Dark Fantasy Author
I created this blog post draft in October and made a graphic, but got over my hump and was able to continue, so it just sat in drafts with nary a word in the actual post.
It’s now November, National Novel Writing Month, and I’m stuck on chapter 15 of book 2, so I figured it was time to bring this shit back. No real context needed here. The pic kinda speaks for itself.
Copyright © 2019 Val Neil. All rights reserved.
Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. – George Orwell
Writing is hard. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. As with all things difficult, where one is tempted to give up and run screaming through the streets when you just can’t take it anymore, it’s good to regularly check in with others who are on the same journey as you. Here are some of the ways I keep myself on target.
In-Person Writer Groups
I’m lucky enough to have a pretty active writing community nearby. My town even has a writer’s guild. Search online and see if you can find other authors nearby. Shut Up & Write is a great organization for this. They host regular meet ups where everyone introduces themselves, checking in on current projects, then writes uninterrupted for one hour (or longer). It’s a great way to meet a variety of people who all have a passion for writing.
Facebook Groups (WITH GOALS)
The key here is ACCOUNTABILITY. While there are plenty of Facebook groups dedicated to writing, very few have weekly check-ins. Sacha Black runs a group called 13 Steps to Evil – Villain Masters, which has a regular check-in on Mondays.
Accountability Buddies
Pick a writer, any writer, and agree to check-in with one another a couple of times a week. I had a buddy after NaNoWriMo last year. We communicated via Facebook and entered our word counts every day in Google sheets. The only problem was that it got harder once I started editing and he fell off the writer bandwagon. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably use a different tracking mechanism and add a few more people for increased accountability.
Word Count Trackers
If you’re not stuck editing, I highly recommend a joint word count tracker like I mentioned above. If someone has nothing input for a few days, you can send them a PM asking what’s up.
Critique Groups/Alpha Readers
If your writing is relatively solid, you may choose to share your manuscript as it’s being written. I personally wait until I at least have a complete draft, but I know several people who use critique and alpha readers very early in the process. It works because you have someone breathing down your neck (hopefully) waiting for the next chapter.
For myself, I found this gives me a much-needed boost during the editing process. Editing is rough, and seeing your story land with people is a real incentive to keep going.
Copyright © 2019 Val Neil. All rights reserved.
7/26/2019
I made it work! That sounds terrible to say, like if I had to “make” it work, then it shouldn’t have been there in the first place. But damnit, writing is pretty much nonstop making things work. As much as I hate editing, there’s a real beauty to it when you see how the story evolves and gets better. Like “hello good story! I knew you were in there somewhere!” Polish that turd, people.
I had to go back to Ch 20 and add a couple of paragraphs to head off the “Medea’s reading his mind” issue. Now Nikolai at least has the tools to block her. Although she did leave those tools where he can find them, so who’s to say how effective they are?
Approaching the midpoint in my revisions. I’m definitely considering moving the Predator/Prey chapters to book 2. When I wrote the sequence I had writer’s block, and I used the old trick “have your protagonist get attacked by monkeys/ninjas.” In my case, Nikolai gets jumped by witch hunters. It’s a fun sequence that shows his darker side as he has no real reason to hold back. The scene did indeed help me get over the block and provided a great segue for bullet training (which has since been punted to book 2).
The problem is it doesn’t fit the throughline for book 1, and would actually fit the story for book 2 a lot better. When I started writing this series I had a general idea of how many books it would take and what would be in each. But I hadn’t yet written a novel. I worried about having enough content for book one. As I started writing, I realized that book 1 had content for like three books. When all is said and done, my projected 8-book series may end up being longer. I hope I can streamline my writing/editing process over the next few years so I can get them out at a decent rate.
Copyright © 2019 Val Neil. All rights reserved.
Getting stuck is usually a symptom of a larger problem–your story isn’t working.
Reasons You Might Get Stuck
1. You’re bored with the scene. If you’re bored writing, your reader will get bored reading. Maybe the scene lacks tension, or maybe it’s just not going where it needs to.
2. You’ve written yourself into a corner.
3. The plot is going someplace it shouldn’t.
4. There are other stressors going on in your life that are preventing you from focusing on writing. Self-care and mental health are important! That said, it’s usually one of the first three reasons.
Solutions
You don’t have to try all of these. Usually one will work. It all depends on how you’re stuck.
1. First off, save a copy of your work. Make a “cut” folder or however you want to organize it, and throw all trimmed stuff there. It’s a lot easier to cut/change things when you know you can go back to it if you need to (though you won’t, because if it was working you wouldn’t be stuck).
2. Go back to an earlier point in the manuscript. It could be one scene back or a few chapters. Find the last place where the story was last flowing easily and look for forks in the road, decisions the characters made, reactions they had, then try something completely different. This is the one most likely to work.
3. Shit on your protagonist. Your main character needs conflict. If things are dragging, they may have it too easy. Give them a problem to solve. Make things go horribly wrong.
4. Have your character attacked by monkeys. Or ninjas. Or aliens. You might not be able to use the scene in your novel, but it will get you writing something interesting and chances are you can use a variation of the scene somewhere down the line (so save it).
5. Try writing the scene from a different character’s point of view. Even if you think you know how each character would react, getting into their POV will likely give you some new insight. Combining this with #2 also helps.
I hope you found these tips useful.
Copyright © 2019. Val Neil. All rights reserved.
