Dilemma of Writing
What is the best method when dealing with an inspiration overload? Yes, mine is not over yet (somehow, I hope it never dries out, because too much is always better than not enough when it comes to ideas), and I’m torn between the two main choices that I see lying in front of me.One of the roads leads to dropping the novel I’m finishing these days, to jump to another idea, fulfill my desire to write that one, then come back to the previous novel—with the risk of this taking weeks or even months.The other road goes through forcing myself through finishing the work in progress first, even though this may feel very painful and end up in written crap just for the sake of “getting rid of it until the moment to edit comes”.Wisdom, my mind and my self-imposed deadline tell me to choose the second solution, but my heart longs for the first one. I suspect that whatever I choose, I won’t be satisfied in the end, either because the writing won’t be as fun as it could be, or because I’ll feel like a failure if I don’t meet my deadline. If it was about an article to write, or a book I needed to hand to a publisher in two weeks, I wouldn’t even have the choice at all; as it stands, I have it, and perhaps it’s not that a good thing.What do other authors do in such a case, when the deadline is only self-imposed? Jump to what is fun at the moment, even if it means not finishing the first work as planned? Plough through the task all the same, to have it done, and be able to put it aside and better focus on the next one? I’m trying to do the latter, but I’m painfully aware that, well, it could be better and funnier.On the other hand, wanting to make a career in writing means that it’s going to go like any other job—with good days, less good ways, and really crappy ones as well. Might as well acknowledge it and deal with it from the start, isn’t it?
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Benjamin Solah
Personally, I’d take the first option, considering there is a fear the writing won’t be as good if you force yourself to finish the deadline, despite your heart being in another idea.
Robert Ellis
That’s a very tough choice to make and one (obviously, sadly) only you can make for yourself. But if it were me, I’d finish the novel you’re working on. Looks like you’re almost there (88.8% of the way as I write this, according to your progress bar). If you finish the draft you’re working on you’ll have the fully formed armature to return to when you’re ready to edit. If you stop now, you may find it difficult to pick it up again, may lose your way entirely. I’d finish the draft, then set it aside. If you’re still excited about your new idea, you’ll have even more pent up energy to tackle it and your draft will marinate (and you’ll have fresh eyes for it later).Whichever you choose, good luck!
Yzabel
Robert, I admit that not being able to pick it up where I left it is likely my strongest fear in this. I can very well end up day-dreaming about what my characters would do in this-and-that situation, because they’re developed enough for me to like them, yet not writing the scenes that would at last close the novel in progress. Darnit, I wrote 10,000 words in two days, after all, so I know I can do it and it’s not a matter of “being unable to”! :)But then, as Benjamin says, if the heart’s not totally in it, it won’t be as good as it could have been.Ah, well. At least moaning about it tends to push me to write after I’m done, so there’s at least one positive outcome to my whining 😉
Jennifer
Finish the first project! Cause if you’re like me you’ll never get back to it. By the time you finish the project you want to work on you’ll have ideas for more new stories and you’ll want to start on those and then (if you’re like me) you’ll never get back to the project.I try to always finish something before I start a new project because I get too wrapped up in things.Just my take 🙂
Elvira Black
That’s a really tough dilemma, but maybe for the sake of being the devil’s advocate here, I’d say there may be a good case for giving into the immediate gratification route. I think enthusiasm about a writing project makes it easier to produce great prose. If you’re stuggling with the longer project, odds are the work will suffer. Since it’s a self-imposed deadline anyway, perhaps putting it aside for awhile will help you come back to it later with a fresher eye. Who knows–having it on the back burner of your mind might lead you to new insights into how to finish it. Perhaps your writer’s brain is trying to tell you something here. Maybe it’s best to sometimes go with your gut.
Fredcq
You really have to keep your focus when writing a novel. I too am besieged with ideas constantly. I try to restrain myself from incorporating every idea that I come up with out of my novel. If I have an idea that I think is really good, I will jot it down for later.
Fredcq
Nice blog by the way. I will probably add you to my writing blogroll if you don’t mind.
