DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
What do you do with a WIP that isn't really...doing it for you?
As a few of you know (my only posts for a while have been in writers work) I'm about 40k words into a WIP that revolves around three sisters who are part of a family cursed to turn into monstrous wolves by night. The story basically deals with what starts to happen when the youngest sister starts to dabble in her gifts of being able to see and talk to ghosts, the middle sister starts to lose control of her wolfy alter ego, and the oldest sister becomes curious about the world beyond which is forbidden to her.
So on the surface this is a pretty cool concept, and writing it is at least somewhat enjoyable. But this project feels different than all the others that have made it this far. It doesn't really possess me like the others did. I get really mired in the slow parts and have difficulty moving forward. I keep thinking about starting something different or writing other things, but I also feel like I want to finish this. There's no real passion for the thing I guess that is driving me forward though, nor a burning desire to see a finished product someday, just...wanting to get it done with.
I know that a few years ago I probably would have just abandoned something like this early on, and moved on, and he fact that i haven't done that speaks to how I've become more diligent about writing and deliberate about pursuing a finished product. Is that even good though?
Sometimes I feel like it's first-draft anxiety, that i'm getting discouraged because i'm in the Sucky Stage. But usually my love of the potential I see keeps me going through that.
I also feel that maybe it's just not...me, maybe? Most things i've written that have been very good and enjoyable have had some humor and satire. I've never written something that played itself so straight. I've always thought of myself as aspiring to be a Tolkien, but everything I've written in the past few years makes me feel that maybe I'm cut out to be a little more of a Douglas Adams. Stories that are a little bit ludicrous, and that seem somewhat aware of it, are what I really enjoy writing. This story is a very distinguished, folkloric type yarn and...idk.
I really don't want to quit. (Of course I would go back to it later if I did, but still.) And yet, I don't look forward to my writing sessions anymore. It's not that I HATE the story and I often end up pleased with what I've written by the end, but I've been increasingly thinking more about a rewrite of Red Nights and I think more about that at this point than my actual current WIP. Which I'm kind of taking as a sign that maybe I should just do that. But then I don't get the sweet sweet validation of having another finished product.
I'm at 40k something words. Thats a lot of words. If this feeling hasn't passed by now, will it?
As a few of you know (my only posts for a while have been in writers work) I'm about 40k words into a WIP that revolves around three sisters who are part of a family cursed to turn into monstrous wolves by night. The story basically deals with what starts to happen when the youngest sister starts to dabble in her gifts of being able to see and talk to ghosts, the middle sister starts to lose control of her wolfy alter ego, and the oldest sister becomes curious about the world beyond which is forbidden to her.
So on the surface this is a pretty cool concept, and writing it is at least somewhat enjoyable. But this project feels different than all the others that have made it this far. It doesn't really possess me like the others did. I get really mired in the slow parts and have difficulty moving forward. I keep thinking about starting something different or writing other things, but I also feel like I want to finish this. There's no real passion for the thing I guess that is driving me forward though, nor a burning desire to see a finished product someday, just...wanting to get it done with.
I know that a few years ago I probably would have just abandoned something like this early on, and moved on, and he fact that i haven't done that speaks to how I've become more diligent about writing and deliberate about pursuing a finished product. Is that even good though?
Sometimes I feel like it's first-draft anxiety, that i'm getting discouraged because i'm in the Sucky Stage. But usually my love of the potential I see keeps me going through that.
I also feel that maybe it's just not...me, maybe? Most things i've written that have been very good and enjoyable have had some humor and satire. I've never written something that played itself so straight. I've always thought of myself as aspiring to be a Tolkien, but everything I've written in the past few years makes me feel that maybe I'm cut out to be a little more of a Douglas Adams. Stories that are a little bit ludicrous, and that seem somewhat aware of it, are what I really enjoy writing. This story is a very distinguished, folkloric type yarn and...idk.
I really don't want to quit. (Of course I would go back to it later if I did, but still.) And yet, I don't look forward to my writing sessions anymore. It's not that I HATE the story and I often end up pleased with what I've written by the end, but I've been increasingly thinking more about a rewrite of Red Nights and I think more about that at this point than my actual current WIP. Which I'm kind of taking as a sign that maybe I should just do that. But then I don't get the sweet sweet validation of having another finished product.
I'm at 40k something words. Thats a lot of words. If this feeling hasn't passed by now, will it?