I had an idea. In retrospect, this was a bad occurrence as it will only bring me pain and generally make my life more difficult.
...let me start over.
I've been working on yet another book plot, because that part of my brain never stops working and hopefully never will. It's been difficult for more than the usual reasons - not only have I genuinely figured out how to put these new characters through hell, it's also shaping up in a way that it could be one of the most personal things I've ever written. The theoretical book also already has a soundtrack in the new Garbage album (which is frickin' awesome and you should listen to it), and some of the songs fit the characters ridiculously well.
During a lull at work last week, I ended up hashing out most of the plot. I determined that since I knew how it started and how it ended, I could rough out an outline of what happens in between. Five notepad pages' worth of frantic scribbling later, I thought it sucked, but that's more indicative of my mood last week than the actual plot. But I wasn't thrilled about it for a very good reason:
Something is still missing.
I don't know how I know this, I just do. There's a feeling that comes when a plot is working out well, when it's coming together as it should. There's a different feeling when things aren't the way they're supposed to be. This feeling is what kept me from writing STARWIND for almost two years, and it only went away when I swapped the main characters' genders.
So, since I really want to write this new book someday, I've been trying to figure out what's missing from the new plot. (No, I can't swap the main characters' genders in this one. Trust me.) I've been going in a bunch of different directions for this, ranging from adjusting the magic system to changing what's happening in the world to swapping out nearly everything about the story and turning it into a novel version of a giant robot fighting anime, but with magic.
...okay, I totally want to write the giant magical robot battle book, but that's not this one.
To be fair to myself (for once), it's hard to come up with new ideas and make them work when I'm in the middle of editing. STARWIND is taking up most of my writing time these days, and I'm glad to say it's going well. But my brain's still tagging along on the crew's multiversal travels. Switching gears to something completely different isn't easy.
I am glad that I finally have a reason to not beat myself up over not being able to get a plot to work, and the reason is that I'm editing a book that does work. As writer problems go, this isn't bad.
The plan is to let this plot sit and simmer for a while. I still haven't even transcribed the notes from last week; they're sitting here on my desk, just another small pile of yellow paper covered with scribbles. I'll get to it when I'm done editing STARWIND and have sent that one off to beta readers. And hopefully by then, I'll find or figure out whatever's missing.
So, what about the rest of you? How do you know if something's missing from what you're working on? How do you deal with new ideas when you're neck-deep in working with something else? And if you haven't listened to the new Garbage album, why not?
I would read a giant magical robot battle book.
ReplyDeleteJust start making a list of what-ifs. Something will hit.
Garbage has been around a long time now. At least twenty years.
Yah, they did their twenty-year anniversary tour last year. I caught a performance online, was great to see them do all the old stuff, but I like their newer stuff too.
DeleteAnd I'm totally going to do the giant magical robot battle book one day. ^_^
I try to stick to one book at a time. I used to bounce between them all over the place, but what I found was that I didn't make any progress. I either loved this one or loved that one and then I'd get distracted by something shiny and new... Unless it's a short story, I no longer bounce between stories when working on a project.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like we're largely in the same place on this. I think trying to bounce between project is part of what frustrates me, especially when I'm in the plotting phase of a bunch of things at once.
DeleteI'm horrible about working on what I'm supposed to be working on when I'm passionate about something else. I usually know something is wrong when I feel like I'm slogging through stuff.
ReplyDeleteI hear you there. It's way too easy to get distracted by the shiny new idea, or something that just seems like it's working better, especially when what we're supposed to be working on gets difficult.
DeleteLetting it simmer is a good idea. I always find that walking away from a problem is the best way to find the solution. Often, when reading a book or watching a movie/TV show, I'll see some twist and think, "Yes, that's what I'm missing from my story!"
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I am 27k words into a new first draft and have hit my first real roadblock. Time to walk away for awhile!
Yes, walking away helps so much! I've had it happen so many times that just getting out of my chair to get more water or something like that helps me figure out what's wrong with a story.
DeleteAnd if I remember right, you said elsewhere that you'd figured out what wasn't working with yours, so, yay!
Sometimes, I put the main WIP down and work on short stories of a different genre, and then I talk about it with someone in my house. I kept not wanting to talk about my current WIP, and when I did I finally realized what was missing . . . a purpose. Now, that I know what my MC's purpose is, I can cut about 30% of what I wrote that doesn't go that route.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. There are all kinds of things I've found that worked to get me going again on a story that had stalled. Trouble is, the same ones don't always work on different stories. Oops. >_<
DeleteI think I'm much like you. If something's missing from a story I'm working on, I just know it. I don't know how I know; I just do.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I used to love Garbage back in the 90's. Didn't even realize they were still around.
On the plus side, it's kind of a reassuring sign - when we hit that point, we know we need to step away and figure it out instead of banging our heads against it again and again. The trouble is recognizing when that's what's happening.
DeleteAnd yeah, Garbage's new album is their sixth. They've never really gone away, just taken a few very long breaks.
Clearly I need to be paying more attention to the music scene.
Delete