Be A Book - Damn You!

[maggenpye]

I've moaned and whined about 'book three' over various boards and several years.

I've deleted it and started over from scratch twice and done major edits (>50% changes) more often than that.

It's the third of a trilogy and must tie up all the loose ends, not that there's many, just that the first two books raised issues that needed to be explored outside of those two stories. I know the final line (a variation of the first line of the first book) and that hasn't changed or felt wrong. I know the characters and the arcs they need to follow. The secondary characters seem to have resolved themselves into useful, believeable beings with properly secondary plotlines.

The story itches in my head and pleads to be written down in those great chunks of 'ignoring the kid and housework' inspiration.

But I'm not starting. I can get as far as formatting the document and setting the title page, header and footer, notebooks full of notes and scene sketches by my keyboard.

Then ..... I play gemcraft, or check domebo for that one new thread or three new replies, or read someone else's book.

I know it's the frustration of having done the bad drafts, trying to force the characters into plots that don't fit them, or making two dimensional bit players just to move the plot ahead. I know it's just fear of yet more wasted effort. The first two were easy, well, hard work and time consuming, but once written, the plots haven't changed significantly, reading them over still sucks me into their stories when I should be checking the grammar. This one, I read it and hate everything (except for a couple of scenes which will survive V2.4 because they are freaking perfect). I suspect there's a little fear of finishing, that the trilogy can't be rejected if it's bever finished, but that hasn't stopped me sending out the first part to collect rejection slips all by itself.

Give me hints, give me inspiration, give me stories of your own stalled masterworks.

Help.

[ivan astikov]

Damn, you've got to be proud of yourself for completing two thirds of your masterpiece. Unless you have a deadline to meet, why push it? You know you can do it, so just let it come when it's ready, is my decidedly unprofessional opinion. :smile:

[maggenpye]

I am proud, I just want to finish the story.

I have also decided there's a bit of 'what if there's another trilogy hiding amid the secondary characters?' That's a frightening thought. I may never get away from that place or those people.

This whole thing started as a 3000 word short story for a competition in late 2005. I've been working on this particular one since November 2007.

[pepperlandgirl]

Are you starting your story in the wrong place? Usually when I can't get something rolling, it's because I'm starting too early in the story, or I'm in the wrong POV. Are you starting with an action scene? Maybe you need a later, quite scene instead. Are you starting with a quiet scene? Maybe you need to jump ahead to the action. Is anything happening at the point where you want to begin, or is that just where you've started thinking of the story?

[maggenpye]

Damned good point - the start is one of the things that changes entirely in both edits and rewrites. I know which character narrates the first chapter (FPPOV swaps between the four main characters) and I know where she is emotionally, but what's actually happening around her hasn't really gelled yet. I may do a flash fic exercise or a list and see if that helps things.

Thanks.