Periods of Feast or Famine

[Mark.W.Carson]

So... After burning through about 4 chapters this weekend, after not being able to do more than say 1000 words per sitting, I am wondering, who else has these periods where things seem to click and others where it just seems to take forever?

I realize a lot of it still might be a bit rough, but I can go over and clean things up if I have to. I have some wonderful people helping me with reading over my work, and I should thank them more than I have, probably, but I am new to this and wanted to compare my experience with a few other people.

[AMSchilling]

I've had that same experience a lot, especially with my current WIP. I started it during Nano in November, and I'd have days where I'd do over 3k for a while and then poof, nothing. The last week especially--if I remember right I was in one of the slower spots where getting anything out was like swimming in mud, and I didn't think I was going to make the 50k goal. Then all of a sudden things clicked and I got out 8k in a day to finish.

The feast and famine thing used to bug me because I felt like the days I got nothing down were wasted. I worried I might be losing the flow of the book when it became hard like that. Now I've gotten used to it a little more and just go with it. If I stare at the screen and get nothing, I shut things down and just read a book or do something mindless. I usually find that in a day or two something clicks and I'm back at it again, typing like crazy and having fun.

[klbritt]

Glad it's not just me!! I do the same thing, some days I find that I have written 4-5k, then nights like last night only 500 or so. I figure as long as I keep coming back to the novel, that even with my writing spurts, it will get done.

~Kristie

[Mark.W.Carson]

I have a wife and a daughter, plus a full time job, a house to take care of, shopping, cleaning, car maintenance and all sorts of things to do. I should be hitting the gym more, etc. Lately, at least this past weekend, I found I had a lot to get out, and I did write in spurts, say half a chapter here, or there, but I kept coming back, and that was definitely nice to do.

My biggest problem is that whole waiting for people to come back with critique, because I am afraid, having done several tear downs and rewrites that i will put out 9000 words and then have to scrap a ton of them, but that fear is subsiding. I like more and more of what I write, and I recognize, thanks to people who have offered advice, what doesn't look like it works.

What I have done is, after a long push of writing, I try to stay away for a while from writing something new and look for holes, or get feedback and fix issues, so I am going through a bit rough, and then polishing it as I go.

It does help when I find that others have the same issues I do.

[dios4vida]

The ebb and flow of creativity is pretty universal. I don't know a single writer who hasn't experienced it. Even those who can consistently put out several thousand words a day have it, though their slow days may seem like extra-productive days for we who write more slowly.

The key to writing is to let neither the ebbs nor the flows hinder our progress. When the tide is in and the words burst forth of their own will, go with it! Enjoy it and watch your story come to life. But when the tide goes out and your creativity dries up, when you've written four words (and they all stink) but you've spent three hours on the internet and played 76 games of solitaire, don't fret. These things happen. All you have to do is recharge your creative batteries. Work on a different project, go for a walk, read a book, wash the dishes. Do something that inspires you, relaxes you, or lets your brain shut down as you run in autopilot so your subconscious can work through things.

There's also something to be said about sitting down and writing even when you don't feel like it. I never believed in doing that six months ago - I wasn't quite a believer in the Muse but I didn't think I could write, or write well, without some sort of inspiration - but since I've learned and studied and gotten instruction from some amazing writers/editors/Bransforumers and discovered that so much of writing can be done even when you're feeling like you're in a famine phase. You can be your own inspiration if you just stick with it, and suddenly you've created a feast out of a famine.

As long as you keep writing, though, that's all that matters.

[Mark.W.Carson]

Oh, I get inspired, and I go back and change things. There was one case where I ran downstairs after being in bed to write down some notes, but I need to form the scene in my head sometimes, or at least sit back and watch it unfold in my imagination.

[amandalinehan]

I had something of a famine day today. The last few days that I sat down and wrote, everything seemed to come quickly and flow really well. And then today, I got to a certain place in my current work and, I don't know, it just wouldn't come as quickly for me. And I didn't quite like what I had written as much as the past few days.

I guess you've just got to take both types of days and realize that it will probably all work out in the end.

[Mark.W.Carson]

Yeah, I know the drill. I'm on a shoe shine day today. I am going back and finding problems with my MS that critique partners have mentioned, and some holes I find myself.

I don't know if this will work for you, but I already have some issues in my own life with dealing with people and getting an idea of their emotions, so trying to portray them in writing is doubly hard. What I tend to do is to imagine that I am sitting in the scene (invisible, of course, so I can be in a bathrobe, or scuba gear, it doesn't matter) and I try to picture them in the scene. The words are not important, because we all know words, but the feelings, the message is important, and then I try and write down what I see.