# Thinking of Giving Up on A Story



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 15, 2019)

I hate doing this, the thought of giving up on a story gnaws at me. I'm, of course, referring to the frustrations with the story I've been fighting with for several years.

It seemed so simple when I started it. I know the subject well and decided to 'borrow' some characters from my YA novels for kicks. Well…

Anyone who's read, skimmed, or noticed the thread knows that it hasn't worked out.

I am stymied, stumped, and frustrated. Every time I decide it's time to sit down and work on this piece, it doesn’t happen. I get sucked right into that point where I was stuck to being with.

People keep telling me- 'take a break, come back to it when you're calm and clear headed."

This is the problem- this is the very thing I do, and it's not helping.

I'm starting to think that the best thing I can do is walk away from it, period.

As I said in the first paragraph of this post- the thought of giving up on a story gnaws at me. I want to get this story done and told but just reading it, reading over responses- it's instant frustration. I want to bang my head on something.

The last time this happened "The Truth is Stranger Than Fiction" I walked away from the story. It's been 20 something years and I still 'feel it' lurking in the shadows.

The 3,000 limit is another issue.

Here's the link to the story in question…. I'm considering the title "Schooled" - Link to Story

I could use some advice on this- no on the content of the story itself but on moving forward with the project.


----------



## wagtail (Feb 15, 2019)

I can't check out your story till I get a few more posts under my belt, but in the meantime I wanted to pop in to say I can imagine how hard this must be when you've invested so much and had high hopes. Sending good vibes and hoping you get over this speedbump.


----------



## JJBuchholz (Feb 15, 2019)

MzSnowleopard said:


> I am stymied, stumped, and frustrated. Every time I decide it's time to sit down and work on this piece, it doesn’t happen. I get sucked right into that point where I was stuck to being with.



As writers, we seem to always go from one project to another, creating as much as we can on the page, until one day, we honestly get stumped like this. There always seems to be that one work of fiction that goes nowhere no matter what we do. I'm pretty sure we've all been there. I know I have.

I started a novel over twenty years ago, wrote fifty pages in cursive, then conked out completely. For the next few years after, I tried going back and working on it, to no avail.



MzSnowleopard said:


> The thought of giving up on a story gnaws at me. I want to get this story done and told but just reading it, reading over responses- it's instant frustration. I want to bang my head on something.



I got to that point with my novel. I couldn't seem to shake the rest of the idea loose and finish it. All I wanted to do was tell this amazing story, and nothing more would get out onto the page. I let it be for many years, finally have a revelation last year, taking the incomplete novel and adapting it into a novella for one of my series. 

Twenty years. Twenty damn years it took to revive the idea! 

There have also been a couple of other short stories over the years where something similar has happened, and no matter what I did, couldn't finish for the life of me. Some stories are just not meant to be, despite our drive and determination to make them. Try to put it out of your mind and work on something else, or go lose yourself in a good book. Perhaps a flood of new ideas or a hidden inspiration will happen.

The writing life is a good one, but seldom without challenges.

-JJB


----------



## SueC (Feb 15, 2019)

Hey Mz. Boy, I feel your pain. I could have written your post! My story involves my old neighborhood in Chicago, something I know as well as the palm of my hand, so - like you - it started out so well. I populated it with people from my past, people I went to school with and it was so fun to write... and then bang!

Also like you, I have approached it several times with nothing happening. Just recently, since I know how I want it to end, I have thought of just hammering out the last chapter. My thinking is that if I do that, I may be able to see the path I have to go to get there. Kind of like that scene in the movie, The African Queen, when they are in those reeds, near death and not knowing where to go, and then wah-lee-lah, there sits the _Louisa_, the German boat they were seeking.

I hope you don't give up. I have over 30,000 words, too! Let's both keep plugging along, shall we? LOL. Keep us posted, Mz.


----------



## Terry D (Feb 15, 2019)

Have a funeral for it. Bury it. Burn it. There's no benefit in wasting years on a short story that isn't working for you. All that is doing is keeping you from moving forward as a writer. It has already done its job, you've learned from it. Take that and run with it. Move on to something that doesn't stymie you. At this point that story has become an anchor holding you back. It's doing more harm than good.


----------



## Cephus (Feb 15, 2019)

Just put it aside and forget about it.  Do other things.  Let it die.  Maybe someday, you'll have a  brilliant idea and bring it back, maybe not.  You're just wasting time on it now, you should move on.


----------



## luckyscars (Feb 15, 2019)

I'm not going to read or comment on your WIP because what I/other people think as to whether it is a good idea or whether you should continue with it is irrelevant.

I spent almost two years working on a novel before giving it up. It's hard, especially when you really like the idea and have invested serious time in it. I will say that my love for the craft and my output actually improved the moment I made this decision.

