Wednesday 11 May 2011

Nearing the End


Well, I'm within grasping distance of finishing the WIP, or at least the latest draft. I've had to drastically rework so much of it it's really a first draft in places. But as the End gets closer so my metaphorical pen seems to get heavier and I find myself struggling to put words down. I don't know why this is. Part of me thinks, it's just weariness from working on it relentlessly for the best part of a year. Another part of me throws up the old paranoid doubts: the plot doesn't work, the characters are too thin and nobody's going to buy this pile of cack so why are you wasting your time when the sun is shining?

I won't know if any or all of that is true until I return to it later, but I want to finish it just so I can put it to one side and write something else. Funny how the grass is always greener when you're up against it. Usually by now I have another idea bubbling away but not this time; I want to choose a really special project so I'm taking my time over it. Rereading bits of John Truby's Anatomy of Story, he emphasises the importance of finding a project that has resonance on a personal level - a story you have to tell. The choice of what to write about is far more important than any other choice, and I think that's true. My stories all seem to have a common thread of isolation and self-delusion. Perhaps I'm trying to tell myself something?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations! I remember that moment so well, almost a year ago. I had exactly the same wavering doubts that you have right now. I'm convinced they were down to WIP exhaustion. Put it away and have a break. Later something will trigger the urge for a fresh look at it. I've gone down to the bottom of a big snake too and am pretty much having to rewrite my WIP, I'd say 50% of it.

Unknown said...

If your metaphorical pen is getting too heavy use a Bic.

I read something like the Truby quote some time ago. May have even been from him, or Robert McKee. It made me realise the piece I was working on was writing by numbers. I didn't scrap it, I just found out where I fitted into it and changed it. Love it now.

Sandra Patterson said...

Thanks, Fiona - good luck with the rewrite.

Haha, Tony! But I can never find a bic when I need one - might have a look down the back of the sofa.
Yes, writing by numbers is a good way of putting it.