Tfw you’re silently shouting at the page, “Don’t stop there!! What happens next?!” and then you realize you’re the asshole writing this thing and you have to continue.
Almost on a whim I wove into this scene a recurring image for all three books. I expected to start using this motif much later, but it felt right to begin in this scene. It’s poignant for me because not only is it tied into deeply emotional moments across the books, but it refers to a milestone in Korean cultural history as well.
I was nervous about writing from the love interest’s PoV, which would also be the first male PoV in this draft, but I really got into it once I started. If I thought the heroine had it bad for him, whew, this boy’s fallen hard–and I do mean hard lol. I was so happy to see the heroine from his point of view, her soft fat beauty all in sparkles and pastel lights while I was trying to figure out euphemisms for a raging hard-on. I guess being a young cis guy is awkward that way.
So the love interest is trapped between a rock and a hard place (no, a different hard place because of course he has an erection at the worst possible time) and the Chinese adversaries can show up at last. Finally I get to use some French-derived fucking words. Will I get the sharp tonal shift I’m hoping for? Only writing it out will tell!
Tfw you’re silently shouting at the page, “Don’t stop there!! What happens next?!” and then you realize you’re the asshole writing this thing and you have to continue.
“Writing is the only hobby where people consider themselves a failure at it if they don’t become professional. My advice to writers– I’ve known a lot of writers who have that “I’m gonna write this book, and I’m gonna sell it, and I’m gonna be rich and famous” [attitude]. If they wrote it and sold it and were rich and famous, they would hit their base expectations and be merely satisfied. And instead, if they miss that, they are angry, bitter, and they grow increasingly twisted up inside, psychologically, and they’re really unhappy. Do you like it? Is it fun? Do you enjoy it? If you enjoy it, every time you write, you have completed something that has paid you off.”
— Patrick Rothfuss, The Wednesday Club, 07/11/2018 (via mudkippy)
It’s 100% okay to start over. It’s 100% not okay to say you failed. You haven’t. You’ve grown as a writer and that’s what you’re supposed to do.
-G
I am also on the third fresh start for my current big WIP. I have at least 100,000 words of older drafts dating back to 2014 that are largely unusable, but they were worth the time and effort. Running down all those dead ends for years I learned where not to go, and I think the current draft has the lasting bones of the story as it will eventually be. Hang in there @keys-to-joy-and-me! You’ll get there, whether to a better version of your story or new insights and learning.
I hung onto this ask for like a week because I was living it lol, having been stuck on a scene myself and ashamed of it. I think I see a way out though, so I’m better able to talk about it now.
When I get stuck on a scene it’s generally because there’s some resistance or difficulty. If the scene is truly pointless and uninteresting it should be cut, but I can get stuck on even an interesting and crucial scene–sometimes because it is so interesting and crucial and I don’t want to get it wrong. Sometimes the nature of the block is emotional; I stalled on a fic for months because a major character was going to die in the upcoming chapter. When I finally did write it I was a crying mess and frequently got up from the keyboard to pace furiously around the house, comforting myself. (This was a character I had partly modeled on my husband, too. I have a bad habit of painfully and graphically killing characters I base on him.)
Sometimes a block is mental, as in I’m not clear what should happen in a scene and that makes me resistant to writing it. This happens to me a lot with battles involving a large number of people, I’ve found, and it contributed to my block in the above example too. I am currently blocked for over a week in one such scene where there are three factions and at least five different agendas involved. While I haven’t made progress in writing it, I did write out in my notes how some of the characters might respond and how the story might go. The scene feels less daunting now as a result.
From my experience, in sum, it’s helpful to work out what exactly the block is and then find a way to break it down. Making it more specific is the first step.
Didn’t get around to writing over the weekend due to a family camping trip but I did plan my next scene on the train back and forth. Here I go trying to actually write it!
Hmm I think that’s a natural end for that scene and it’s gotten more than long enough at 3,000 words lol. Time for the pivotal capture scene–I wrote a version of this scene years ago, like in 2014-5? But there’s been so much drift since then, I’m sure it’s going to be very different this time.
