# Does it ever get boring?



## TheokinsJ (Jun 9, 2013)

I'm sure many of us know the feeling when we've sat down with a book in hand, busily turning the pages and all goes smoothly- then we stop. There's just something about a certain chapter or a certain scene that will get me as a reader stuck. I may have read a hundred pages of a book in two days, then I'll hit a chapter that seems to just not click, and I stop. I don't stop completely, I usually resume the book a couple of days later and then once I get to the end of said scene or chapter, all is well again and I start crunching through the pages again. I'm interested to know if, as a writer, do these chapters/scenes occur often? 

I've recently started writing my own book, and six chapters in I find myself stuck on a particular scene that is 'boring' to write. It's not a lack of planning or lack of interest in the story- I love writing and up until this point I have been going at a good pace, writing stuff I feel is good quality for a first draft- I know what is supposed to happen in the scene and I know what happens after it, but it just doesn't work for me. I get this occasionally with my writing and it really is annoying when I've written two chapters in a week and I'm 'in the zone', then suddenly something like this comes along and completely stops my momentum- usually I won't write for days afterwards until finally I get up and decide to write the bloody thing, then once it's over, I steam through the rest of the chapters and continue as if nothing ever happened. Do any of you have these chapters that are challenging or boring to write, and how do you overcome these from setting you back and stoping your momentum and progress of writing the story?


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## Alex97 (Jun 9, 2013)

I usually get this in the chapters that bridge gaps between the more important events in a story.  Chance is, if it's boring to write, it's boring to read so I usually drop these chapters or change them.

I remember reading the Grapes of Wrath.  I enjoyed the story that concerned the characters but the poetic chapters bored me to death.  Don't get me wrong, I understood the symbolism but I just wanted to skip ahead to see what happened to the characters.


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## Steerpike (Jun 9, 2013)

I agree with Alex. If you're bored writing it, you'll want to consider dumping it or making some serious changes to it. If it can't hold your interest, the reader probably isn't going to enjoy it either.


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## Spider (Jun 9, 2013)

Why not add some conflict to the chapter? That should make things a lot more interesting. Just make sure you aren't straying far from the plot... You could use conflict to reveal something important about someone, though. My grandfather used to say, "Adversity builds character."


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## kayd_mon (Jun 9, 2013)

This is why I started a thread about Mistborn in the Novels and Stories forum. The first 200 pages or so of that book are about as boring and generally terrible as you can get. I pushed through and started to enjoy it, though. 

I find myself getting to these lulls in some books, and often times it picks up just a bit after I put ot down for a break. It's tough to be full-tilt all the time. As a reader, if everything is like that, I'll actually find myself feeling fatigued with the book. The story should have slower parts as well as conflict-heavy exciting parts. A good book will keep the slow parts interesting with great prose. It is preferable if the slow parts aren't too long or too frequent, though. Everything in moderation, of course.


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## Alex97 (Jun 9, 2013)

Slow parts aren't boring so long as they advance the plot and have  purpose. It can also be a great time to show off some world building so long as it' done through the story (in moderation) and doesn't become a massive info-dump.

In a lot of fantasy works the slowest parts seem to consist of traveling. I've read some books where the author has made those chapters interesting by adding some anecdotes told by characters along with the typical example of dialogue etc... But generally speaking just insuring that the plot and characters develop in an interesting way in the chapters between the action is important.

What parts of your writing do you tend to find boring?


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## wordwalker (Jun 9, 2013)

A rule of thumb I like is that, if there's no high-stakes- or obvious conflict going on at the moment, I show the times between them by zeroing in as close as I can to what the MC wants right then-- and the conflict about that. The MC on the road could be "I can't really have seen a ghost last night! Every mile I want more and more to toss the so-called protective amulet in the ditch, it's not like there'll be more ghosts..." or it could just be "Gotta get home before the rain hits, and if I _ever_ make a stupid visit like this again..."

If there's no conflict, maybe it's worth skipping, or maybe you need to look closer to get some in.


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## Jamber (Jun 9, 2013)

I don't believe boring to write necessarily means boring to read: sometimes writing is really a technical process, without great rewards or surprises for the writer. These can be the most gratifying sections to read later, because they help make sense of other sections or because they provide a feeling of relief and rest, i.e. variation in pacing.

However if something is genuinely boring to read, then adding tension can certainly increase interest. On the other hand you could approach it by improving stale language, flat characterisation, insipid dialogue, unimpressive scenery etc (not saying this applies to you, TheokinsJ.)

cheers
Jennie


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## Zero Angel (Jun 9, 2013)

Agreed there with Jamber. Although definitely have a reflection on what is making it boring. If it's something that the reader will be bored by as well, then there's that to contend with.

One of my big issues is that I already know what happens, so the reader-portion of enjoying my stories is mostly done (other than re-reading, but again, I can just re-imagine).


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## TheokinsJ (Jun 10, 2013)

Alex97 said:


> Slow parts aren't boring so long as they advance the plot and have  purpose. It can also be a great time to show off some world building so long as it' done through the story (in moderation) and doesn't become a massive info-dump.
> 
> In a lot of fantasy works the slowest parts seem to consist of traveling. I've read some books where the author has made those chapters interesting by adding some anecdotes told by characters along with the typical example of dialogue etc... But generally speaking just insuring that the plot and characters develop in an interesting way in the chapters between the action is important.
> 
> What parts of your writing do you tend to find boring?



