When the Going Gets Tough
By Allison Winn Scotch | December 10, 2009 |
(Yes, now you can have that Billy Ocean song in your head all day too.)
So the good news is that since I last blogged here on Writer Unboxed, I’ve started my next novel. Hurrah! The even better news is that this book – unlike my last – is flowing out of me at unprecedented paces. Well, not unprecedented – I wrote my first novel in three months, and my last novel, Time of My Life, in two – but compared to my forthcoming book, The One That I Want, which felt like utter agony 99% of the time, this is heaven.
Which has gotten me thinking. Before I wrote The One That I Want, I swore, SWORE, that I wouldn’t write a book unless the idea hit me like lightening. I’d tried to do it a different way: in between my debut and Time of My Life, I wrote 150 pages of a novel that I eventually trashed because, well, not only wasn’t I feeling it, but I felt like my lack of total and utter enthusiasm translated onto the page. I mean, I liked the book well-enough, but did I love it? No. Did I eat, sleep and live those characters? No. And as a result, those 150 pages lacked the energy that I think is CRITICAL in taking a good book to a great one.
So I scrapped those 40k words (ugh, but necessary), and trusted that when the right idea came along, I’d know it. And soon enough, BAM, it did: within a few hours of dreaming up the concept to Time of My Life, I’d written the first 15 pages. The rest of the book soon followed. I knew in my bones that it was the book I’d been waiting for.
So imagine my surprise – and frustration – when, upon selling my next book on a pitch – I DIDN’T feel that same tug to rush to my computer and pour out my guts into the manuscript. Nope. I forced myself to write every day, I forced myself to get from page 1 to 300, but I don’t think I enjoyed much of the process until about page 200 when I finally had that “aha!” moment, and from there, wrote the final third of the book in ten days. Those first 200 pages took me six months to write – which might not seem like a long time, but for me, they were, and they FELT like they were. I revised draft after draft until both my editor and I deemed it as good as Time of My Life. And it is. It IS as good, but it sure was a hell of a lot more work to get there.
Which brings me to the point of this post. I used to think that I couldn’t write a book without that total and complete inspiration. I know now that this isn’t the case – I can write that book, and it can still be a great book – but I probably won’t enjoy the experience nearly as much. Now that I’m cranking on this new novel, I’m remembering why writing is so much fun, why I revel in creating characters, sinking under their skins and examining their lives. And I hope that from here on out, I’m blessed to always have that lightening bolt: I think I’ve learned that it’s simply what fuels me – that one big idea that makes me happy to jump out of bed in the morning and run to my computer. I can do it another way, yes, but getting there should be half of the fun, and without that bolt of inspiration, it’s not nearly as much fun for me.
What about you guys? Do you wait for an all-consuming idea or do you dive in, and hope that you get it right as you go?
Photo courtesy Flickr’s exfordy
Allison Winn Scotch is the bestselling author of six novels, including IN TWENTY YEARS, THE THEORY OF OPPOSITES, and TIME OF MY LIFE. Her seventh novel, BETWEEN ME AND YOU, will be released on January 9th, 2018. In addition to fiction, she pens celebrity profiles for a variety of magazines, which justifies her pop culture obsession and occasionally lends to awesome Facebook status updates. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. For more about her and her books, go to allisonwinn.com or follow her on Twitter at @aswinn.
Great post. Sometimes you think you have that all consuming idea and it’s not it and it is painful to know if you should write through or not. I’ve done both.
.-= Kwana´s last blog ..Holiday Giveaway! =-.
Hey Allison –
I’m with you with the “a-ha!” moments. I wrote 35k words to a book and realized I hated everything about it. I hated the characters, I hated their whining, and I hated myself for writing it!
Deleting it hurt because of the time it took to get those words down BUT it felt good to get rid of that burden and move on to a better idea.
Jim
Forget the Billy Ocean song. I’m going to have that cute squirrel in my head all day. :)
I’m right there with you on this. The idea for the novel I’m currently writing first hit me a year ago, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to work on it yet. (Well, that, and the fact that I was already working on two other projects…only so much I can do at once) Then I sat down to work on something completely unrelated and this novel came out of me, suddenly refusing to be ignored any longer. It is, indeed, a thrilling experience.
There have been times when I’ve had to force myself to get started on a project, or to see one through that seems to be going entirely too slow. But as you said, feeling that tug to rush to your computer everyday and pour your guts into your manuscript, although it may sound atrocious to someone who has never experienced it, is so much more fun.
~Lydia
.-= Lydia Sharp´s last blog ..A Few Words About Writing and Motherhood =-.
I agree with the “Big Bang Idea” theory as well…having the story force its way from inside somewhere is thrilling…but a question: What do you do when you’ve finished that thrilling, gotta-be-written-NOW! idea but the thought of revisiting for revisions is overwhelming? (this is where I currently sit and talk about a rut?) Any thoughts WU gang?
Great post, Allison. It’s amazing how every book is different. I just blogged about my hearbreaking book (which cost me three years) But at least I’m a sadder but wiser girl.
https://southernauthors.blogspot.com/
i believe those stories that come at you with a bang are usually the ones that are the best!
Ditto Kwana and Jim (although I only got to 14k words before I put the manuscript aside).
Maybe this “lightning bolt” idea is why I’ve always liked a good storm…
.-= Kristan´s last blog ..Gems =-.
After finishing my second novel, I had this great idea for my next book. I told my husband about it and he loved it. But when I started to write it I started feeling blah about. Sure it was a great idea, but it was a boring novel. (Unfortunately I didn’t figure this out until I hit 50 pages.) So I started my next book and I’m thrilled about it. My family likes the other idea better, but hey, they’re not writing the book. I can’t believe I’ve written over 100 pages in two weeks–I’m really jazzed about it. I agree, when you love the project you’re doing,the writing comes faster and it’s so much fun to do!
For me, the books that come like a bolt from the blue are what I call “gift books.” They show up every now and then, whole and complete and really fast and absorbing to write.
But they only seem to show up every now and then, and the rest of them have to be written one bloody page at a time. Some are easier than others. Some take so much work it’s insane, and some are revealed one inch at a time. How easy it was to write never seems to make the slightest difference on how readers respond. By the time a reader gets them, the rebellious teen has grown up, put on some decent clothes and got himself some manners, I suppose.
No rhyme or reason to it. Glad the new book is coming easily.
Mine, on the other hand (which arrived like a bolt of beautiful lightning! So brilliant! So beautiful! So amazing and interesting!) is misbehaving badly. I’m going to have a very clean house and too many cookies.
.-= Barbara Samuel O’Neal´s last blog ..Win a free ARC of THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING =-.
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