My manuscript is crap and I've lost direction...

[Chessie]

I don't think I could have more structure than I already do, but thanks for the suggestion. I am hella frustrated at this point. I haven't touched that piece in a week and I'm feeling guilty about that. I've been writing daily though, a short story I promised a friend as a gift. And my word count has been good around 1800-2000 words per day. But my main project is shit.

I don't know. Its times like this that makes me understand why so many writers give up. I'm not going to do that but I really want to write about my character and this world I've created. To say I'm beside myself in frustration and anger is an understatement.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I don't think I could have more structure than I already do, but thanks for the suggestion.

Can you explain that structure to us?

 

[Chessie]

Yes. I brainstormed for 3 months fleshing out the background of the characters and the world they live in. After rummaging through several ideas, I came up with an outline. Acts 1, 2, and 3. I have scenes added to that loose outline so I have a decent idea of where I want to take the story. But when I sit down to type, that's not what comes out. I get ideas for a scene that feels more immediate, so it turns out I'm pantsing the story even though I already have an outline. The plot isn't what I want anymore.

I suppose it would help if I said that the idea here is that the protagonist is a special type of healer that receives information from dying patients by taking their pulses. Her husband is an alchemist, and together they have created a tonic that heals anything except poisoning. The plants that make these tonics are highly valuable to them and its sort of a family secret, but someone in their family gives away their secret and so their apothecary is robbed. That's where the inciting incident comes in. Her cousin is murdered during the robbery. So its like a fantasy style mystery. But its not turning out at all what I envisioned.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Yes. I brainstormed for 3 months fleshing out the background of the characters and the world they live in. After rummaging through several ideas, I came up with an outline. Acts 1, 2, and 3. I have scenes added to that loose outline so I have a decent idea of where I want to take the story. But when I sit down to type, that's not what comes out. I get ideas for a scene that feels more immediate, so it turns out I'm pantsing the story even though I already have an outline. The plot isn't what I want anymore.

I suppose it would help if I said that the idea here is that the protagonist is a special type of healer that receives information from dying patients by taking their pulses. Her husband is an alchemist, and together they have created a tonic that heals anything except poisoning. The plants that make these tonics are highly valuable to them and its sort of a family secret, but someone in their family gives away their secret and so their apothecary is robbed. That's where the inciting incident comes in. Her cousin is murdered during the robbery. So its like a fantasy style mystery. But its not turning out at all what I envisioned.

Okay. So then your basic structure looks something like this:
Act 1 - Introduction & Set up: Characters reacting to events - Secret gets out, robbery, relative's death
Act 2 - Confrontation: Rising action. Raising the stakes & urgency. Followed by a turning point - What do you have for this? I'm assuming it's starting an investigation and tracking down the culprits.
Act 3 - Resolution: Crisis & Climax. Action falls off following the climax. - What do you have in mind for resolution?

Now, I want you to understand that I regularly work exactly how your describing above. Loose outline with discovery writing along the way. If things change I alter the outline (and things always change, often dramatically). If those changes, written through pantsing, aren't what you envision, you need to scrap them. Go back to the point where your vision derailed. More often than not though, I find my new directions more interesting and less predictable. That may not be the case for you.

My advice: Let it sit for a few weeks. Enjoy writing your short. Come back to this piece with fresh eyes and read it from the beginning (no editing, just read). Figure out where you jumped ship, then consider whether you like the different track and want to mold your original vision to the new path...OR...if you need to start afresh from the moment you veered away, cutting the writing that doesn't fit with your end vision. Don't be afraid to cut. I've cut entire POVs. It sucks sometimes, but its part of the gig and you shouldn't feel bad about it. My most recent hard cut, came from a character I loved, no longer fitting into the story. The story had changed too much from the original vision. So, I tucked him away for another time. Fifty plus pages slashed, but the story is stronger. Just figure out what makes that story stronger.

