The Word Cloud

Re: Writer's block.

I think we get blocked when we realise subconsciously that we're going the wrong way. Since my first novel got rejected (deservedly), I've been trying to work on my second novel, but getting nowhere.

The first novel was rejected cos it has a slow build - not ideal for a first novel, which needs to kick ass right from the start. I kinda wished I could have sent the second half of the thing, which totally rocks, but it doesn't work that way! I decided that my second novel is much more immediate, and therefore more suited as a first-published novel, so I'd work on that one - but I found that I couldn't. What was holding me back?

I had a revelation, while driving my bus, not even thinking about writing. It's as if my subconscious had been working on the problem, then had flashed me the solution, all unbidden. It was this:

I could start the first novel from the rockin' second half, and include the slow build-up stuff in flashback form. A simple matter of rearranging the layout of the thing, and it should be rendered publishable.

There was something else, as well. I tend to switch POVs within scenes, and until now couldn't see why this is regarded as a Bad Thing. As long as it's done with clarity, where's the harm? The harm is that it weakens your character engagement! Doing each scene from a particular character's POV makes you engage more fully with each character, thus developing them more strongly.

I thought I was being radical, but I see now that there are good reasons for some conventions. So I've started a mega-rewrite of the damn thing, and am hoping to have a better result when I send it out again.

Even the dead can 'live and learn'!

Good on you Wrathnar!

Yeah, this has been pretty much my experience. Sometimes I'll put off writing a particular scene, accuse myself of being lazy, only to subsequently realise there was some structural problem that needed to be addressed. I think you solve these problems unconsciously a lot of the time. You just need to put it to one side for a bit. Working on something else - so you come back to the work in progress with a fresh perspective - can be a big help.