Starting all over?

[linachu]

How often do you guys write and write, and you're almost done with the story, and then reach a point where it might be better to press the restart button and re-write something from scratch

Comments

[scifishipper]

I admire you for even thinking about re-writing! OMG. I would never be able to re-write something that I'd invested that much time into. My motivation to write comes a lot from the discovery of what my characters are going to do and say when it comes for them to act. I love that discovery process and for me, I think I'd be disheartened.

Is there a way to push through this climax of events and get to the end? Is there a secondary story you can write or interleave that would help with the areas that seem to be not working? Is it a matter of brainstorming to generate excitement for the work again. Or maybe skipping to some scenes that you've been excited to write?

I'm not sure! I hope this is of some help. The writing process can be so hard to capture and discuss. Good luck and please let us know if there's anything we can do to help!

[linachu]

I'm definitely trying to push my way to the end. A lot of the issue lies when I wrote the chunk for NaNo; I was so rushed just to meet the word count that there are some plotholes and inconsistencies that drive me nuts. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't continue until I go back to fix them. It's as if I'm looking for a different way to procrastinate or something. I know I'm obviously going to re-write this, since it is the first draft - but getting to the end when I'm so close is driving me nuts!

Thanks so much for the input. I'm really surprised at all the helpful feedback I got on this. You guys rock. :)

[ninety6tears]

While I've heard an LJ friend of mine (who is a published author) speak frequently of "rewrites" I've always wanted to ask her what exactly this means, but my instinct is to say that yes, writers do this all the time. I'm just not sure if they handle it as more of a process of editing the entire work that is so intensive it feels like you're writing the whole thing over again. I just know that the rough draft of my novel is so rough that when I end up working on at least the first half again it will probably end up feeling more straightforward to just print out a tangible copy that I'm "adapting" than to struggle with deleting/editing the mess that is already on the page. But I'm feeling like what you're referring to is significantly changing the story itself, which I've never done; the con of being a very slow perfectionist is that you're slow but on the other hand you need to do less rewriting and to me the environment of NaNoWriMo is kind of scary because while that very quick process can be inspiring in some ways and make you

[linachu]

But I'm feeling like what you're referring to is significantly changing the story itself, which I've never done

Yes and no, which is the frustrating part! There are scenes that definitely need to be re-written and smoothed out to make it flow better in the story. And there are some scenes I'm planning to cut, and others I'm planning to insert that have never been part of the story before. I guess that's all part of working on a second draft, though! First draft is always the worst.

One of my favorite authors has basically said that she seemingly does more writing than thinking about what she's going to write

That's something I need to push myself to do. Just get all the main points out and go back and smooth things out, kick out a few things and add a little more detail. I'm so ready to finish this thing that I'm also procrastinating on it so bad. Ugh!

[linachu]

This entire comment is full of win. Thanks so much for the feedback. :) I'm glad I posted my frustrations; everyone's comments are helpful and encouraging.

[kdbleu]

In short, no. I am a rewriter but I always believe that something in what I have written is worth saving. To the point that even the idea of scrapping a whole scene is really hard for me. I will cut huge chunk, usually to the benefit the story and my psyche, but I save whatever written words I can and believe strongly that a cut is something that needs to go, not just be rewritten through edits or from scratch.

Now, I do have a mostly finished fantasy novel that right about 75k I realized I needed some major writing and rearranging of the story. It was an incredible amount of work both mentally in admitting that I'd trudged so long on the wrong path, but also in the 'physical' writing, reworking, cutting and ultimately moving on to figuring out how to finish my story. Now, what I realized in large part was that my story was nowhere near over and the heavy lifting was yet to come, and I ended up stopping my work on that piece because I had no plan what that the next step was.

However, I've also reached a point to where I feel

[linachu]

This statement really sticks out to me, because it makes me think that part of your problem is coming to the end of your story, like you want to restart because you're going to have to say good-bye to the characters and story you've created.

I actually do have a sequel planned out for this one. I think it's more of the scenes I have to write, since it's gonna involve a very hard decision for my MC.

But thank you for the comment! I definitely don't wanna throw all my work away. There's still a lot of it I wanna keep. But probably re-word things and maybe re-arrange some scenes too.

[coffeesuperhero]

What I hear from your post is you saying that you've created a thing that you love with characters that you love, which is amazing and awesome and an incredible accomplishment, but that you are justifiably frustrated because that creative force is just not working for you like you want it to right now. I think that's totally normal and not necessarily an indication that you need to do anything even approaching a total rewrite, although that's a possibility. Everybody has trouble finding their talent or their creativity or their motivation from time to time, and in my experience, the longer the project, the more I start to really feel that strain by the time the end is nigh. I think of creative energy like a muscle, and just like any other muscle in my body, it tires of overuse, and sometimes I've gotta spend a day in recovery mode doing nothing but eating comfort food and chilling on my couch. Sometimes I've gotta work a different muscle group and give that one a break, so if I'm burned out on one project but I still feel compelled to

[linachu]

Thank you for the insight! Really, didn't expect such great feedback and great perspectives. :) You guys are awesome.

[coffeesuperhero]

You're very welcome! This community is an awesome resource and I hope you'll keep coming back! We are always here for support and advice or just good old-fashioned commiseration. :D

Good luck with your project!