Remember: No writing done in earnest, is ever wasted.

 

[rhd]

I just saw something advice related (via Neil Gaiman's tumblr blog) Chesterama, perhaps it can give you some inspiration, guidance, whatever it is you feel you lack at this point, or just generally... the photos are worth a look.
SharedWorlds

 

[Scales]

I am going to to say what my friends say is to focus on one part of your world at a time. Like, focus on world building or characterization.

 

[Spritewise]

Yes. I brainstormed for 3 months fleshing out the background of the characters and the world they live in. After rummaging through several ideas, I came up with an outline. Acts 1, 2, and 3. I have scenes added to that loose outline so I have a decent idea of where I want to take the story. But when I sit down to type, that's not what comes out. I get ideas for a scene that feels more immediate, so it turns out I'm pantsing the story even though I already have an outline. The plot isn't what I want anymore.

The outline you've got may not suit the characters you have. If that's the case, you can "recast" your story with people who will follow the outline more organically (putting the old characters on a shelf for use in another work), or allow yourself to deviate from the outline, if it makes the story stronger.

For what it's worth, I was in the same boat. I outlined and outlined my present work, but found that the plot kept deviating from my original vision. My breakthrough came when I finally broke the thing down into loose "chapter descriptions" (by taking my target word count and breaking it down into ~5000 word chunks) and tackled it a chapter at a time. At the end of a chapter, I'd revisit this loose document and modify it as needed to fit any details/changes I discovered while writing it. That gave me the direction I needed, while still allowing me to roll with the punches.

That got me through the Act II slog. When I reached my "break into Act III" phase, I sat down AGAIN and took stock of what I had. The original ending I'd planned for was still viable, but could be strengthened considerably by taking details of what I had discovered along the way into account. I identified all major plotlines in the book and made a chart of their progress, using Dan Wells' 7 Point Story Structure. I highlighted the parts I had already written in green, and left the unresolved points in gray. That gave me an immediate, visual picture of all the major events that needed to happen in Act 3, and also gave me clues where I should tie them together.

Don't know if that helps you any, but good luck!

 

[NellaFantasia]

Just as food for thought (since there's already been so much good advice), could it be subconscious fear that's holding you back? I only ask because some of what you've said sounds like what I recently went through.

I started a story back in July strictly for fun. I was feeling worn out by the pressure of my serious projects (those I wanted to publish), and thought by having a novel with no such expectations and only for my sheer amusement that it'd help me relax. It worked, but what was interesting is I found myself falling in love with the story and the characters. The plot was going along perfectly, the characters were consistent and interesting, and everything was falling into place. So I started wondering, "Maybe I can work on publishing this one, too."

As soon as I thought that, it went downhill. Suddenly the plot wasn't going in the direction I wanted it to go. No matter how much I outlined, I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Even the characters were beginning to act up. I don't know if this is actually what was happening, or my preconceived notion based on the fact that now I was terrified of messing up a story I enjoyed. It's like I sabotaged myself.

Anyway, hopefully that's NOT what's going on with you, but wanted to throw it out there. I wish you luck.

 

[Chessie]

^^ Interesting observation, because I think this is a huge part of it not sure why. The short story I'm writing is coming along very well and my word count is the highest its ever been on a daily basis. But I don't plan on publishing it...rather giving it to a friend (I do that sometimes). He's one of my beta readers for my main project and he's very supportive, so figured I would do that for him when he asked. I'm glad he did because its kept me writing.

I'm giving myself this week to take time from that project, then I will sit down and play with the main character and see what comes out. I do think the characters are right for the story. At least they feel right in this moment. But I really want to thank everyone that's pitched in for advice. It helps a lot to have the support and hopefully I'll figure out what my problem is.

 

[The Dark One]

As I've related elsewhere, a side-project I started for a bit of fun, after huge encouragement form a beta reader, turned into my first ms accepted by a publisher.

You might have struck gold Chesterama...