Oh man, I've been MIA on the blog for a while, haven't I? I've still been around, commenting and on Twitter and such, but I've just felt kind of dry in the blog department. I think that has to do with the fact that I've been kind of dry in the writing department, too. I was chugging along through the rewrite, and then I got to the part where I got stuck last time...and I got stuck again. And I said to myself: Damn you, Amanda! Why, WHY didn't you outline?! And instead of pushing through and just writing, I stopped.
I didn't realize it at the time, but it was/is a serious case of perfectionism that stopped me. I didn't want to write something that I'd have to delete later or that isn't the best way to tell the story. Since I didn't know what came next, I just didn't write anything in fear that it wouldn't be the right thing. My brain was coming up with a million possibilities and I couldn't decide which one was perfectly right. It felt kind of like this:
Well...that's stupid. I'm not going to lie, I'm still really scared that I'll write a load of crap and have to rewrite everything, but the thing is, I won't KNOW it's a load of crap until I write it and the story is finished.
Part of me thinks that this is what I get for partially pantsing this thing (I pants the middle--worst part for me!), but part of me thinks that even if I had an outline, I'd struggle with this anyway. Perfectionism doesn't discriminate between Pantsers or Planners.
So tell me, dear friends, have you ever had a writing dry spell due to perfectionism? Or any other reason? If you're pantsing a particular part of the story, do you just try to let go of the perfectionism and keep writing no matter what, or do you have to stop and think things through for a while until you feel more confident moving forward?
Thanks for bearing with me during my dry spell. I really love all of you guys!
Oh, oh. Also. The awesome Steph Sessa introduced me to an AMAZING website. It's a bunch of writers who make 15 minute pod-casts on all different writing topics, and it totally helped to get my writing juices flowing again. It's called Writing Excuses and you can go through the archives and even search by topic in the Tags section. The link is here if you're interested. Thanks, Steph!
I have had writing spells because I thought my writing just plain old sucked, and I needed to step away from it. I suppose that could be perfectionism...or realism. :) Glad you're back from your dry spell!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I've felt like that, too. Things definitely started flowing better when I let myself not be "perfect" (since that's impossible, anyway:))
DeleteI was wondering where you'd gone off to. Glad you're well, though getting stuck sucks, plain and simple. I think the perfection bug only really bites me when I'm rewriting because, when I'm drafting, I'm perfectly content to write junk so long as I'm making progress. The other sticking points for me are when I know something is not working in a story, but that's less a wording issue and more of a story issue. It's quite frustrating. The story issues are the ones I have to think through. And I am not an outliner, it's all 'discovery', though there is a lot of thinking that goes into it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're back in the flow of things. Good luck!
Thanks, Jeff! I was rewriting up to a point, now I'm back to drafting. I need to learn to be content with junk in the drafting. "Discovery' is fun until a story issue comes up and it takes forever to figure it out :)
DeleteYeah, middles are hard. I decided to start writing the end, and then go back and figure out what has to happen in the middle (that way I'm making some sort of progress, and can figure things out later, lol).
ReplyDeleteLots of times I'll just brainstorm long-hand when I have a few ideas of what comes next and am not really sure which to pick. I find that just scribbling on a different piece of paper helps me figure out what needs to be done to move to the story forward in the right direction. It usually just ends up as a lot of questions, but I at least decide what scenario to focus on.
Ohh you decided to start at the end! I might have to do that. We'll see. Let me know how it goes and then I'll decide, haha.
DeleteI totally agree with brainstorming longhand. It definitely helps to get ideas down. My main problem is deciding which way to take the story, lol. Indecisive!
I do get stuck in the middle a lot. It's actually where I am right now with Sir Callan, but I'm not a perfectionist. Haha. It's more what direction I want to go in, but sometimes writing crap is the only way to go. I usually do that in my notebooks. And sometimes new inspiration is the best medicine. Reading, watching movies or tv shows. Or pictures-Pinterest baby.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on pushing through!!1
Yeah...direction is a problemo for me, too, lol. This is why I'm going to outline hard core on my next novel (I say that now...) But yeah, I agree that writing crap is just a necessary part of the process. Also, Sir Callan is an awesome name, just saying! :)
DeleteHmmm...now that you mention it, that might be EXACLTY the reason I stalled on my last WiP. I don't usually consider myself a perfectionist, but...hm.
ReplyDeleteSo...how did you get back into it? Was it that short story? Anyway, glad you're back... <3
I never considered myself a perfectionist either, but then I just realized that actually...I kind of am. Haha. At least with writing.
DeleteUmm, yeah the short story definitely helped. A lot. Just to write and not have any pressure associated with it, and also I just have so much more control over short stories. It's liberating :) haha. Also the mindset, telling myself that it doesn't HAVE to be perfect, and I just need to write and can fix it later.
I've definitely had experiences like this, where I've been stuck and found it very hard to continue. I wouldn't say I was a perfectionist, but more that I had a feeling that I couldn't quite place. Like there was a scene which was built for the moment, and yet I couldn't manage to express it. Although saying it like that does make it sound like a perfectionist problem! Maybe you've opened my eyes to a problem I never even realised in writing.
ReplyDeleteThe way I get through ruts like this is to write anyway, even if it seems too painful to bear. Who cares if it's wrong? Sometimes perspective is a great thing too. It's only when we step away from a finished draft that we can finally say to ourselves, okay, this needs to change. Give your writing a chance. It might open your eyes to a solution you'd never even thought of before! Good luck with it, Amanda.
Yes...that's basically how I'm pushing through, too. Just writing anyway, even if I don't know if it's good. And I totally agree about perspective. I don't think I'll really know exactly how the story needs to pan out until I finish it and can see it as a whole. You're so completely right about that. Thank you!<3
DeleteI kept starting over my latest story trying to make it perfect (or at least not completely terrible) and realized I just had to plow forward and move on. Maybe the best thing you can do is just write (perhaps give yourself a word count goal or time goal every day) and if it turns out to be stuff you want to delete, so be it. But while you are writing, you might just produced great stuff!
ReplyDeletep.s. I discovered Writing Excuses this year and love it!
Yes, that's exactly what I did to push through--just write, even if I thought I'd have to delete it later anyway. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been through this! :)
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