Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Feeling Stale

I'm 33,000+ words into my novel...and it's feeling stale. I love the characters! Just having trouble getting them to speak to me. Each chapter is a chore to get out. Hopefully, by persistance, the words will come and, once finished, I can go back through and liven the story! Does it work that way? Does persistance in writing pay off?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Keeping on keeping on DOES help. I'll often struggle, just as you've described, with a chapter or scene. I used to agonize over it. Now I don't. Now I get it down, send it out to be critted, but move on. When I get the crits back, I revisit it. Sometimes the crit comments are enough to spark my brain into seeing the actual problem and fixing it. Other times, my crit partners have suggested something that will work. And finally, sometimes I just have to let it rest for some time, then revisit it a few weeks later for the "kinks" to work out. Either way, you can't give up. My handed-down advice is to at least get it down. You can't edit and revise what you haven't written! :)

Rhonda Gibson said...

Could it be you hit the dreaded middle of the book? Keep going!! You can do it!!!