Take a Break
By Anna Elliott | March 18, 2011 |
I’ve had an interesting writing experience over the last couple of months that I wanted to share today. With the final draft of my third book, Sunrise of Avalon, finished, turned in to my publishers, and stamped with the editorial seal of approval, I was free to begin a new project. And I knew just the book I wanted to write. A chance remark of my mom’s had made a story idea pop into my head, and I was filled to the brim with it–couldn’t wait to get the book down on the pages.
More on this WIP (I hope!) coming soon. But at first it went great. I loved the story, early readers of my first chapters were enthusiastic. I generally make it a policy never to show incomplete drafts around–but I was feeling good enough about this story that I showed the first half or so to my agent, who also loved it–and better, yet, reported that he was meeting with more and more editors who were interested in acquiring exactly the kind of book I was working on. Which in the current publishing climate is surely cause for any author to start singing the Hallelujah Chorus.
And then it happened. Two thirds of the way through my first draft, I hit a wall. I felt happy with what I’d written so far. And I knew where the story had to end. But I couldn’t seem to see how to get from point A to point B. I kept writing for awhile, but . . . do you know the feeling when you’re writing sentences and scenes . . . and they’re perfectly fine, as individual sentences and scenes go . . . but you know, deep down, that they’re actually all wrong for your book as a whole?
The real trouble, I discovered, was that my characters had stopped talking to me. I wish I knew why or how this happens, and if anyone has an answer, feel free to leave it in the comments! But even though I’d just written two thirds of a book with my first person narrator’s voice so loud in my head it was practically a shout, all of a sudden, she’d gone quiet on me.
And the thing was, I had another story and another set of characters who were talking to me. These were characters from a new, completely different story–one I’d told myself I would write sometime, maybe after I finished my WIP and was waiting for it to make the publishing house rounds. But now I had two thirds of a book with characters who had gone silent, and a new idea with characters clamoring at me to have their story told.
What to do? I debated, deliberated, then took a deep breath and started writing the second story. I admit, at first this scared the daylights out of me. I may be a champion multi-tasker in terms of my daily life (probably like most writing mothers!), but in terms of writing, I don’t multi-task well at all. Up until now, I’ve always started a book, gone on until I reached the end, and only then allowed myself to think in terms of my next project. I was horribly afraid in setting my WIP aside that I was abandoning it for good. What if the characters never started talking to me again? What if I got so wrapped up in the new story that I never wanted to get back to it?
But I tried it anyway. And yes, sure, to begin with, my new story was more vivid in my mind. It’s one of those undeniable, inexplainable truths of writing that some books are just easier to write than others, and this second story happened to be one of those. It came to me so easily that most days the words just poured onto the page–and actually, in writing the first draft, I MAY even have reached the unbelievably prolific weekly word count goals of our very own Ann Aguirre herself. (Lest anyone think I’m bragging, believe me, I don’t expect to reach those levels ever, ever again).
But something else happened while I was drafting this second book: I started getting ideas for my temporarily abandoned WIP. Somehow, not pushing on it with my conscious mind had freed up my subconscious to keep it on a slow simmer. I’d be writing the new book, and story ideas, lines of dialogue, thoughts for revisions on the old WIP would pop into my mind. Slowly, slowly, the characters were starting to come to life for me again.
I’ve now finished a draft of the second story, and I’m ready to return to the first. Really ready, I think, armed with a whole folder of the notes and fresh ideas I’ve jotted down over the last couple of months. I don’t expect it to go flawlessly–when does writing ever?–but I feel SO much better about the prospect of getting back to it than I did when I set it aside.
So while I may not know how or why to keep my characters from clamming up on me, I think maybe I have discovered a fix: Take a break. Change gears for awhile, and then come back to your story with renewed energy and fresh eyes, having remembered why you were so excited to write the story in the first place.
Anna Elliott is an author of historical fiction and fantasy. Her first series, the Twilight of Avalon trilogy, is a retelling of the Trystan and Isolde legend. She wrote her second series, the Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, chiefly to satisfy her own curiosity about what might have happened to Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and all the other wonderful cast of characters after the official end of Jane Austen’s classic work. She enjoys stories about strong women, and loves exploring the multitude of ways women can find their unique strengths. Anna lives in the Washington DC area with her husband and three children.