But I agree that you should not delete or otherwise 'remove' it from your life beyond on a mental level - There's no harm in keeping it stored away. But yeah, don't give it up with the intention of it being temporary either - Make a clean break and start something new, preferably something as different as possible from _that _piece and just forget it exists. If/when you remember it in the future you may feel ready to go back. It's always surprising how often a few years passing changes our perspective, for better or worse.


----------



## Jack of all trades (Feb 15, 2019)

MzSnowleopard said:


> I hate doing this, the thought of giving up on a story gnaws at me. I'm, of course, referring to the frustrations with the story I've been fighting with for several years.
> 
> It seemed so simple when I started it. I know the subject well and decided to 'borrow' some characters from my YA novels for kicks. Well…
> 
> ...



Maybe it's time to unclog the creative drain.

If the word limit is blocking you, forget about it!

Tell the story that wants to be told. Don't worry about making it fit a preconceived idea, restriction, or whatever. Go with the flow! And see where it takes you. Look at what it is and figure out what to do with it, AFTER it is fully written to your satisfaction.

Good luck with it!!


----------



## Dyeeeee (Feb 16, 2019)

I have 2 pieces of advice when I reach a crossroads.

1) Rewrite it. I remember reading this quote and it stuck with me. "99% of writing, is rewriting." Is this still your first draft? Then its good not to take it so seriously, You'll stress yourself out by thinking "my masterpiece will never be finished."

2) Write subchapters. You will conduct final editing at the end, and will compress the important parts, turning those 300 pages into 217 anyways. Write extra stuff between your chapters to get ideas going. 

It depends on how much you care about your story honestly. If you don't think your story is worth the time then go ahead and give up, no one is stopping you.


----------



## luckyscars (Feb 16, 2019)

Here's another one that always helped me:

"Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something"

….or, in this case, starting a novel and giving up on a novel is the first step to starting a novel and finishing a novel.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 16, 2019)

Oddly, the 3,000 word limit -as per the instructions in the course assignment is not the issue this time. It's other things:

the scenarios in my head
the reviews
the issue that's suppose to be the focus
and the friction between all of them.

I get that it's a subject I'm too close to but I think something needs to be done, to be said.
I do appreciate all of the reviews to date, there's a lot of helpful information in them. 
The problem is that most of them want me to change the POV to the one character that is so PO'ed it would make for a very ugly story.
I've already been chastised by an instructor for an ugly / unlikable lead character- I want to avoid this in the future.

The one that sticks in my head is "she shouldn't need to be won over" ... Then there's no story. 

Another suggested that I switch to Jen, make her the primary character. I'm going to give this one a try, with Debbie being the antagonist.
I can see her looking down on her friend who had everything, including a hefty scholarship.

Maybe the issue hasn't been that I'm too close, maybe I've been coming at this from the wrong angle / character POV. 

Thank you everyone for the encouragement and sage words. I don't want to give up on this one, I"m not ready to, but something has to give.
Maybe keeping the POV with Jen but shifting to her issues is what needs to be done. 

I'll keep y'all posted.


----------



## Jack of all trades (Feb 16, 2019)

MzSnowleopard said:


> Oddly, the 3,000 word limit -as per the instructions in the course assignment is not the issue this time. It's other things:
> 
> the scenarios on my head
> the reviews
> ...



Look. You said the word limit was one issue holding you back. That aside, my advice is the same. Throw out everything that is stopping you from writing this. This is a story that is haunting you. Write it exactly the way YOU want to write it. Then set it aside for a couple months. Then read it. Does it speak to you? That what counts!

Instructors, friends, classmates all have opinions, but there's nothing that makes those opinions right. This is subjective. Some will like it, but there will always be criticisms. Always. At some point a writer has to have enough confidence in his or her work to be able to filter those criticisms and find what resonates and ignore the rest.

Look at how many rejections popular authors had before being published. Granted, we don't know what revisions may have been made before the first acceptance. And we have no idea what feedback they were given before the first acceptance. BUT ... we also don't know what criticisms were ignored.

Forget about trying to please that instructor. Forget about the reviews. Write the piece to please only yourself. Then, at the very least, you'll have something you enjoy reading.

That's my advice. If it resonates, follow it. If it doesn't ignore it.

Good luck with this! Whatever you decide, I hope you find some peace.


----------



## Theglasshouse (Feb 16, 2019)

I include myself in the "round table" of opinionated people. Writers are more critical than readers. I do like the sound of changing the POV character to someone jealous because they got a scholarship. It sounds to be an interesting rivalry.

