Re: Argh! General frustration and steam-letting

On Jul 27, 8:03 pm, "Patricia C. Wrede" <PWrede6...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

<snip>

Are you a many-projects-at-once writer? Or are you the sort who needs to
commit to one thing, and then go back and finish up whatever you left
dangling in order to complete that one thing? I tend to be a one-at-a-time
writer, myself; if I find myself starting multiple projects, it's a sure
sign that something is wrong. Some people, though, work much better if they
can trade off projects when they get bored.

Well I'm a multiple-projects *person* -- along with the novel-writing
I also have a webcomic I've been publishing for 11 years or so and I
record music semi-regularly. What I'm not sure, at this point, is if
I'm a multiple-projects *writer*. Writing fiction is an entirely
different beast than writing a gag or recording a song, because gag-
writing and song-recording are much shorter projects from start to
finish so it's a lot easier to juggle them.

If you're a multiple-projects writer, then you're fine. But if you're
really more of a one-at-a-time writer, then you need to pick one of your
existing projects (or start a new one; this once, it's OK), and really
commit to getting it finished. And then do it.

<snip>

Heh. I did that for about a year and decided it was the height of
stupidity.

What was stupid -- waiting (I hope), or writing something new?

Oh, it was the waiting that was stupid.


After that, though, the problem became was that the next
novel I wanted to write was a sequel to the first... which I decided
was a bad idea because it would only increase my frustration if the
first one didn't sell. Better to have two novels on the market,
instead of having one in the wings that depended on the first being
accepted (and then selling well enough to warrant a second).

There is wisdom in that, yes. But if you are finding yourself unable to
really hunker down with a new project, then your problem may, just possibly,
be that your backbrain is *already* committed to the sequel, and won't
cooperate on anything else until you write it. In which case, you're
probably better off writing the sequel even if neither one sells -- because
it'll get you past this and ready to work on something new, whereas trying
to skip that step just leaves you spinning your wheels.

At this point I don't think that's the problem... the other stories I
have set up are engaging and challenging, and I want to work on them
too. When I'm not flipping out over the first novel, of course. :)

This is not a bad thing to do, as long as you don't get trapped by
characters who won't/don't sell and won't let go of your backbrain. (The
other end of that spectrum is, of course, the one where the fans love and
adore your characters and want more, more, more even when you are done,
done, done and getting serioiusly bored with them.) Anyway, if your
characters from the new projects are generating stories, that's a good
sign -- but you have to FINISH one of those projects before you can move on
to more. What's stopping you? What's gotten you bogged down, for each of
those novels?

The first one (working title: "The Points Between") is, in my mind,
very much in the vein of a Charles Williams novel. It's very difficult
for me to write because I'm trying to do something that is pretty far
outside my comfort zone... and, to be honest, a bit above my basic
ability. I keep running into gaps where I'm at point A, and I need to
get to point B, and I'm not sure how... then when I get to point B I'm
on a roll again, until I hit the next gap. That one definitely goes in
fits and spurts, and currently I've hit a particularly nasty gap.

The second one (working title: "Darishan") is more of a "traditional"
fantasy story (though the technology ranges more from pre-to-mid
Victorian rather than Medieval)... the thing that has me bogged down
with this is structural... the last eight or nine chapters need to go
away completely, but I don't have anything to replace them with... so
I'm a bit lost at the moment.

<snip>

Oh, and I'm going to be a little erratic the next few days -- my lovely
brand-new ginormous PC just arrived, and I'm in the process of setting it up
and getting all my files transfered, which is eating much of my normal
computer-play time. Just so you know I'm not ignoring you, if it seems to
happen.

Patricia C. Wrede

I fully support getting lost in the majesty of brand-spanking-new
technology. Have fun! :)

Christopher B. Wright (ubersoft -at- gmail -dot- com)

.

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