A little while ago I began writing a short story. It was pretty much fully formed in my mind and just needed committing to paper.
I wrote the first few pages in one sitting and took a break which turned into several weeks. Today I returned to try and complete it.
Somehow I seem to have found myself in a maze. I don't know how I got to the point I'm at, nor how to get out of it. I seem to have the options of continuing and hoping it works out or abandoning it altogether.
What do I do?
The annoying part of this is the fact I know what should be happening, but the story won't listen. It seems to want to ramble along in a, seemingly, endless fashion.
I think I'm going to have to revisit on a different day and try to wield a sharp pair of editing scissors. In the meantime I'll desperately try and do some work on my, currently neglected, novel. Back to paid work next week, so I need to get some writing done while I have the chance.
Have a good weekend
Hi Neil. I understand exactly how you feel. Some would describe this as 'writers block'.
ReplyDeleteTo get over it, I tell myself that as a writer I am simply one of the tools that helps the story grow. My mind is the place where the story lays dormant until it decides it is time to be read. My hand (I write in longhand first, then type later), my favourite pen and notebook are also tools of the writer to support the story in its quest. I may think the story, the plot, the characters, the words all belong to me the writer, and that I decide what happens, but it isn’t the case. Truth is, the story is the one in charge- always, and invariably wins any argument we may have.
When I am in this frame of mind, I shove what I have written in a drawer (what the eye cannot see, etc.) and then do something else. Something completely different, nothing to do with writing, and I don’t consider doing my daily job as something different. I mean doing something I don’t normally do, like taking a walk, or go for a drive with no particular place in mind – just drive. I'll buy an ice cream, even if its winter, or go and buy fish and chips and eat them outside. I may knit, paint, listen to music, or simply laugh for no reason at all other than because I can.
This may take an hour, day or two, mabye weeks, but once I have done that, I’ll go back to the story and read it. I may start to think well yes, now I need to write so and so, but like you, the story wants to do something else and move in a different time. I give in to the story’s demands and write down exactly what it wants. It's not giving in really; it's just a ruse to let the story think it's still in charge. In other words, I just write, get it down on paper and then once the story thinks it has won, I let the writer take over, get the scissors out and murder the little darlings. Well it seems to work for me.
Apologies for being long winded.
As always, best wishes, keep smiling, keep laughing and keep writing!
Pauline