Today I'm talking a little about the scariest part of my process: false starts and putting manuscripts away in the drawer. Or hard drive, I guess I should say. Anyway.
Enjoy!
Have you ever had a false start or trunked a novel?
Twitter-sized bites:
Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about the scariest part of her writing process: false starts and trunking novels. (Click to tweet)
"There's no such thing as wasted writing," says writer @Ava_Jae. What do you think? (Click to tweet)
I have quite a few trunked-almost-half-way-done novels. But like you said, it's not wasted, b/c I definitely learned so much while writing them. And one I know for sure I'm going to return to, it's just, yanno, finding the time. Oh, time! *sigh* :)
ReplyDeleteThe moment when somebody asks "What are you writing?" when you are in the middle of an eighteenth century duel's description. You only answer "A kind of fantasy", and then hell is unleashed. "Who's the protagonist?" "Are there dragons?" And you are trying to tell them it's not that kind of fantasy, but you give up and just walk out the window and fly away with your umbrella.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is when you reach the climax of your story, and you can't stop writing. I've been through this last weekend, wrote a little over 20k words in a single weekend (first manuscript though). The others keep telling you to eat, but why would you if there's a showdown going on within your head?
Then there's that when people question your completely random knowledge you'd gathered through research for a manuscript. "Those praetorians are getting into turtle formation!" "Nuh-uh, those are cohortes urbanae and the formation is called testudo."
And of course, the problem of spotting bad plot and writing clichés in popular books, movies and so on. Ruins all the joy, and makes your friends hate you, when you laugh on a movie and say "Antagonist had a bad childhood and therefore decides to destroy the world cliché!".
I finished two novels (about 145,000 words) and decided to write prequel novellas. Those were so much better and were going to change the novels that I put those two novels away. It was hard, but the right decision.
ReplyDeleteI love the "you should write about my life because it would make a great book." Yeah, not. Or the "Have you sold anything?" "Have I ever heard of any of your books?" "Do you make money doing that?" "When is your book going to be made into a movie?"
ReplyDeleteI usually wait at least a month before reading through my first draft, to help get some distance from it (which then makes editing a lot easier).
ReplyDeleteOhh good luck with your current project! I wish you all the best with your edits! :)
Yes! On all points! Time is something we never get enough of.
ReplyDeleteI keep all of my documents—both completed manuscripts and false starts, too. You never know when you might be able to use something! :)
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a really brave move, and totally awesome that you were able to take what you have and move in a different direction with it. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteHaaaaaa. I love that sentence about flying away with your umbrella. So perfect.
ReplyDeleteA lot of your examples are definitely relatable, too (especially that first one. I dread those questions). Thanks so much for sharing, Medvekoma!
Ohhh ughhhh those last ones. Ugh ugh ugh.
ReplyDelete