The Easy Way vs The Hard Way

[ShortHair]

Fourteen years I've spent on this story/universe. Yesterday it hit me that the reason for my latest block was because I keep adding a new plot line whenever I hit a block, with the expectation that the new plot will solve all the problems in the old plots. All it really does is add to the confusion. Instead of making things easier, I was making things harder.

Then it hit me that I had enough material for three or four or five books. I sat down and sorted through the scenes in the master plot line, this one for this book, that one for that book, et cetera et cetera. Book 1 would be a low fantasy, Book 2 high fantasy, Book 3 somewhere in between, all set during the same period, in the same place, with some of the same characters. Better yet, I could have a different narrator in each book, with different viewpoints on the same events to make things more interesting. I'd have to rewrite some of what I already had ....

Then it hit me that I was making things harder. Again.

I know writing isn't supposed to be easy. I know I should pick one story and see it through. I don't want to give up on this project, but right now I'm not sure which ways go forward and which backward.

Comments? Remarks? Suggestions?

 

[Griffin]

I ran into a similar problem. Different universes, but I couldn't settle with which universe or which plot to start with.

My suggestion? Stop. Think. Which plot interests you the most? Which plot has the most foundation to be written? Which plot do you find to be the best one to start off with?

If that doesn't help or causes more confusion, follow this: write. Just start writing and see where your mind takes you. Let your creative side go like a puppy in a room full of toys. You're letting your critical side do most of the talking. Forget about the all the plots and the settings and characters you want to write. You'll end up writing what you need to write. You might find yourself writing something you never thought of before. And that might just be the beginning of your epic series.

 

[FireBird]

It's funny, I had the opposite of this problem. When I first started my story, ideas, characters, and world were so ambitious that it would have taken over 10 books to completely fill out. I came up with a huge world and my trouble was focusing on a small part of it. I'm mostly over it now but I sometimes still want to reach out and pull more details into an already overloaded story.

 

[Penpilot]

IMHO, it may be time to take a step back and try a different project. I know you've sunk a huge chunk of time working on things but from your description, it looks like you may be too tangled up and too close to what you've written to sort things out in an objective manner.

My first book, I spent ten years dreaming and thinking about and about five years writing, rewriting, editing, fiddling and tweaking. It went from a first draft of 120K words to 270k words in that time. I was about to make another pass, trying to fix all the problems I knew it had, but then I realized in the time it would take me to make another pass and try to fix things, without any guaranteed that things would get fixed, I could write a whole new book and not have to deal with the tangled mess of my first novel.

For me, it was one of the best decisions I ever made for my writing development. I realized I'd taken the story as far as I could with my skill set and mindset at that time.

In the writing of my first book, I learned lots and I didn't get to apply those skills. I took what I learned and used it in my second book, and I when I finished the first draft, there weren't as many problems with it as my first book. Most of the problems were more straight forward to fix. And as I'm writing this now, I'm about half way done with my major editing pass and I'm happy with what I came up with and the problems with the story are going away.

That time away from my first novel has given me perspective, and I know if I were to go back I know exactly how I could fix my first novel up... that's if I wanted to. I intend to go back some day, but not right now. The first novel's story has been written, written poorly, but completed. It was an awesome experience that taught me sooooo much. But it's in the past for now. I want to move on ahead. I have so many other stories I want to tell.

IMHO step away, write something new, and then if you want to go back then go back. But for now, spread your wings as a writer. Explore different worlds, characters, and stories and worry about them for a while. New experiences are never bad for a writer.

 

[Zero Angel]

In the writing of my first book, I learned lots and I didn't get to apply those skills. I took what I learned and used it in my second book, and I when I finished the first draft, there weren't as many problems with it as my first book.

This is exactly my experience...although I stuck it out with my first book. After getting over that first hump, everything just seems so much easier now. I wrote my first novel (about eight years of world-building / planning and two years of writing/editing) and within a month after I had written ten good short stories and started (and almost completed) two novellas.

And by "good" I mean good enough that I will put them forth to the public (hopefully through a professional magazine, but else through Kindle after I make the rounds).

 

[eojsmada]

I have had a similar problem and found some good advice that Brandon Sanderson had shared through an email he sent me. That is, once I had 5 or 6 good plot or character ideas, then try and work from the end to the beginning to plot your chapters. From there I discovery write my chapters based on the plotting. Anything that I feel is worth adding to the story, I will do in editing. The biggest thing that I have learned is to not stop writing until your book is finished. Everything can be fixed with editing, but you need to get the story out of your system.

If you are really and truly stumped and can't continue any further, than I would hold on to it for possible future use and move on to another story.