Ugh.
Over the last several months, I’ve been seriously losing steam. I’m lucky if I write once a week now. The further and further I get into WLAD, the less confident I am that it’s going to amount to a story worth telling. At first, the words flowed from my fingertips, and it wasn’t uncommon to write a few thousand words at a time. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I wrap up the night with a few hundred. Needless to say, it’s rather disheartening.
I’m not even entirely sure how to come back from these doldrums. Part of me thinks I should just drop the section I’m working on where it is and move ahead to something more engaging or exciting. I might do that. I’m a habitually linear writer, as in I prefer to write chronologically, front cover to back cover, rather than jump around and connect things later, so jumping ahead now doesn’t seem ideal. On the other hand, if I’M having a hard time getting through this section, I can only imagine it won’t be any better for the reader.
The problem is that it’s a fairly important section for character development, as some very significant things are hinted at that will become more significant later on. This section is critical, so how can I make it engaging and interesting given its seemingly monotonous nature? I don’t have the answer for that yet.
I think poor planning is to blame for a lot of my struggles. I had, and still have, the overall story in my head. The story arc, the big revelation and climax, all that jazz. I know what they will consist of. I just don’t know how to get there.
Two years. It’s been two years of working on this and it’s become more of a burden than a joy. And I’m feeling the temptation to just walk away, or to shift my focus and just release it in a different medium than a full-length novel. Maybe three short stories or something. I don’t know. But this isn’t working.
*sigh*
–J.
The Hammer of Thor 