Oof! Yes, I relate to this, Suw. I've saved your post for when I inevitably get stuck again and again.
There really are so many barriers to overcome to 'finish' a novel. I'm currently the closest I've ever got and now I just cannot wait to be able to move on from it and have the evidence that it IS possible.
Really identify with so many of these. I’m trying to switch from being a pantser to a plotter because I can only keep the story in my head so long before I forget what went before. I read Rachel Aaron’s 2k to 10k book which has a plotting system. I admit the first time I read it I thought it just sounded like a massive bit of displacement activity to give an excuse not to actually write the book, but I read it again and actually tried it and I really think it might help me convert to a plotter.
I used to hate plotting, because it felt like just creating a list of things that happen, and I could do that just by writing. But a good plotting document considers structure, character development, goals, opposition, and all the stuff that makes writing a story interesting. I've come to really enjoy it as its own process, and have stopped thinking of it as something that gets in the way of writing. It is, instead, something that makes the writing go more easily.
Oof! Yes, I relate to this, Suw. I've saved your post for when I inevitably get stuck again and again.
There really are so many barriers to overcome to 'finish' a novel. I'm currently the closest I've ever got and now I just cannot wait to be able to move on from it and have the evidence that it IS possible.
Thanks, Janelle! And keep going. Finishing is indeed possible and you've got what it takes!!
Really identify with so many of these. I’m trying to switch from being a pantser to a plotter because I can only keep the story in my head so long before I forget what went before. I read Rachel Aaron’s 2k to 10k book which has a plotting system. I admit the first time I read it I thought it just sounded like a massive bit of displacement activity to give an excuse not to actually write the book, but I read it again and actually tried it and I really think it might help me convert to a plotter.
I used to hate plotting, because it felt like just creating a list of things that happen, and I could do that just by writing. But a good plotting document considers structure, character development, goals, opposition, and all the stuff that makes writing a story interesting. I've come to really enjoy it as its own process, and have stopped thinking of it as something that gets in the way of writing. It is, instead, something that makes the writing go more easily.