As the descriptions says, this is not about the writing I’ve done this week. It’s about the second novel (the woods novel) and it’s a little bit of a train of thought post so please bear with me…
I don’t enjoy editing, that’s pretty clear from my many posts on how rubbish editing is – but book two is such a struggle I am losing the will to work on it.
I did well at my retreat only to decide to massively change the storyline, and kept changing my approach. I swapped it for another novel earlier in the year to give me a new perspective, but then something happened in my real life that was too close to the new subject and I couldn’t continue.
So I went back to book two feeling hopeful I could get something from it with a new plan and new character biogs. However, I am cutting so much I am losing track of what should and shouldn’t be included. All in all, it’s a mishmash of conflicting approaches and I’m finding it hard to see the wood for the trees, so to speak.
Now I’m thinking about the future of the second tale. I remember reading an interview with Margaret Atwood where she worked on something for months and couldn’t get it right, and eventually put it in a drawer to work on something new. The something new was The Handmaid’s Tale. It was a great outcome, and makes me think perhaps I should put book two in a drawer for now.
But if I do, will it be for the best in the long run? I have worked on it for so long that my heart really isn’t in it any more. In fact, part of me wants to start at the beginning all over again. But is that just editor’s block?
It’s hard, when I love the characters, not to do them justice. But it’s even harder to think about giving up on their story.
What do you do when it feels like you’re hitting your head against a wall? Do you put the work down, do something else, and return? Or do you keep pushing forward, hope that you get your mojo back?
Would it really be a disaster to dump the story as a whole, re-plan and re-formulate, and start again?
I’d love to hear what you think, because this is driving me to distraction!
In other, actual news – My reading rate for the 100 best novels continues to be poor, with number 11 another one I haven’t read. I gave up on Emma, by the way, which is a shame as I got through Mansfield Park and I always thought Emma was more readable than that. I think it’s because I’ve watched Clueless too many times. Alicia Silverstone’s voice was reading the lines out to me…!
And finally – I found this article on books that are lost, and rediscovered. A couple of names there I know – hurrah, I finally feel like a proper reader! I came across Antonia White a few years ago, when I bought Frost in May at a charity book sale; it’s an interesting read and the ending feels as though something more was cut from the novel, which is an effect I quite like! I also found Mary Renault’s The Friendly Young Ladies at the same sale, which is a book I have read repeatedly; I think it was rather ahead of its time. Some older books are far less stodgy than their more famous counterparts might suggest…
Happy writing, and please do let me know your thoughts. I’ll do whatever feels right in the end, but it’s good to get some input when everything is so messy, for perspective as much as anything!
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 