It started as a goal to finish a novel. Period. Then I started writing at the beginning of the summer, and I decided I wanted to finish before Fall. Then things started going really well and very quickly, so I decided I wanted to finish the novel before the end of July. Then writing became more difficult, and I let laziness get the best of me. Saturday I realized that July was going to end in less than a week, whether or not I’d finished the novel.
Meeting my goal no longer seemed possible. But, when I was showering last night, I finally figured out the motivation of one of my principle characters, and it has made all the difference. I quickly finished a chapter I’ve been working on for almost two weeks. Writing became easy again.
I have four days to finish the final three chapters or about 15,000 words. For me, that’s doable, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge. Of course, I have the luxury of not working right now, so I’m going to take advantage of it. My goal is to write a chapter each day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I’ll update each day on the blog with my progress.
I feel like I just broke through a major block in my writing, which is strange only because I didn’t think I was blocked. I knew something was going on, but it certainly didn’t feel like an impasse. I knew already what needed to happen, but I couldn’t figure out what my characters were thinking or why they were doing the things they were. I tried to explain to myself and potential readers what the characters were feeling, but it all felt very artificial. It shouldn’t be so hard to explain motivation; it shouldn’t feel like a persuasive essay.
While creating this story, I’ve often felt like the pieces were falling together like a puzzle. I can’t make any sense of that. It’s pure fiction–100% fabricated in my mind. But, when something is right, it often feels right, and when something is forced, it feels fake. Sometimes it seems as if the story already exists in its entirety, and I’m just uncovering it piece by piece. When I pass a block like the one I’ve just experienced, it feels like I’ve solved a mystery, uncovered a new piece of the puzzle.
Another thing I’ve learned: simple is almost always better. I was getting desperate and reaching for elaborate explanations to explain a character’s motivation, and what I finally ended up with was something very simple. Simple emotions are easy to relate to, even when the causal factors are extremely complicated and convoluted.
Related posts:
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Kudos to you. I finished my “storyline” novel this weekend, though with all the editing I’ll be doing I am not finished. But setting that end date for this weekend helped me a lot and I hope it works for you.
Also, the simple statement – so true. It can be more problematic for the writer and put you in a block if you try to elucidate too much rather than keep it direct. Definitely somethings can be more detailed, but every paragraph doesn’t always need to be loaded.
Good luck, I am sure you will do quite well.
it’s so interesting to read about your novel-writing process. congrats on the epiphany!
Thanks guys. Yeah, I will still have plenty of work left to do with revising, but I’m so excited to just have the entire story down. Maybe revising will be a nice change of pace. Or, maybe it will be torture. I guess we’ll find out!