Yzabel
Jennifer — My fear as well, to never come back to it after. It’s true that other stories ideas will come, sooner or later, and all of them demanding my time and attention. Not really a good timing, I guess! 🙂
Yzabel
Elvira — I’m afraid that if I start another project, I’ll never come back to the former one, but… I’m pondering also starting to plan. Perhaps it could give me exactly what you mentioned—enthusiasm and a renewed attention for the first novel—as well as let me see if it’s a story I can carry on, while not demanding the same kind of focus I’d need to write a full novel. I don’t know. However, I’ll toy with the idea, well, tomorrow, when I’m rested and able to use my brain again 😉
Yzabel
Fredcq — Thanks for your input, and welcome here! I don’t mind you adding me to your blogroll; actually, I’ll need to have a more thorough look at your own blog tomorrow (see comment above—too tired to really do justice to anything tonight), because it looks interesting.I know what you mention, this need to incorporate every idea to a novel. Sometimes, you’d think that characters like handing out tons of information about their lives, past, tastes, etc. This also is a dilemma, because including too much would indeed take the story on awkward, ueseless trails, but refusing to include any of it might make us miss some really good development. Of course, realizing when this may be is always so hard, too. (I have such a problem in my current story, in fact; the element itself isn’t necessary at all for the main plot to work, but while it explains, simply, a part of a relationship between two characters, I know it could also lead the reader to think “why didn’t she exploit this further?”, or “why mention it if it’s not to be used more, in more details?”. Ack.)
Fredcq
I put a restraining order on myself when it came to giving out information in my novel. I wanted to make sure that there was no unsolicited exposition. My novel takes place in a very different world but all of the characters live there so my dilemma was how to explain things that the character should already know. I struggled with the idea of giving a history lesson but it seemed out of place. As I kept writing, I came to a part where I found that it was okay to give a nice bit of info without it sounding out of place.I am worried that people would read it and think that I should have explained more but I really think that it would take away from the mystery if I explained everything.
Yzabel
Once again, I see exactly what you mean! Its not so much a problem with stories happening in “our” world, than with the ones in imaginary lands. After all, we’ve taken the care and time to create a whole world, and somehow, there’s this need to show the reader how many possibilities, back story, land history, etc… in such a place. What I do to avoid unsollicited exposition is to tell myself that, when I have the need to overdo it, I must keep the info aside, and use it later on to create a RPG system based on my world. It seems a little dumb, and something that I may even never do, but at least I don’t feel like I’m creating all of this “for nothing, nobody will ever see it”. :)One thing I’ve been wondering about, though, is whether in fiction (and especially SF/F), readers are usually * that * adamant about seeing lots of things explained. Some probably are; myself, I tend to work more along the lines of suggested information (a.k.a. even if the author only drops hints here and there, my imagination does the rest, as long as said hints are critical ones, and at the right moments and places). Of course, this is such a subjective way of seeing it, that it can’t become law…
Fredcq
Well, I for one, do not like to read a ton of exposition so the books that I tend to read, sort of lack it and leave things to the imagination. I think that the average Fantasy reader knows that if he/she wants to read something with a ton of exposition, then they will read Robert Jordan or something else with a lot of backstory. I call these books, doorstoppers ;)I think that the author needs to at least provide the basics but if the history lesson does not fit into the story, then it should not be there. I just completed a fantasy/Sci-Fi novel. I wanted it to be lean and mean. It is essentially a revenge story mixed in with a road trip. There is not a lot of time for explaining things. I had someone read most of it that never read any fantasy or Sci-fi and she didn’t seem to have any problem following it, even though I know it is different.I liked what you said about keeping keeping the info aside to create an RPG. I do that do. Just because I don’t explain how everything works in my world, does not mean that I have not thought it out. You have to do that work even if you don’t put it all in the book!
Yzabel
I’m not too fond of exposition myself. In fact, I grow quickly bored of the “let’s have one of the characters gloss for pages and pages over the history or legends of the world while the heroes are traveling”, and other similar things.While it IS fascinating to see how well-built and complex a world is, the way to disclose this information consists in my opinion in a very narrow path, that is hard to walk properly, I admit. I’m not sure at all that I manage to do that well in my own writings, so I can’t criticize too much here, but I think the “show, don’t tell” rule applies well here. There are many ways to give information, even secondary, without having it sound like a boring exposition.I think you’re right when you say that if it doesn’t fit the story, it doesn’t need to be in. I see no point to, say, a character telling of a specific legend in a fantasy world, if nothing in the plot is reven remotely linked to it. (For instance, when I read the Fionavar Tapestry triolgy, I wasn’t too thrilled at the story of Lisen and Amairgen, but at least these two do reappear later on, through items they left behind, and at least there was some point in telling the legend).
Nienke
I just can’t help posting on this one (more to influence myself than any other). I know that some writers have more than one project on the go at any one time. I work as a magazine writer/editor during the day and then turn to my WIPs at night (I have two on the go, one fiction one non). So, couldn’t you just allot a bit of time each day/week for your original project? And, as for the fact that your writing may not be your best because of the lack of motivation for the project, that’s what rewrites are for! Then, I think the WIP would be a little more coherent if and when you go back to it.
Yzabel
Thanks for your input, Nienke (and welcome here, as I don’t think you had commented on this blog before?). That’s indeed another way of looking at it. I’m not sure whether working on both of them will work for me, but I suppose it’s worth the try, if only because, as you said, some writers do manage it, which proves that it can be done.