That said, follow what your mind says and give it more than a few days if it can wait. You might look at the story and get new inspiration or change your mind on this. For the majority of people who rewrote a story too many times, sometimes it is best to leave it stored somewhere, but not to erase it.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 16, 2019)

I am going to revise the story to get into Jen's head on this issue. I hadn't chosen her originally because her situation is the exact. polar opposite of Debbie's. I know that some people will be disappointed because they believe the story should be from Debbie's head, despite what I've said about her mental state. 

The thing I've come to realize is that, the more I look at this lately, I don't know why I didn't see this 3 years ago when I started this story. 
Yeah, it's been 3 years this month.

W Debbie's state of mind and her opinion of community colleges she is prime to be the antagonist of the story. She's not evil or bad, she's angry - mostly at her parents.

I'm going to come back at this after a full 8 hours of solid sleep. God willing.


----------



## EliseBardot (Feb 18, 2019)

_When frustration reaches this level I toss the piece in the recycling bin.  If after a few days, a few weeks, a month or so, I have no desire to pick it out and really figure out what's wrong, out it goes. Obviously, nothing is gone with computers; __which is great if you change your mind__ a year from now.  I__t just might not be the time for it or it was never for you to write.   Just make sure you hide your recycling bin in case someone decides to make that decision for you! _


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 18, 2019)

See I don't get that part- if it was never for me to write, why do I have it? Meaning- why do I have this story in my head?

It's been 3 years since I first started this story. It keeps coming back to the surface of my thoughts. People keep suggesting that I either write it a certain way or step away from it. The POV suggestion isn't working for reasons I've explained. And stepping away from it only adds time to the length that I've let this story 'cool'. 

It's way past time that I finished this story. Stepping away, taking a break, only adds time to the cool down period. It's not working. Which means it's time to do something else, something new. The only thing I can think of is changing the focus of the POV character. Make it about Jen's decision with Debbie being the antagonist. This makes sense to me. I'll keep you all updated on how this is going.


----------



## Terry D (Feb 18, 2019)

When a cheetah springs out of the tall grass to pursue a prey animal an innate biological timer starts inside the cheetah's head. Running at 60 or 70 miles per hour consumes a tremendous amount of energy and the cat unconsciously starts calculating, based on the size of its prey and its speed, whether the pay-off, in terms of energy gained from its kill vs the energy expended to catch it, is worth the effort. It will stop chasing a small animal (small energy gain) before it stops chasing a gazelle (higher pay-off). 

As a writer I'll make that same call. I don't care how interested I am in a story idea, it's only worth so much of my time and effort to get it written. That's time I can be working on something else. If you are interested in eventually publishing your work, then your time becomes even more valuable, and any unnecessary drains on it more damaging to your eventual career. 

That's all just my opinion, however.


----------



## hubriscomplex (Feb 18, 2019)

It can be really hard to let go of a piece of writing, especially if it's something you loved...I say if it's a story you still want to see come to life, go back to the drawing board. Re-write the plot, the characters, whatever. The best advice I've ever gotten is that writers block doesn't lie in where you stopped, but ten lines above it. Hope this helped, good luck!


----------



## Megan Pearson (Feb 18, 2019)

Hey MzSnow, I really appreciated your post. I have an academic paper I am working on where the reviewers’ comments were rough but necessary, so I feel like I can ‘feel’ your pain! I want to encourage you not to set aside or dump this project. Professionals work through their problems. Sure, not every problem we write ourselves into should be solved, but I know we grow more from the difficulties before us than from that which doesn’t challenge us. 

Is it okay that I give feedback on your story here? When I read through your story, at first I thought you were using an omniscient narrator, but as the story developed I realized it was being delivered by first person narration. Is that one of the techniques for the ‘experimental’ genre? (I’m not familiar with it.) If not, identifying Jen as the narrator sooner might help clear up the POV question. (BTW, I liked Jen as the save-the-day, wise best friend narrator.) 

I know you had mentioned needing suggestions on how to fill out the word count requirement. Might you add to the word count by showing us an interaction between Debbie and her father, rather than by telling us? Or, maybe Jen can recount to us such a scene as a flashback? How might you strengthen Debbie’s side of the argument with her father? If a friend later addressed those concerns, it would also add to the word count but still does not have to provide closure to the story, thus keeping your story open-ended and experimental.

I really liked the comradery and trust between Debbie and Jen and their friends. However, one thing I struggled with in the story was an overall lack of tension. It seems nearly everyone is going to attend the 2-yr., and that Debbie will, too. (Besides her wanting to go to the 4-r., financially it doesn’t seem likely she can so there’s not really any external tension here.) Is it possible that some of their friends are attending a 4-yr. institution? If so, maybe that could be a way to introduce more tension into the story? 

