Finishing it.

[gmw]

Posting this to get it off my chest as much as anything else, but feel free to join in.

While writing my last series I wrote a lot of background stuff. Much of it will never be seen by others, but I did end up with what amounts to two-thirds of a novel best described as a prelude to the series. Because it was only being written as background, finishing the prelude wasn't a priority. I finished the series itself over a year ago, but every time I've gone back to try and finish the prelude I seem to come up blank. I know what has to be in this last third, the major events at least, but finding my way through to those events is turning out to be very difficult. (The events are spread over too much time, which spoils the pace the story has managed to keep up to this point.)

Meanwhile I've written a few short stories and gotten deeper into organising thoughts and notes for my next big project ... but I really do want to finish that prelude. It's sitting there in my mind and stopping me from fully committing to the next project.

It's not that I'm a big fan of preludes in general, and I'm not even sure I'll even publish what I'm trying to finish (that depends on how it turns out), but I do want to finish it.

I've been here before, though never for such an extended period, so I pretty much know what is required: I've just got to sit down and start writing. But for some reason I'm finding that harder now than usual. It's very frustrating.

So instead of sitting down and writing the next bit of the story, I'm sitting here complaining about it in public. What on Earth did writers do for procrastination before the Internet?

[Nabeel]

I'm not sure if you want any response to this post, which seems fine as an expression of feeling in its own right.

However...

One blunt argument is that if you really don't want to do this, then there's no point in making yourself.

A more subtle response would be: think through the various tasks needed in order to write this prelude. List them, and work out for yourself which task is the most attractive (if any), and which the least. Draw up a new list organised round these criteria. Then - if you're feeling brave - start with the least attractive. Or, if you're still feeling uninspired, start with the most attractive and hope it snowballs.

By the way, I should be doing some marking for my University now. I'm only on this forum because the flipping digital marking system seems to have crashed (again!).

Best of luck.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by gmw

...
So instead of sitting down and writing the next bit of the story, I'm sitting here complaining about it in public. What on Earth did writers do for procrastination before the Internet?

Flipped pencils in the air, made paper clip chains, paced around the room talking to oneself ...


I have a story that is essentially done ... but I'll check it over one more time, then I'll have to decide on an image for the cover ...

It's hard to make the transition from "writing" to "written." But, yeah, you really do have to sit down, finish the writing, and reach the point where you can call it "done."

[gmw]

Nabeel, I can certainly appreciate the blunt argument, it is something I've questioned myself about a few times. The work was not intended to form a complete book when I started it; like the rest of my notes, it was just a way of immersing myself in the background in order to fill it out. But I got rather carried away and it became more than a collection of loosely connected scenes. I like what I've done so far and think it has potential - but only if I can bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. So I do want to do it.

For now I'll follow the story as I know it in my head, and if it turns out to be boring or disjointed I'll try to fix it when I come back. And even if I can't fix it to a publishable state, at least it will be finished.

[Marseille]

Originally Posted by cromag

Flipped pencils in the air, made paper clip chains, paced around the room talking to oneself ...

Or talking to their cats... That's actually not a much of a time waster, cats can be pretty helpful. Or so they tell me.

Sometimes the 'complaining' helps a bit. I actually started a similar thread a while back. The next day the baggage was gone and I was on mission. And I was very pleased with the result. Still am.

Good luck

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Marseille

Or talking to their cats... That's actually not a much of a time waster, cats can be pretty helpful. Or so they tell me.

Sometimes the 'complaining' helps a bit. I actually started a similar thread a while back. The next day the baggage was gone and I was on mission. And I was very pleased with the result. Still am.

Good luck

Thanks. And yes, I find that complaining sometimes does help a bit - I'm hoping this will be one of those times, but it's still too soon to tell. I checked out that thread. You spoke about not being able to ignore sad puppy eyes, which is one of my current problems - a new puppy - and he is very difficult to ignore.

I see, too, that that was back when I was struggling with something that disturbed me, and you said:

Sounds like you have a very clever subconscious. Or a really scary alternate personality, but hey, you use whatever you've got.

It turned out that I was also slightly prescient. One week after I posted on that thread, one element* of that short story actually happened. Real twilight-zone stuff. It took months before I could go near the story and actually finish it (but eventually did, with no other unpleasant surprises, thankfully).

It's not yet midnight here, I'll give the new puppy another outing (he's barking at me now) and then have another go at my writing.

* It was relatively minor in the story context but major in real life and very upsetting.

[Marseille]

I think puppies are swell, so long as they belong to someone else.

[gmw]

I can't say I'm a fan of puppies either, they're what you put up with in order to get a dog - and I like dogs. (Sure, you can get adult dogs from a pound or whatever, but if you want the dog to fit in with your household the surest way is to raise it from a puppy.)