The source of my problem... · 7:58pm Jul 16th, 2021
Contrary to the lack of updates, I have been actively wrestling with getting out the next chapter of "Rules for Bodyguards" almost every day, and I keep trashing what I have and starting over, or revising it down to a few pages and starting over. More recently, I've been trying to understand why I'm struggling, and I realized that the reason is because I am trying to write a transitional chapter. This is the first time we will actually see Roam and Roaman culture, and at the same time I have to pack in new characters and story elements that will come into play later.
The other half of the equation is my lack of faith in my ability to write something that won't screw over the story direction later down the line. I feel like I'm piloting a airplane, taxiing down the runway. I have to pull back on the stick, because the narrative has places to go, but if I screw up then the whole thing will come crashing down in a huge fireball. I don't want that, but I can't just sit here not putting anything out. Not publishing is tearing me up inside. I have so many ideas I want to explore, other stories I want to write, but until I finish this chapter I'm mentally stuck.
Has anybody else had this problem?
Yes, and the fact is, you'll definitely make mistakes. You may write a character in only to later change how they act or completely drop them from the story, and it's okay. Websites where you can publish chapter by chapter allow a certain flow for characters to develop. Today, you might be writing about some Roman Baker thinking that they'll be integral, only to later quietly scoot them out of the story and move on to this one Roman prostitute who may actually be acting as a spy on the nobles who hire her. The characters are subject to change on your whim.
I don't mean to advertise my own work, but I've done the same in my story. One character started off as the boring butler only for me to go back and change their cutie mark because I thought, "Hoho, this'll be a clue that their mark relates to this villain and how they appear, aren't I clever?" And then I dropped that. I was about to publish a chapter that linked the two, but at the last moment I decided to have another character work as a pawn for the villain. The fact is, you'll end up making a lot of characters, and it's alright to just write them one way now and later redirect their role.
The characters in my story have changed their motives and attitudes so much that I'm grateful no one has caught on to their inconsistency.
Just write the characters how you want them now, don't think about the future of this character pulling out checoves gun to beat the Mcguffin 10 chapters from now. Focus on the current chapter. And maybe try reworking the scene if you're having issues. If you can't make a scene work from the perspective of the king in his throne room, focus on the guard at the door who's supposed to keep their expression calm. What are they feeling in that scene?
Changing the perspective allows a chapter to flow differently, and often times, for the better.
Other than what hotel_chicken alrady said, I believe that it can be a good idea, for those types of chapters if you change your mentality with them. Write them as though it's the start of a new fic. Pretend that there isn't another story going on, or if there must be interconnections treat them as news: characters just learned of something, so their thoughts should condense the relevant part that the readers already know, just so that the readers can see that 'okay... characters are aware of this stuff'.
And then move on with the story relating to that part of the universe.
It doesn't sound like it helped a lot... I think you may be overthinking that issue.
About the second part, you can't do anything about that other than keep going. All of us fail, all of us must stand back up and keep going. Instead of fearing mistakes and blocking yourself, be free and learn from them.
I hope that helped.
By the way, don't worry yourself too much. You're doing a good job with that story.
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thanks
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I’m not as worried about character mistakes as I am making some narrative mistakes that comes back to bite me in the future. Though I’ll be the first to admit I’m overthinking it.
Definitely not just you.
I haven't updated mine since February despite the chapter being nearly "finished" with about 10k words written. I constantly make a fuss over every single line of narration or dialogue to think "should this character be saying or thinking this at this point?" or "should they be interacting with each other this way right now?"
The whole tone I'm sorta going for is "melancholic" for the moment due to the MC's current mindset, but I feel like I sometimes unnecessarily overstep into melodramatic territory instead, which is the sign of a cliche edgy, brooding protagonist. It's very much a long-term slow-burn story I'm writing, but I wonder how long I can make the MC the way he is before it comes across as just insufferable and whiny. A lot of re-writing paragraphs, a lot of reconsideration over the whole chapter setup.
Screw it.