I really liked the way you showed Debbie’s dad cleaning up. We got to see what he did for a living. I think you can capitalize on this to show the tension between Debbie and her dad. The way you described him reminded me of my own dad, a hard-working factory laborer. To him, college is an unnecessary expense. He still reminds me they have good paying ($12/hr.) factory jobs in his area I should consider—even though for years I have earned much more than he and my step-mom have together precisely because of my bachelor’s degree. I think to them, work that’s not hard labor is not honest work. In your story, could there be other reasons why Mr. Jacobs doesn’t approve, beyond not being able to afford it? It would make his argument stronger, and maybe help keep the ending open for your genre. 

I hope there is something here that might help you. Good luck & let us know how it goes!


----------



## Jack of all trades (Feb 19, 2019)

Terry D said:


> When a cheetah springs out of the tall grass to pursue a prey animal an innate biological timer starts inside the cheetah's head. Running at 60 or 70 miles per hour consumes a tremendous amount of energy and the cat unconsciously starts calculating, based on the size of its prey and its speed, whether the pay-off, in terms of energy gained from its kill vs the energy expended to catch it, is worth the effort. It will stop chasing a small animal (small energy gain) before it stops chasing a gazelle (higher pay-off).
> 
> As a writer I'll make that same call. I don't care how interested I am in a story idea, it's only worth so much of my time and effort to get it written. That's time I can be working on something else. If you are interested in eventually publishing your work, then your time becomes even more valuable, and any unnecessary drains on it more damaging to your eventual career.
> 
> That's all just my opinion, however.



I don't think the analogy works well.  It's easy to determine how much nutrition is available in a prey animal. The payoff on writing is much more nebulous. A short story can provide a lot of satisfaction and/or notoriety. Getting something difficult finally accomplished can be very satisfying on a personal level. Finishing writing a novel is an accomplishment that no one can take away, even if it's never published. Even if the only benefit is more practice, there's value. I don't see the potential harm to a career in writing the piece.

If the piece ends up being very offensive, and it is published, then it can be a black mark on the writer's reputation, but that has nothing to do with the amount of difficulty there is in writing it! Some can write offensive crap very easily. That doesn't magically protect their reputations. 

I don't want to turn this into a debate about what's offensive. I'm just saying that the difficulty or ease of a particular project doesn't determine the value of the end product.


----------



## Ralph Rotten (Feb 19, 2019)

Not everything a writer starts gets finished.
Not everything you write will get published.
Some stories end up as forgotten word files.
If you are no longer feeling it for this story then move on.
If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with.
This is writing; you are not married to that story.


----------



## Ralph Rotten (Feb 19, 2019)

I have prolly a total of 150k words worth of stories and books that got started but never came to fruition.
Every one of them was going to be THE story.
Somewhere along the way I got bored, blocked, or found something better to write.
Write something new.


----------



## Terry D (Feb 19, 2019)

Jack of all trades said:


> I don't think the analogy works well.  It's easy to determine how much nutrition is available in a prey animal. The payoff on writing is much more nebulous. A short story can provide a lot of satisfaction and/or notoriety. Getting something difficult finally accomplished can be very satisfying on a personal level. Finishing writing a novel is an accomplishment that no one can take away, even if it's never published. Even if the only benefit is more practice, there's value. I don't see the potential harm to a career in writing the piece.
> 
> If the piece ends up being very offensive, and it is published, then it can be a black mark on the writer's reputation, but that has nothing to do with the amount of difficulty there is in writing it! Some can write offensive crap very easily. That doesn't magically protect their reputations.
> 
> I don't want to turn this into a debate about what's offensive. I'm just saying that the difficulty or ease of a particular project doesn't determine the value of the end product.



If the piece is being written for the writer's own pleasure, then go ahead and take as long as is needed. If the point is publication, then spending years on a short story is a poor investment of the author's resources. Yes, every writer can do whatever they choose, but MzSnowleopard, was asking for advice and I believe "do whatever you want" is pretty terrible advice. It doesn't answer her question in any way, so I gave my opinion.

Also, when writing from a 'for publication' standpoint, the pay-off is not nebulous at all. Five cents per word is a pretty common entry-level rate for professional fiction sold to magazines. So, a 3,000 word short would gross the author $150. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not going to spend several years working on a story to -- maybe -- sell for $150.


----------



## Jack of all trades (Feb 19, 2019)

Terry D said:


> If the piece is being written for the writer's own pleasure, then go ahead and take as long as is needed. If the point is publication, then spending years on a short story is a poor investment of the author's resources. Yes, every writer can do whatever they choose, but MzSnowleopard, was asking for advice and I believe "do whatever you want" is pretty terrible advice. It doesn't answer her question in any way, so I gave my opinion.
> 
> Also, when writing from a 'for publication' standpoint, the pay-off is not nebulous at all. Five cents per word is a pretty common entry-level rate for professional fiction sold to magazines. So, a 3,000 word short would gross the author $150. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not going to spend several years working on a story to -- maybe -- sell for $150.



