Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

Paralysis.

i think that's a better term than 'writer's block,' more all encompassing. To me a block is when you want to write but the words aren't flowing. Paralysis is more insidious and can come in many forms from many things. You've sent your novel out and have so many rejections, you feel like you don't deserve to try. You've joined a critique group and have so many conflicting opinions you don't know which way to turn. You get professional advice which reminds you not all pros know what they're doing. You just read your idea on the library shelf and it's nowhere near as good/is so much better that you lose hope.

I think every writer feels this paralysis as some point. Sometimes it can knock you down for a long time. A combination of them has kept me from a) finishing several things b) never sending Mach. Moon out any more. it's taking me a long time to get myself moving again. I've manage to do so much grunt work on this one to let it die now. Done query letter contests, synopsis writing contests, actual put your novel into it contest and that last one, with complete strangers reading it, I was surprised and pleased they liked it but it wasn't quite enough to get out of the paralysis.

I'm not sure there is a cure all for this. I find ranting in my journal and talking to friends on IM/Email helps me get it out there.Even if i don't take all or any of their advice, I find talking it out helps my brain to twist the problem around until I find a solution for it.

What has worked for you all in the past?



Machaivelli Moon - no revision but feel like I've shaken off the shroud on this.It's going back to 1995 to the Deadwood I knew

38535 / 175000 words. 22% done! half way thru the year less than a quarter the way thru my yearly goal for original writing. this sucks

Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron. I better get working on a new chapter or I'll have nada for the writers group.

75877 / 80000 words. 95% done!

Riding with Strangers I should have something for the Ofilter soon

34794 / 60000 words. 58% done!

Beneath the Torn Sky - this one is moving again however slowly

57373 / 75000 words. 76% done!

Masquerade -

877 / 2500 words. 35% done!

Comments

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I rarely have the kind of paralysis that doesn't allow me to write (if I do, it's only a few months and passes). I still am totally paralyzed to put my writing out there in the world.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

and that's even worse

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, yeah. Lots of writing and no one reading it. Need to deal with that fear.

But not being able to write--I'd feel like a big chunk of myself was missing.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

good luck with that because sometimes getting the wrong readers is bad news. could always do what I have done put a few of the friends you trust on a filter and share

I DO feel like that with how much I've struggled this year

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Paralysis is a good word. I know I'm not "blocked" if the characters are talking away but I'm just not sitting down to write anything. On the other hand, taking a long vacation from active writing, using the time to do research and read lots of other people's writing, finally paid off when the logic kinks that plagued The Fox and the Shadow's early chapters suddenly straightened themselves out. Getting back into the habit of writing--the physical habit of sitting down in front of the computer and putting words onto disk--is going to be tough, though. And writing two novels at once doesn't help. The characters from Shadow and Ever Summer compete with each other, and switching from Japanese historical mode to Celtic fantasy mode is so difficult that I just bind up and don't write either one. Like you with Machiavelli Moon, I feel like I'm gnawing old bones at this point with The Fox and the Shadow, and it's hard to get motivated to fix the bad spots and get it finished and into final draft form. Buckling down and tackling it means mothballing the newer and more exciting storyline and characters of Ever Summer, and risking a fatal loss of momentum. Like the donkey between the two haystacks, I'm paralyzed.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

trust me when I say I know exactly what you mean. I can usually switch gears very easily but on the other hand I'm falling back into the rut of just doing cursory description and doing only dialogue. that leaves me with tons of revision to do and a definitely flatness to the action, a tell not show

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Total immersion in a story and its characters gives the writing its depth and texture. Definitely, if you're switching gears that easily, you're losing the depth, and it's way too easy to fall into narration instead of storytelling. And I know from futzing with Shadow, having tons of revision kills any desire to work on the story.

[salomesensei.livejournal.com]

So many ways and means to mess with creative mojo, ain't there? I know you know the basics: quality and creativity have nothing to do with saleability. Most publishers have very narrow ideas of what they want, what sells, and most agents follow suit. The perils of free market. Please don't doubt your creativity or ability to write, even if you do feel frozen out of writing for a bit.

I'm frozen for very different reasons, and hence I suddenly took up anime portraits. It's somehow helped ease the "Man, I'm off work for the first time in my adult life, I should be writing a novel" burden. Chemo notwithstanding.

So I'm drawing, reading novels (and thinking about how other writers put theirs together in ways I haven't contemplated much), cooking, and watching bad movies. And naps.

My sympathy/empathy is with you.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

there definitely is. it's hard looking at my writers' group and flist and seeing quite a bit of talent that gets turned down and picking up my weekly library allotment of books and seeing pure crap but as you say, free market and people's tastes are questionable anyhow.

You have very good reasons for being off your game (and frankly for 3 of the last 6 months so had I.I've been terribly sick this year). I'm glad you're finding a different creative outlet.

This weekend however HAS been good.I've been mainlining every forensic program I can find and I do have pages worth of stuff to type in

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

amen

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I haven't sent out Ring of Fire in over a year.

But I never seem to stop writing. (Or, apparently, whining.) The last time I had that problem, though, I just let it go for a while and did a lot of other things (largely, play video games) and eventually, it came back. I'm sure it will with you, too.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's ever been this long.Machiavelli Moon has been siting around for a decade now. amazing

i'm not writing anywhere near what I want to be I'm afraid

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it'll come back. Mine always does, and I think you're as much as storyteller as I am!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you very much. A little came back this weekend.