you go on.
Welcome to the club.
...There's a club, right? If there isn't, then we can found one, because I have the exact. Same. Problem.
I always get stuck on transitions between scenes. Or scenes that have to happen to make something more believable.
I mean, one simply can't have a discussion about a dark magic fuelled post-scarcety economy, and in the next moment complain how insensitive zombie-movies are towards the undead. There has to be a transition somehow, am I right?
Woah, creepy. It's like I'm looking into a mirror.
4638944
Again, reminds me of some of the unfinished stories - most of which one-shots - I've had lying on my harddrive... for the last couple years.
Those that I actually get back to every other month or year or so and try to continue. That I actually intend to finish, eventually.
Just a few scenes missing here and there, and it'd be finished... Now if I could only figure out how to write them...
Well. I am getting there.
Sloooooooooowwwwwllllllllyyyyyyy.
4638916
I know the feel. It's a gift, and a curse.
Of course one could say: "And then the human who had appeared in the Everfree forest went straight to Twilight's castle and got sent back home, and absolutely nothing interesting happened on his way there and Twilight also had nothing noteworthy to say." But that'd be wasted potential.
The way I see it - if I can read my own stories, watch my own videos, look at my own art, over and over and over and over again, and not get bored of it, then I did it right.
It may take me months, in some cases years to finish a chapter, but... when it's done, I am happy with it, and I still re-read my own work every now and again.
Chapter 5 of one of my own works still gives me chills every time I read it. And that is a chapter that is intentionally heavy on filler. ...I made it work. Took six months, four complete rewrites... totally worth it.
. . .
On the flipside, it takes me months, even years to complete... anything. Which is... why I'm starting to suspect, that, mayhaps, the "brute force iterative approach" to writing miiiiiiight not be ideal.
The only reason I haven't thrown in the towel is... because I can be unreasonably dedicated / stubborn once I pass a certain threshold.
I used to make flash animations. Two of which were one-year projects, a 15- and 30-minute cartoon, respectively.
Writing fanfiction is much, much harder.
...You already wrote more than I published in the last 5 1/2 years.
Please notify me when you do. I could use the advice.
4639510
Right. It's not that I don't have the ideas, or even that I don't have it mostly written out, it's that when I sit down to turn notes into words, it's like my brain thinks literally anything would be better than doing this.
I'm going to make a blog post about this eventually, but until then, have you tried writing out a bullet-pointed list of things that need to happen and then fleshing them out until they are actual prose?
Funny you should mention it though: I'm actually cutting a scene about Economics where they discuss how to reconcile Theory of Power in a Capitalist society, and Meta talks about the failing attempt to reconcile market capitalism with democracy... Fun stuff.
4638954
Ok.... so... You and I are talking about two completely different concepts, and I'm not really sure where the miscommunication is.
4638944
Sorry, I misread some parts of that blog, but my words still pretty much stand as is.
Now that I go over it again, your main concern is being stuck at some point of workflow, and we really don't have the same workflow. You draft everything out in one go and flesh everything in one go. On the other hand I sketch things out first then flesh it out before moving on the the next section, about 1k or so at a time. After I'm done, the chapter basically needs a bit of polish and proofreading, but otherwise it's done.
Regardless, if it was a story you were vested on in the first place, why would you feel uninterested even when fleshing out a 'boring chapter?' Like I said I draft then work the details section by section, but I still look forward to going back to the beginning to see if I make any clerical errors, and if some details could be told better. Writing fanfic is labor of love, and if you're feeling labor slowly outweighing the love, it might be a sign.
4639510
It probably has to do with the fact I have an irregular arrangement with school so I have more time than others to write. But TBH, that's kinda really...something, 36k in 5 years. I suggest going at faster pace, but if you think it's working out for you, then don't bother changing your style because I say so. I'm just trying to live up to my own standards.