For an author that consistently sells stories, your argument has some merit. But even then I'm not entirely convinced it's sufficient to merit repetition.

I doubt that the OP is ONLY working on this story, to the exclusion of anything else. I recall other posts referencing other works. So going back to a story, off and on, over years, doesn't seem like a waste of time to me. And that is what I have surmised is the case, based on various posts by the OP over the time I have been a member here.


----------



## Terry D (Feb 19, 2019)

Jack of all trades said:


> For an author that consistently sells stories, your argument has some merit. But even then I'm not entirely convinced it's sufficient to merit repetition.
> 
> I doubt that the OP is ONLY working on this story, to the exclusion of anything else. I recall other posts referencing other works. So going back to a story, off and on, over years, doesn't seem like a waste of time to me. And that is what I have surmised is the case, based on various posts by the OP over the time I have been a member here.



That's okay, My aim was not to convince you of anything.


----------



## Sir-KP (Feb 19, 2019)

I'm not professional writer or anything, but I have revised the current WIP story twice. From future sci-fi survival, it became present-day crime/survival, followed by another surgery again in the plot.

From my understanding, you just let it sit in front of you while you are completely stuck. So maybe try to apply the core idea of your story into another theme, situation, genre. 

For example, I'm sure you know about the story of turtle and rabbit? Now let's say you are writing about a marathon race between Turtle and Rabbit. You know in the end the turtle's gonna win. But you are stuck in the middle; the story is not fleshed out, etc. So instead of marathon race, you changed it into castle-building competition in the forest between team of rabbits and team of turtles. The ending is still the same, turtles win. But here you can create more characters, sly turtles, traitor rabbit, this and that, that basically follows the idea of '_slow, but sure still can win_'. And then when you're stuck again, you change the whole thing into a competition between two men where one is disabled on a wheelchair. The disabled man was in debt with the abled guy, who is an avid basketball fan, which then he challenged the disabled guy in a 1vs1 basketball match in the following week with promise that if the disabled guy wins, the debt will be cleared. And so the disabled man trained hard, begging trainers to help him and what-not, while the debt-collector guy was laid back, thinking he would win. So on and so forth that basically the core idea stays

Hopefully my suggestion was clear enough.


----------



## Theglasshouse (Feb 19, 2019)

Sometimes the right idea comes at the wrong time. From reading a story, a news headline, and so forth. Since time is of the essence probably since it is an assignment. Having less time creates an unwanted disadvantage. For example I like the beginning of benjamin button by f scott fitzgerald. I recommend you see it if you watch the beginning. But the child in the story is scarred by a trauma which could have been better explored. There have been many stories on abortion. But imagine if you will if things turned out different than imagined. A second example hills by white elephants, is another one. Ideas can be variations on old ideas already in print. If likability of the character is a problem you can always make them contradictory. Which is always a good thing. For example, a character, that has a contradictory qualities. A person that volunteers to help you can be your worst enemy without you knowing it.  It is just an example. How about giving life and then feeling doomed and gloomy because of the burden of financial bills? That's a different example.


----------



## Megan Pearson (Feb 22, 2019)

Sir-KP said:


> From my understanding, you just let it sit in front of you while you are completely stuck. So maybe try to apply the core idea of your story into another theme, situation, genre.



I liked the OP b/c I, too, am stuck. I am not a professional, what I'm writing may never generate money, but I do have a deadline for a grade. The ironic thing, which I liked about your statement here, Sir-KP, was that you drilled back into "the core idea of your story," and the reason I wanted to piggy-back on it was I have had three PhD'sreview my paper who all basically replied with the same comment: What is your paper ABOUT?

Egads!!! (That was not the critique summary I was expecting!!!)

I have tried just about everything to get myself unstuck. 

So this week I purchased an erasable white board, a children's drawing pad (b/c the paper's cheaper), and am going to try to map out/draw what I think my paper is about this weekend. 

So, Mz Snow, I feel your pain. If you really feel that you've got to finish the piece you started, then it's something you've gotta do. Even if there is no grade involved or no money at stake, by the time you have re-written the piece to your renewed satisfaction, you will have learned that which you need to know to go forward with other projects. (Yes, this whole being stuck thing has stymied me creatively elsewhere, too.) 

The good news is, once you can recognize what wasn't working and have learned how to fix it, that particular problem shouldn't rear its ugly head in quite the same way in the future. In other words, sometimes a little elbow grease on a small part can help make the whole machine run more smoothly.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 25, 2019)

Thank you all for your comments.