Thanks for the advice, the chapters I find most boring are exactly that; travelling chapters. I try to mix it up with some dialogue but sometimes I think perhaps too much talk is going on and not enough in terms of progression with the plot.


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## Ireth (Jun 10, 2013)

TheokinsJ said:


> Thanks for the advice, the chapters I find most boring are exactly that; travelling chapters. I try to mix it up with some dialogue but sometimes I think perhaps too much talk is going on and not enough in terms of progression with the plot.



The trick there is to make the dialogue also progress the plot forward.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 11, 2013)

I know it's my jam, but Conflict = Story.  I don't care of it's happening in the grocery isle.  Whenever the story gets boring, I can point you right at the culprit.  I remembering reading Tad William's _The Dragonbone Chair_ and hating the fact that he described every mile they traveled.  But back then, I had no idea why I hated it.  Now I do.  No conflict stood out, internal, external, or otherwise.


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## wordwalker (Jun 11, 2013)

Amen. If the MC's in the grocery aisle, it's either other conflicts that happen to hit in that aisle (or important thoughts/dialog about them), or it's turning the race for the last discounted soup can into enough drama to fill the moment. Both are possible-- but if you aren't willing to make either work, it's Cut Forward time.


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## Addison (Jun 11, 2013)

Sounds like a classic case of the imagination (both the sides of reading and writing) running out of fuel. Take a break, do other stuff to let your brain recharge and come at it again. For the writing though, I try to time my writing so I don't write on fumes, I come back the next day, read over what I've already written to get back in the writing track so I can move on smoothly.


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## The Dark One (Jun 12, 2013)

I have a simple solution to the problem. 

First drafts are always a tentative exploration - even when you've planned carefully and mapped every scene - know where you need to get to. When the muse is upon me I churn through the pages but it is inevitable that I will hit a wall from time to time and need to consider the best way of getting to the next start point. I do this:

[[M needs to resolve his problem with Y and get to Brisbane. From there he will meet X and learn that Y did not betray him as he originally thought. Dinner with Y in Brisbane - this will be a fun scene to write.]]

Then I get on with the fun scene and backfill later, getting as quickly as possible from the impasse to the next shift in momentum and thereby keeping both myself and the future reader interested.


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## Jess A (Jun 12, 2013)

Hmm agreed. Every scene I write has conflict, whether it's between characters, within a character, or a wider conflict. Simple or complex, there's conflict. Something to forward the plot, something to forward the character, etc etc.

Time skip. Don't do what Jean Auel did with _Plains of Passage_. I want to read about conflict between the characters, or the characters and their environment, or inner conflict. I didn't want to read a hundred, two hundred pages about the bloody glacier and what a leaf looked like, though I do appreciate description. It didn't forward the plot, it made me skip 3/4 of the novel. If a writer is going to describe a pretty crevasse in the glacier, then make sure somebody almost falls to their death or a giant monster flies out...


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 12, 2013)

Good heavens, do NOT get me started on _Plains of Passage_.  That work inspired my new term for filler crap writing - grass.


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## Steerpike (Jun 12, 2013)

I've only read _Clan of the Cave Bear_​, which I quite liked.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 12, 2013)

Oh, she started beautifully, which is why I read her since childhood and waited YEARS between books... and then she discovered scenery and the love affair was over.


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## Jess A (Jun 12, 2013)

_Clan of the Cave Bear_ and _Valley of the Horses_ were fantastic. Loved them! It went downhill from there. Even the character became annoying. 

I do love prehistoric landscapes and I love documentaries and nature and things, but I didn't need all that description.


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## Chessie (Jun 13, 2013)

Every scene should be fun to write. If it isn't, the readers are most likely not going to enjoy it either. When I have troubles with boring scenes, I change them up on paper with a brainstorming session until the scene has more flair. I despise writing filler scenes much as I hate reading them. I rather fast forward and show what's happened in the meantime via dialogue or a unique situation. 

PS: Clan of the Cave Bear is awesome, sad to learn the rest of the books go downhill. That's one of the reasons why I have difficulties finishing entire series. Something changes in the quality of the story and I lose interest. I regret buying "Wi'tch War" because I was only able to make it halfway before I couldn't read another word. After two books which I thought were pretty good.


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## Weaver (Jun 13, 2013)

A. E. Lowan said:


> Good heavens, do NOT get me started on _Plains of Passage_.  That work inspired my new term for filler crap writing - grass.



Grass = filler crap in fantasy.  *nods*  Thanks - now I have something to call it.  My twin and I (and apparently _a lot _of other people) call it _cannonballs_ when it happens in sci-fi.


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## Steerpike (Jun 13, 2013)

I agree with Chesterama. If you're bored writing a particular scene in a book, that should be a red flag.


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## The Dark One (Jun 14, 2013)

Yes, every scene should be a fun scene to write, and you could mount an argument suggesting that in the perfect book, all scenes would be equally important. BUT I would qualify that by saying that some scenes are definitely more fun to write than others because they are the scenes you've set up for a major resolution/discovery/duel etc. When you're mapping out your plot you will be quite aware of particular scenes which you anticipate writing with great glee.

The challenge is to make all the set up scenes worthy of the resolution.


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