My mood is my project

[Incanus]

I’m working on the first draft of my novel. I find sometimes, and a little more-so lately, that my perception and attitude about what is on the page I’m looking at becomes my perception and attitude toward the entire WIP. In other words, when a scene I’m working on seems to be flowing pretty well and my writing is at least decent, I have a good feeling about the whole novel. But when I’m struggling with a portion and it just comes out lousy no matter what I do, the entire WIP starts to look that way as well.

Intellectually, I know this is an erroneous perception. I know it through and through. It is a first draft containing both good and bad bits. And yet in a given moment, or for an entire evening, I still manage to feel this way.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

 

[Devor]

Yes. It happens. For me, a lot of times it helps to look over some of my previous work and remember that some of it is really good. Regardless, don't just struggle with it. Take a moment and deal with it. You've got to find some way to shake the mood (or at least the worst of it) and get back to work.

 

[Heliotrope]

I've outlined my story, so my first draft is like stream of conciousness writing. I just write whatever is in my head no matter how cliche or terrible it sounds, knowing full well I will go back again and fix it all on the next round.

This means some really, really bad writing. I really just want to get the whole story down so that I can go back and edit a finished product... But oh man it is embarrassing! So I write notes for myself while I'm writing... Things like

- wow, that was hilariously bad. All that will need to be fixed.
- oh man, cliche dialogue award. Fix that.
- this character is more cardboard than a paper doll. She needs to be fleshed out.

I write these little notes so that I feel better at least acknowledging the terrible writing, and giving myself reminders of what to do when I get there on the second pass. I feel better going forward knowing I left a little note.

When I'm in a really bad mood I write a note along the lines of
- I really don't want to do this today so I'm going to write a half assed thousand words just to keep the story moving. Sorry future editing self.

Then I feel better about it.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I have my ups and downs with the entire thing, but they're unrelated to my experiences on a particular scene.

I tend to find the pieces of writing I slog through, griping and crying, and hammering out each word in pain are (for the most part) the cleanest and most focused. I recently ended a ~1k word day I hated but when I went back, clean and crisp, shocking. I was like "Oh, wow. Damn. Wish I did that every day." On the other hand, writing when I'm on a roll, putting out 3k per day takes waaaayyy more work to clean up and is sometimes down right cheap short story rag prose. The ideas are generally manageable, but wow, I get sloppy. This is getting better on roll days, I'm getting my brain trained to avoid bad words and habits even when rolling. Heck, I'm to the point I "think" I shouldn't use the word think when thinking or speaking, heh heh.

 

[ThinkerX]

With me, I have noticed that when the words don't flow that well, when each sentence or word becomes a struggle, it is sometimes because the little voice in my skull is telling me the tale is starting to take a seriously wrong tack.

Of course, sometimes the story takes a wrong tack when the words do flow well.

On occasion, I will revisit my writings from years or even decades past. Often I am surprised by their good quality.

 

[NerdyCavegirl]

I'm sure we all experience something of the sort. While me, I'm always very critical with everything I pursue in life, but I'm generally very confident in what I do. The problem comes when I look back on my writing and realize how much I've improved, and if my current writing is superior, that makes my previous writing inferior. I must resist the urge to waste time pursuing perfection, lest I be caught in a neverending cycle. I write for no audience, only as a creative exercise and personal challenge, so I really should be proudly basking in the light of my progress reflected off of my former mistakes.

 

[Incanus]

Thanks everyone.

Sometimes it helps just knowing some folks experience the same, or similar things.

Devor brings up an interesting idea--I didn't really think to actually try to change my mood. Usually it takes me hours or even a couple of days to work through a mood. I'm not sure I can shake it in just a couple of minutes, even if I read the absolutely greatest portion of my WIP (wherever that might be).

Anyway, I've got a life-issue that will be cutting into my writing time for a bit here. And I need to do some additional brainstorming for the final part of the story. It'll get done when it gets done. But, for the most part, it is all working--doing what I've been doing will result in a novel. The only question is--when.

 

[Helen]

I’m working on the first draft of my novel. I find sometimes, and a little more-so lately, that my perception and attitude about what is on the page I’m looking at becomes my perception and attitude toward the entire WIP. In other words, when a scene I’m working on seems to be flowing pretty well and my writing is at least decent, I have a good feeling about the whole novel. But when I’m struggling with a portion and it just comes out lousy no matter what I do, the entire WIP starts to look that way as well.

Intellectually, I know this is an erroneous perception. I know it through and through. It is a first draft containing both good and bad bits. And yet in a given moment, or for an entire evening, I still manage to feel this way.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

I think this will be solved during rewrites. You're evaluating as you write.

Your perception (whether any part of the work is good or bad) will rectify and even out when you come back to it at a later date.