“do you know the feeling when you’re writing sentences and scenes . . . and they’re perfectly fine, as individual sentences and scenes go . . . but you know, deep down, that they’re actually all wrong for your book as a whole?”
Lol yes, of course. And like you, I find that a break (whether for an hour, a day, or a month) is often supremely helpful, in every way. When we start beating ourselves up for what’s not going right, we enter a negative feedback cycle in our own minds, and personally I find that to kill my writing faster than anything else.
Like you, I find it scary to start a new project in the middle of something else, but sometimes it’s the best way (as you found) to keep the creative juices flowing on ALL projects. Granted, haha, I don’t normally finish an ENTIRE new ms… I just get a few thousand words in and then find myself satisfied for the moment, so I can return to the original ms.
“The real trouble, I discovered, was that my characters had stopped talking to me. ”
Ugh, I hate it when that happens. It’s like they’re saying “nope, you’re going the wrong way and I’m not playing until you figure it out.”
I totally agree that taking a break works. Even if it means cleaning out the refridgerator, something about stepping away brings clarity.
First, congratulations on Sunrise of Avalon, Anna!
Second, I had this very thing happen to me. Started a project, very prolific word counts at first, then nothing. I happen to be a carpenter as well as a writer, so I set the work aside last summer, and took on a fairly major carpentry project. I had sort of determined I would give up on the partially written piece.
As I was working, not writing, the characters’ voices crept back into my head. In carpentry, there are long periods where little focused thought is required, and, honestly, this is one of the things I love about it. It gives your brain a break, while long-practiced skills take over. During such breaks, the characters’ voices grew louder. Certain songs would come on, evoke a whole new scenario. I was writing the abandoned novel as I worked. I knew I had to go back to it, and I did, last December.
It’s still flowing pretty well, with a few ups and downs, and I hope another idea doesn’t intrude, as happened to you, Anna. I am no multi-tasker in writing, or in carpentry. I’m a stick to it till it’s done kind of guy, in either.
Good luck with both your WIP’s!!
Really needed to see this today. Thank you. :)
Anna – congratulations on such a wonderful burst of creativity! The only predictable thing about the writing process is that it’s completely unpredictable. And isn’t it wonderful how ideas do breed other ideas?
In my own daily life, I’ve found that even the combination of working and blogging and writing creates an energy where one thing feeds off the other. It always feels like too much, but I’m not sure I’d be able to do any of it if it didn’t!
Yes, take a break. Change gears. Multi-task. Switch from one story or endeavor to another. And enjoy!
Kristan and Kathleen–glad I’m not alone in this! Maybe I’ll try the cleaning out the fridge trick next time–nothing else seems to work at motivating me to tackle that particular chore! ;-)
Vaughn, thanks so much for the congratulations! I absolutely agree that tasks that are creative yet require little concentrated thought are hugely helpful. I use sewing in exactly the same way you use carpentry, it sounds like. And you never know–if another idea does intrude, you may be happy it did. I am definitely as stick-to-it-until-it’s done kind of a girl, but in this case I’m so happy I got the chance to write the second book before turning back to the first. Writing is such a journey of discovering you can do more than you thought you could!
Sharon, I definitely find that, too–having the combination of blogging, writing, etc. definitely helps keep me productive, since I don’t wind up spinning my wheels when I’m stuck for ideas.
I took a little “writing vacay” this week, to give my brain a chance to rest. At first it didn’t understand how that worked–LOL–but after the first couple days it managed to calm down and just let life happen without commenting on it or storing it up for future scenes.
I like to have multiple projects in my mind, and I take notes on one while writing on the other. Someone asked me once how I keep them straight when I do that, and I thought, “How is it different from watching more than one TV show?” LOL The characters and situations are all different, so it’s easy to spread my time and attention to all of them. Plus they clamor for my attention if they think they’re not getting equal time. LOL
It seems I often have multiple projects going–for that very reason. Stuck? Okay, let’s do something else for a while . . .
