Monday, October 17, 2016

Back to the Beginning

I wanted to start with a clip of Inigo from "The Princess Bride" delivering his drunken line about Vizzini telling him to go back to the beginning, but I couldn't find one.  But I'm pretty sure most of my readers have seen "The Princess Bride", so y'all can imagine it.

Anyway.

I'm a bit over two weeks into my experiment for this month and it's been a giant pain in the ass.  The entire thing has proven to be a study in one step forward, two steps back, and I'm lucky if it's only two steps.  I spent most of the first week trying to hammer things out only to realize that everything I had planned came to a screeching halt at the end of Act 1.

Simply put, the story's meant to be about the three main characters dealing with what pulls them together whether they like it or not, and I didn't have a single damn idea how it was supposed to play out after they realize what's happened to them.

I also thought I'd done well by creating a three-part magic system, which led to an over-arching villain who seemed like they'd be a really interesting character.  However, that led to a new problem.  When the magic system works in a way that means everyone's born with control over one aspect of magic, and the main villain was born with control over magic, well....  It's hard to plot when every realistic scenario ends with "And then the bad guy has Our Heroes brought to them and takes away their magic."

While I don't know where the story's going, I do know it's not meant to have such a downer ending.

So I set aside most of what I'd done, and went back to my original notes, thinking that going back to my first idea would help me figure it all out.  I developed the original ideas and came up with some new stuff, some of which I really liked.  I spent a lot of time this past Saturday hashing out how the changes would affect the characters and the world, and managed to patch a major plot hole along the way.

And then I stopped when I was in the middle of defining some new kingdoms, because it didn't feel like it mattered.

Two weeks in, and I feel like this is going to turn out just like so many other things I try to plot.  I'll come up with revision upon revision, yanking everything apart and trying to reassemble it in a different way, hoping I somehow find one that works.  I'm running into the exact same problems I always have - no good villain, stakes either too high or too low, everything turning into a there-and-back-again journey.  I keep coming up with new ways to have the story play out, but they all sound stupid, and I still can't get past Act 1.  And I'm starting to feel like I don't care enough about these characters to tell their story.

I don't know if this is depression, or if I'm putting too much pressure on myself to make this work, or if forcing myself to work on one thing for a month was just a bad idea.  But I am starting to feel like this whole thing was a mistake, which I probably should have figured, since I always described the story as an excuse for something.  And I found a quote tonight that speaks a little too well to that:

"Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it."  --Unknown

15 comments:

  1. Set it aside and focus on something else. When you least expect it, the answers will hit you.

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    1. That seems to be the plan. Whether I'll come back to this particular project, though, I don't know.

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  2. I agree with Alex. Get the mind on something completely different. Either an idea will pop up or at least, you'll gain a new perspective. Good luck!

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    1. Thank you. I've been doing a little work on other stuff, though it's been hard.

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  3. Maybe this exercise wasn't totally wasted. Maybe it showed you that you need permission to work on more than one thing at a time, but with a little pressure to stick to one thing for a time. Why not find a happy medium between all or nothing?

    As far as the plot...
    Some 'what if' questions could help.
    (The magic thing might work if there was someone who could/some way to best the villain.)

    If you know the ending, plotting backwards can keep you on track.

    Jami Gold has some great plot worksheets on her site. I've started using those when I plot, and it helps me make sure I'm hitting all the plot points and staying on track.

    Good luck. I hope you pull out of your slump.

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    1. Thanks. And I think it is best that I gave this a try, even if it didn't work out. It's possible that changing the time period might work better - a week instead of a month, perhaps.

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  4. Totally agree with everyone else. When you start working on something else, the wheels of this story will still be spinning and one day, it'll just come pouring out.

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    1. Could be. There are some good ideas in there that I'm sure I'll find a place for somewhere.

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  5. That's rough, Dude. Maybe the approach isn't what stimulates you creatively? I know some people who work great under pressure and thrive to meet deadlines. Me? I crash and panic and make negative progress. Maybe the experiment worked to show you that isn't how your muse works?

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    1. That does seem to be the case, yes. >_< I think the deadline has to come from someone else, as I find deadlines extremely focusing and motivating at work. But maybe it's best not to give myself anything like a writing deadline when I don't need one.

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  6. Ditto what everyone else has said. Walking away from the project might give you enough distance and perspective to see an alternate path. Since I'm very stubborn, I still find it hard to do, but I'm getting better at accepting this process as the only way I can find my way through a first draft.

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    1. I too am very stubborn, which is more often than not quite detrimental to me getting things like this done. >_< And yeah, going from one project to another might seem scattered, but it could be the best way to keep from getting stuck and frustrated with things.

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  7. It's totally pressure. I've been stopped up like that before too, and I just have to back away. That doesn't mean I have to quit the draft, but I have to go do some real living. AND one thing I find usually gets me through it is talking out the problem with my hubby. Between our two creative minds we usually find the solution, or something one of us says sparks it. There are frustrating periods of about three days where I can't find the solution, but it comes eventually. You'll get there. Take the pressure off.

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    1. Yep. Like I said above, self-induced pressure is probably not something I need to do for myself. I do miss having other writers around to talk through things like this, though; that's nifty that you and your husband can hash things out for your work.

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    2. I know! How lucky am I? I would venture that most authors don't have their creative equal in a spouse. Super hand thing. (But honestly, I married him for his brain...and his sense of humor.)

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