| A short rant |
| I swear I'm grateful for the way my career has taken off, but sometimes the requirements of a published author can be frustrating.I have a book on deadline, and for whatever reason (wish I knew!) I'm having a terrible time getting into the head of my heroine. Meanwhile, I just wrote a proposal for a novella and I am dying to write that story! I'm so into these characters and the premise-it's a story I've had in my head for months. But it'll be months before I can even touch it. At least, when this current book is done, I'll have this one to look forward to. But what do I do now? The novella characters are speaking to me, but the characters in the book I have on deadline are as silent as a grave. Writing this book is like pulling teeth, and I'm afraid the story will suffer as a result. I have to find a way to get into the groove with this book, somehow.Have any of you been through this-being forced to write a book you can't get into, but finding a way to do it, and do it well, anyway? Help! |
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| 9 Comments: |
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The one you want to do is overshaddowing the one you HAVE to do?
Write down just enough to get them to quiet down and then see if the characters that are due soon start speaking again?
Get pictures for your due characters and look at them. Go back to their original motivations and see if you can connect with them?
It is fustrating.
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That's what I'd do, too. I'd just start typing the bare bones of the story you're wanting to write and get it out of your head. I've been there, working on two books at once. When I was blocked on one, I'd go to the other, and strangely enough, working on the other one usually helped me unlock something in the book I was stuck on. Our subconscious minds are frustrating, wondrous places. :D
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Yes I agree with Eva and Robin. Maybe focus on the other story calling you for a bit, purge them out and then move on to the deadline one. Or try to focus solely on the deadline one, reread what you've written, etc.
This is tough. I bet we've all been at this spot. I know I have!
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I'd write the one that speaks now to you, just to exorcise it from your system. Maybe then the other characters will feel jealous that you're not paying attention to them and decide to talk to you. Good luck with both stories, chica!
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I can so relate to this blog Eden. I have the same thing going on right now. I have a book on a deadline and then these vampires are the ones talking to me. Not my book on the deadline but a completely new story.
Anyways, I did both of these things. I had to write the other story first, just to get the voices to stop. Eventually it did stop--but I completely finished this other story first. I also tried to force the other one to come back to the surface by re-reading it and trying to get into the head. Which has helped a good deal and I am almost done.
Good luck! I know you can do it!
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Well-I had a breakthrough today and wrote 10 pages on my impossible wip-which is no longer impossible! Today, I fell in love with my hero-like the big in love!-and I finally 'got' my heroine. Thanks to Eva's 'suck-it-up' services yesterday, and a conversation with RG today, in which all she really did was listen to me whine for about an hour. But at the end, I realized I really DO have to just suck it up and do the work. It's just like Nora Roberts says-there is no muse. Sometimes you just have to sit your ass down in the chair and DO it.
And Karen, I did re-read much of what I'd already written, just as you suggested, and it did help. What helped the most was discovering I actually liked what I'd written , when all along I've been afraid it was crap.
So-thanks everyone, for listening to me bitch and moan, and for your support and advice.
Gad, what twisted psyches we writers have! But at least we all understand eachother. :)
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sorry for the delete-posting issues lol. Anyway-I whined just as much-so we're even :}
I am so glad you are past that block!
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THis is when I usually take a break. Usually it's some silly issue or on a rare occasion I didn't do what I was supposed to do with them from the beginning. I hope it's the first. LOL Even with a deadline with my first short I refused to write because I was burnt out. I spent two nights before d-day pushing out the rest of the story because it was finally ready to be told. You have a lot on your plate right now, but if you need to bounce ideas around send me an email. This is something I'm actually decent at. LOL
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posted by Eden Bradley-Eve Berlin at 
The one you want to do is overshaddowing the one you HAVE to do?
Write down just enough to get them to quiet down and then see if the characters that are due soon start speaking again?
Get pictures for your due characters and look at them. Go back to their original motivations and see if you can connect with them?
It is fustrating.