Megan, I feel your pain. Yes, this piece is meant to be submitted as an assignment for academics. What's at stake for me- 7 college credits.

Plus finishing something I've started. An ex-boyfriend once told me, in the final months, that he saw I had a problem with follow-through. I don't finish what I start.

At the time, I didn't pay mind to this because that man has issues of his own. I didn't think he had any business reviewing my life when he had problems of his own he wasn't addressing. 

Anyway, I digress. I'm still mulling over the story. Megan, your suggestions have given me food for thought. And you're right- I do have a number of other stories in the works. Some stories are for publication, some are for fun. Some of them may never see fruition but there are a number of them that will. I'd use one for this assignment but they surpass the word limit.


----------



## Megan Pearson (Feb 26, 2019)

MzSnowleopard said:


> ...he saw I had a problem with follow-through. I don't finish what I start.
> At the time, I didn't pay mind to this...



Girlfriend, you and I ought to go out for coffee! We gotta whole hey of a lot in common!

Part of the argument hubby used to press me to make a decision on whether I should go on for my M.A. and _not_ pursue becoming a professional writer was that, in the x-amount of years we had been married, just how many pieces had I finished? (They're all in some stage of development or rewrite.) It was like a splash of cold water!

But thankfully, I can say that since then, such blanket statements made in general just aren't true. Here's why:

Past failure doesn't predict future performance. ​
In other words, we can change. Chronic 'not finishing' is an organizational problem, not a creative problem. (Or so I've found.)

For myself, I found that I have much better follow through when I can put all of my activities in a planner. If there are no deadlines, I make one up. Like working on this thesis last semester. I put all of my known due dates from my other classes into the planner, so I knew what else was due and when, and then I divided up what needed to be done on the thesis and plugged in those "due dates" so I could divide up the work load. It really helped me manage my time better and helped me to determine what part of the project I needed to focus on that week. At the end of each day, I jotted down what class/activity I worked on and how much time I worked on it. It took all of 5 minutes to do this. Granted, I did go two weeks over my own soft deadline for the paper--but I still turned the thesis in well ahead of the semester's end. 

Seeing that you do have other pieces you could use, why not switch story hats and work out the bugs / decrease the word count in another story for those 7 credits? At the least, it'll be a fresh approach. At the best, you'll finish something. 

People who don't finish things don't fret like you do about _how_ to finish something. They just don't. The nice thing about finishing something is that, after a while when you realize you're coming closer to accomplishing something, you also realize that statements like what ex- said just aren't going to be true anymore. And then one day you make the walk in your commencement ceremony and they hand you a 'you did it' plaque. 

You go girl! You got this! 


I'm going to go get a cup a coffee and get back to my thesis...


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 27, 2019)

Good luck on that thesis Woman. I decided not to go for my MFA because it's $ 40,000 in most places. No thank you. That's too much.



> Past failure doesn't predict future performance. ​



This is how I feel too but see, now, Dr Phil would disagree. He would say something like "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior" (paraphrasing here).
It confuses me because he also says if you want to change, you can. You just have to work at it. (Seems like a contradiction to me.)

The thing about my ex was that he wasn't supportive of my writing. Most people haven't been, through my life- I've met a few here and there who were but that's a rant for another site. How can people expect someone to pull themselves up and make something of themselves when those who area supposed to be the support system are constantly discouraging, berating, or nagging, and being what I call anti-supportive. By this I mean they do and say things that seem positive but in the end, under the light, they're anything BUT supportive or helpful.

Things like : I think you've learned all you need to know. You're a good writer, you don't need a college degree.

Anyway, that coffee sounds like a great idea. I'm always up for a great cup of java.


----------



## Chris Stevenson (Feb 28, 2019)

I liken my current WIP to a  date. I owe it to her and myself to have a good time and leave with her  after the party is over. I chose her for a reason; I was attracted to  her; I wanted to hear what she had to say. I wasn't preoccupied with what  she might offer. I only wanted to take that small adventure in time  with her and appreciate the ride. Oft times a flirt comes along and  tries desperately to get my attention, calling out to me with wind songs  and coy invites. I'm dancing right now--I can't be bothered to see  what's greener on the other side of the mountain. If I'm too fickle,  I'll never enjoy my date all the way through to completion, but instead  have an array of disconnected flirtations with something that I end up  fantasizing about. The flirtations are cheap time and flashes in a  Kodachrome minute. My real date is solid and a very much worthwhile  journey. I owe myself the dignity of a having a quality date and seeing  it through to the end. Else, I'll hurt her feelings and waste my time. 