In some cases, I hate to say, that means that a WIP remains ‘in progress’ for years, thought sometimes it’s just a week. But recharging with something else does seem to help.
Congrats on your book (s)!
This exact thing has happened to me, Anna, and it’s giving me major anxiety because I’m working on three WiP at once. Believe me, I know this is not the ideal way to go, but I had to succumb or give up. I’ve liked it to a central retinal scar. Whenever I look at it straight on, I see nothing; but move the focus elsewhere, and the novel’s world re-emerges, generally more vibrant than before.
Anyway, here’s hoping I get to the same wonderful outcome as you.
I’m very familiar with tight-lipped characters. I fought with one for the majority of 2010. :-)
I agree with you that stepping away from a troublesome wip can help. I’ve never tried writing a new story, though. Hmm — maybe next time?
Thanks for a great post, Anna!
Congrats on getting the characters to talk to you again–I’m a new writer, but I know how frustrating that can be.
I currently have that feeling with the plot of my WIP, more than the characters. Despite major plot-hole-filling recently, this thing gets more convoluted by the minute–I feel like I’m missing something important. I suppose it’s like doing a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
What a scary feeling it is when the character who have been yelling stop cold, dead silent. Glad you’ve gotten back to it and got another WIP as well. Thanks for the post.
What a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it! The same thing happened to me once I hit chapter 4 of my WIP–instead of the words pouring out, I had an image of crickets and tumbleweeds in my head. There is nothing more intimidating, as it is a book I have been wanting to write for years, and I, like you, was afraid that my characters wouldn’t speak to me again.
I took a break for about a month, working on freelance articles and poetry instead, and finally figured out how I was going to start chapter 4, and haven’t looked back. Normally, once I know how I’m going to begin the next chapter, it takes the pressure off and I can keep going.
Thanks Anna, I needed this now. We’ve got a holiday coming up and at first I thought of taking the WIP along, but it might be better to just leave it at home and take a break.
Thanks for this great reminder, Anne! I completely know what you mean. That feeling that the sentences were “all wrong for your book” haunted me for the first 2 or so drafts of my book. They weren’t bad—but they weren’t the story I wanted to write.
It wasn’t until I took some time away from the book that I realized whose story it really was, and I was able to go back to it feeling completely rejuvenated. It can be really scary to step away, especially since we’re always told to “get our butts in the chair and write!”
But we have very special relationships with our characters, and like in any relationship, sometimes everyone just needs their space :)
Oh, yes. Oh, yes–I know this feeling.
I agree with not really showing other people your WIPs. I finally came to that realization around the end of my first book, when I was already telling my beta-readers “Oh, yeah. That’s now irrelevant because of something that I decided a little later in the story.” Oops.
Another reason I found for not showing my work to others before I was finished is because I found I couldn’t write until I’d heard back from them. My mind became so preoccupied with the anticipation for their reaction that I couldn’t move forward. Also, if they liked the piece too much, I then felt a pressured and trapped by that story. It went from creative project to something with an expectation stamped on it, and that made writing a lot harder. It might be totally different for you!
I don’t usually try to write more than one story at once, but that’s not to say it doesn’t happen. Let the choir sing when they want, if the soloists lose their voices–they’ll get them back. One of my friends finds that she blocks herself with expectation and perfectionism if she sticks to only one story, so she pans across several stories over the course of a week, flowing with her inspiration.
While that probably won’t help her finish anything quickly, it does keep her writing, which is good enough for someone just testing their quill. ;)
Congrats on book three!
I feel the same way about starting a new project halfway through an old one, which is probably why I’ve never done it. I’m sort of an all or nothing writer (to my detriment, I’m sure). I’m either working on it, or not working it. The one book I’ve set aside, I haven’t come back to over a year later.
Your post, though, has absolutely inspired me. I think there must be a way to put a book aside with every intention of returning to it and I send you many congratulations for having done it so well! I think if I get stuck on a future draft, I’ll come back to this blog. :)