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:
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.
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.
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.
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