Do  this: try and recapture that mood you had in the moment of  conception--when the idea sparked and lit your mind on fire. It sounded  pretty good then, didn't it? IT WAS FABULOUS. Unless you were drunk or  hopped up on pills. What's really changed? Nothing has changed. You're  letting seeds of doubt bust into nasty little buds and begin to take  root. You're talking yourself out of it. Asking questions and giving  yourself negative answers. You're warming to failure and cooling to  success. Or are you making excuses because you believe you're truly  blocked? Or are you just lazy right now (Like all of us have been)? Procrastinating? Have you just  read a book where the writing, plot and premise totally blew you away,  and you're unconsciously comparing yourself to that author? 



Get  real and get brave. Climb down out of that hyper-imagination tree and plant your feet  on solid ground. The story hasn't changed--you have. You've derailed  your creative muse, stuck pins in your own voodoo doll. Cease and  desist. Unless you truly believe with all your heart that you've made a  huge error and this story has no chance because EVERYBODY says so  besides you. Chances are, you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing--analyzing, probing and fostering new discoveries in your writing. 

Always remember that our eyes haven't seen your story yet. It'll be brand new to us. Even if you think it's old hat to you. 


Get right back on that baby and give her a whirl around the floor! Don't you know she's waiting for you?


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 28, 2019)

Interesting food for thought. One thing though. People have seen this piece, they commented on it. One thing most agree on s the character POV needs to be in Debbie's head, not Jenn's. I've stated several times that I'm not going there because Debbie is very angry and listed the reasons. I've written pieces with angry / negative characters before and walked away from the instructor's response feeling like my hand had been smacked hard with a ruler. I'm not going through that again.

Over night, literately, since about 1 am (hey, sometimes insomnia can be a good thing) I proved to myself that I don't have writer's block. I have been sitting here working on a piece that is now 5 pages and 2,478 words long. What I did was to choose to focus on a piece that has been turning in the back of my mind like a movie. I took a different approach with this piece, something I need to do with other works- taking a different approach, not necessarily the one I took with this piece from over night. The point is, the contents spilled out of me. This is the sensation I've been missing with _Schooled_. The words have not flown easily with this one. 

So, I'm thinking I've done something wrong, taken a wrong turn, missed something or maybe it was trying something new. Not to say that it was the tying part that was the problem but the concept I tried. As one person pointed out- the story was promoted as being experiment and it was anything but. Perhaps I missed something, I thought I had followed the guide's of the manual- where they described what Experimental was- and they included 'subjects considered taboo or controversial'. Which, attending community college falls under because of the social stigma on them. I have no problem taking this label off my story, but it still needs to be fixed.

Unlike my article 'truth is Stranger Than Fiction' I believe that like 'True Family' this story CAN BE SAVED.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Feb 28, 2019)

How I Broke My Writer's Block

No promises that it'll work for others- and this is free of charge.

As some know, I've been contending with this one story and it's created a type of writer's block for me. I haven't been able to write lately because I want to get this story done- but I can't seem to get it done because there's baggage attached to it. 

So, here's what I did. I sat down with Scout, my HP635, and started writing this piece that's been churning in my mind for months now. Here's the thing, I chose to do something different with it. I wrote it out as if I were making a report to a superior. And it flowed out. 

Why it worked- this content has been churning in my brain for months, possibly a year or more. I haven't looked at the date of the original file in some time. Also, I didn't write it in story form. As I said, I did it in report form. 

Why this report form style worked is because this is an RP story dealing with a cross between Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica. The character whose POV I used is a member of the SGC, equal to Dr Weir. So, writing these scenario out like she was filing a report worked.

I started this at around about 1 AM. I finished at roughly 10:30 AM with 3,510 WORDS!

Am I ready to jump back to the other story? Maybe, or maybe I'll try to work on another project to feed the fuel some more.

I realize that I'm putting _Schooled_ off yet again, the point is that I've got the juices flowing.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 12, 2019)

So, I spoke with my friend Aimee about this issue. She's awesome to bounce things off of once in a while. She helped me to get things sorted. We even put a title to the POV of this type of story "first person - observation". This meaning that the person of POV is observing the events and people around her .... We like this phrase, we don't like the execution of it, at least not with this particular story. No matter what it's called, it's not working for me. 

In hearing myself in this conversation I came to realize that I had forgotten something major in my own personality. With the exception of a few writers; Sue Grafton and V.C. Andrews (to drop a few names) I do not really like first person narratives. 

Why had I forgotten this? Simple, in reading the instructions of Assignment 9 for the program, I thought I'd take up the challenge. The lesson I learned is that if you don't like something, and you give it a try anyway, there's a good chance you just might sabotage yourself in your own efforts. Gotta love how the mind works,  especially the sub-conscious. 