Note to self: Never rely on saving website URLs, screenshot everything and save it if it looks interesting. Like half the URLs I saved no longer exist, holy shit.
Got around 336 words in while husband was out with the kid. Was great.
773 words for the day is enough, I think, and I need to think a little about how this scene is going to play out. It definitely has a much different dynamic than prior versions and even my original plans, with more urgency and more people involved. I’m going to have to think about how the balance between the factions is going to work itself out here. The heroine’s sister has really thrown a wrench into the works by sending pursuers, but I can’t blame her because my dumbass should have thought of that in the first place.
Funny how I set up the heroine and her elder sister as antagonistic, but the youngest sister Ari has a mind of her own that I should have anticipated. I have no one to blame but my own ableism tbh, I had a vague idea she would be sweet and harmless and not affect the story all that much because she’s autistic. Then she comes in and says “fuck that and fuck you” in her very first viewpoint scene, good for her. She took charge of an overwhelming situation like a boss (help, there’s a stranger in my bedroom and she’s totally gorgeous!!), telling this beautiful stranger how to help her not have a meltdown and then making a decision on her own that was both righteous and merciful. The details of this scene might change depending on the needs of the plot and what sensitivity readers tell me, but at least I learned I need to take a look at how I’ve been treating this character in my plans for the story.
I also adore the fact that Ari and her mutual crush/eventual girlfriend are working against each other despite their feelings. I find that I’m way more invested in this relationship than the one between the heroine and her bf. I think the two couples are going to make for contrasting parallels, with one couple working at opposing purposes before becoming allies, and the other starting out as fast allies but later becoming enemies.
I also got a kick out of the heroine’s boyfriend mentioning his cousin to her and her going, “Oh yeah, I guess I’ve heard of him. Isn’t he a foreign king’s bastard?” Oh, honey. That’s your future husband.
@fettjango We both have Aris, that’s so adorable!! In my Ari’s case it’s her full name, or nickname (there’s basically no distinction between the two when it comes to personal names in this setting). It means “low” or “little” in Korean because she’s the youngest.
Hmm I think that’s a natural end for that scene and it’s gotten more than long enough at 3,000 words lol. Time for the pivotal capture scene–I wrote a version of this scene years ago, like in 2014-5? But there’s been so much drift since then, I’m sure it’s going to be very different this time.
Note to self: Never rely on saving website URLs, screenshot everything and save it if it looks interesting. Like half the URLs I saved no longer exist, holy shit.
Got around 336 words in while husband was out with the kid. Was great.
773 words for the day is enough, I think, and I need to think a little about how this scene is going to play out. It definitely has a much different dynamic than prior versions and even my original plans, with more urgency and more people involved. I’m going to have to think about how the balance between the factions is going to work itself out here. The heroine’s sister has really thrown a wrench into the works by sending pursuers, but I can’t blame her because my dumbass should have thought of that in the first place.
Funny how I set up the heroine and her elder sister as antagonistic, but the youngest sister Ari has a mind of her own that I should have anticipated. I have no one to blame but my own ableism tbh, I had a vague idea she would be sweet and harmless and not affect the story all that much because she’s autistic. Then she comes in and says “fuck that and fuck you” in her very first viewpoint scene, good for her. She took charge of an overwhelming situation like a boss (help, there’s a stranger in my bedroom and she’s totally gorgeous!!), telling this beautiful stranger how to help her not have a meltdown and then making a decision on her own that was both righteous and merciful. The details of this scene might change depending on the needs of the plot and what sensitivity readers tell me, but at least I learned I need to take a look at how I’ve been treating this character in my plans for the story.
I also adore the fact that Ari and her mutual crush/eventual girlfriend are working against each other despite their feelings. I find that I’m way more invested in this relationship than the one between the heroine and her bf. I think the two couples are going to make for contrasting parallels, with one couple working at opposing purposes before becoming allies, and the other starting out as fast allies but later becoming enemies.
I also got a kick out of the heroine’s boyfriend mentioning his cousin to her and her going, “Oh yeah, I guess I’ve heard of him. Isn’t he a foreign king’s bastard?” Oh, honey. That’s your future husband.
L.J.'s Obsessions 