Netardapope
Sage
My favorite part of writing is the amount of mental suffering that it brings me on a daily basis. And seeing as folk of our ilk tend to wallow in similar miseries, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on getting past a slump.
For some context, I've reached a point in my story that is supposed to be very interesting, yet, seeing as how the narrative has opened up, I genuinely have no idea where to go from here. I have an outline for the story made, so I know every event that has to occur, but I'm getting to a point that I find it difficult to make these events occur organically. I've been following the outline so far (along with a decent share of deviations), and while I intend to finish with this outline, I feel like many of the events that will occur through it will feel forced.
I had a very clear picture of where I wanted the story to go yesterday, but the moment I woke up this morning, an impending sense of dread of what is to come has been suffocating me. I feel like I want to take a risk, but at this stage in the book, these "risks" could easily cause permanent structural damage to my story, an issue that caused me to abandon a previous novel. I also feel that if I don't take a risk, the next few chapters will feel incredibly mundane.
I have finished a long first draft in the past, yet it feels as though I'm back to being a kid that just recently picked up writing as a hobby. My initial insecurities with writing have begun to resurface in me, and I don't know what to do about it.
Should I just force myself to continue writing this first draft, until I get out of this section and into something (hopefully) more interesting? Or should I take an hour or two to sit down and think through this?
For some context, I've reached a point in my story that is supposed to be very interesting, yet, seeing as how the narrative has opened up, I genuinely have no idea where to go from here. I have an outline for the story made, so I know every event that has to occur, but I'm getting to a point that I find it difficult to make these events occur organically. I've been following the outline so far (along with a decent share of deviations), and while I intend to finish with this outline, I feel like many of the events that will occur through it will feel forced.
I had a very clear picture of where I wanted the story to go yesterday, but the moment I woke up this morning, an impending sense of dread of what is to come has been suffocating me. I feel like I want to take a risk, but at this stage in the book, these "risks" could easily cause permanent structural damage to my story, an issue that caused me to abandon a previous novel. I also feel that if I don't take a risk, the next few chapters will feel incredibly mundane.
I have finished a long first draft in the past, yet it feels as though I'm back to being a kid that just recently picked up writing as a hobby. My initial insecurities with writing have begun to resurface in me, and I don't know what to do about it.
Should I just force myself to continue writing this first draft, until I get out of this section and into something (hopefully) more interesting? Or should I take an hour or two to sit down and think through this?