I'm having coffee with Aimee on April 4th, I promised her I'd have a rewrite of this piece by then. Wish me luck! please. I'm hopeful but still think I'm going to need the luck.


----------



## Ralph Rotten (Mar 12, 2019)

MzSnowleopard said:


> How I Broke My Writer's Block
> 
> No promises that it'll work for others- and this is free of charge.
> 
> ...





I use this process as well, and it works extremely well.
Essentially I write 3 books at the same time.
When I become blocked on the first, I move to the 2nd. When I am blocked on the 2nd I move to the 3rd.
By the time I am blocked on the 3rd book I have usually figured out what I wanna do with the first 2.
The result is very little downtime; I am always writing.


----------



## luckyscars (Mar 13, 2019)

Ralph Rotten said:


> I use this process as well, and it works extremely well.
> Essentially I write 3 books at the same time.
> When I become blocked on the first, I move to the 2nd. When I am blocked on the 2nd I move to the 3rd.
> By the time I am blocked on the 3rd book I have usually figured out what I wanna do with the first 2.
> The result is very little downtime; I am always writing.



I know a few writers who do this, to varying degrees of success.

The logic makes sense but I think it's a lot like tongue-rolling, some people can think that way and some can't. It involves a certain ability to disconnect from one 'world' and move into another which may or may not be possible depending on the complexity and the writer's level of emotional investment to what they are working on. I know I have tried and find it impossible to think of writing anything else until I have 'solved the jigsaw'. 

Still, more power to you!


----------



## Chris Stevenson (Mar 13, 2019)

If I feel uninspired by my progress in the book, or if it feels like drudgery or hard work, many times I'll go back in the text about 20 pages and see if I can't pick up the momentum of the story again. Not only that, it helps me to realize why I was destined to write this particular tale. Some of the original excitement comes back and I say to myself, "Ya know, it really isn't bad at all. It's quite good." Don't sell yourself short. 

We can psyche ourselves out of or into a lot of moods. The negative muse over a writer's shoulder is one of his/her worst enemies. See it for what it is and take back control. Oh, the instructional and motivational YouTubes of Ann Rice are also a blessing.


----------



## JJBuchholz (Mar 15, 2019)

I've had this WIP that's been a problem since I came up with it. I started the original outline late last year, and went at it. The plot started to bother me heavily, the drawn out character development was going nowhere (too many characters in my cast), and so I shelved it. Just in the last few weeks, I've brought the idea back, and opened up the WIP again to continue. I tried to reduce the cast and change the plot, and it still started to drive me mad!

I consulted with a bunch of writers I interact with on Twitter, and bounced some ideas around. Three notebooks, several ideas, and lots of coffee later, I now have the idea partially scrawled out on paper (yet another outline!), and have a much clearer vision of where this story is going.

I guess what I'm saying is to not give up the idea, but merely to shelve it for a while, and/or get some opinions of it.

-JJB


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 19, 2019)

JJBuchholz said:


> I guess what I'm saying is to not give up the idea, but merely to shelve it for a while, and/or get some opinions of it.
> 
> -JJB



This is the most popular / frequent advice I get. I have followed it off and on and it's now been 3 years since I started this particular story. And this is one of the problems. There comes a time when you need to stop putting it aside and address the issues of the project.


----------



## moderan (Mar 19, 2019)

A professional solution would be to finish the thing and then see where you went wrong and how to correct it. Another would be to throw it away and start a new thing. Sometimes stuff just doesn't get finished. Either way. Shit or get off the pot.


----------



## Chris Stevenson (Mar 19, 2019)

There are plenty of author videos on the Internet, especially YouTube videos that serve as inspiration and instruction. King, Rowling and Rice just to name a few. You can really get some stories about the pitfalls and sad times when those persons had heaps of trouble keeping it together and continuing on. Try them out. Relax and listen to what the veterans have to say.


----------



## Phil Istine (Mar 19, 2019)

moderan said:


> A professional solution would be to finish the thing and then see where you went wrong and how to correct it. Another would be to throw it away and start a new thing. Sometimes stuff just doesn't get finished. Either way. Shit or get off the pot.



I'm told those ones that play a tune when you go are pretty neat.


----------



## moderan (Mar 19, 2019)

You could also use a flute as a suppository. Same story, different dance


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 19, 2019)

moderan said:


> A professional solution would be to finish the thing and then see where you went wrong and how to correct it. Another would be to throw it away and start a new thing. Sometimes stuff just doesn't get finished. Either way. Shit or get off the pot.




Exactly, I wouldn't have put it so bluntly but that gets to the point. You can say 'set it aside' for only so long, there can come a point when it's time to get it done. Three years is definitely too long of 'setting it aside' 'letting it cool'.


----------

