I was not waving but flailing

[stillsostrange]

I dislike flailing. To me flailing means drowning, dancing poorly, or generally not knowing what I'm doing.

I tried free-writing, but got lost. I try to outline, but can't see far enough ahead to make one. I have plot threads, but the shape keeps eluding me. I keep digging and digging but I'm not finding a dragon or a dinousaur or even the Strawberry Shortcake dolls I buried in my yard in fourth grade. I may be lost.

This book is getting on my nerves. Three months of drips and spatters and I have 15k, half of which isn't in order. My writerly self-esteem is being used to line the suck monkey cage right now.

The year's half over and I have two novels fizzling at 15k to show for it. Part of me wants to revise Dreams 'cause, hey, I know I can finish that, right? Right...?

Blah. This makes me a saaad panda.

Comments

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

We could sooo start a club or something. The Order of the Orderless? Writers Against Chronology?

[afterglowey.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you need a breakthrough. One of those moments of clarity, when you suddenly *get it* and know what's wrong, or you know what it needs. Yes, a one of those. Unfortunately I'm not sure how exactly you can order a one of those up.

When I flounder I think up brand new characters for brand new stories. Nope, doesn't help.

Maybe you could try taking your characters, and putting them into past scenarios, like write a short story about something different but featuring the same people? I did that with Alice (man, so need to get a title for that) and found out some interesting stuff about her.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I dunno, dude. I dunno.

*but hugs*

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

*snug*

Perhaps you could write some short stories while you wait for the novel to generate?

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

...might still need to cook. Put it away a while, work on some other stuff? It'll come to you at three in the morning six months from now with an entire plot structure. I almost guarantee it.

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you should go and polish up Dreams and give the other two a bit of time to work out what they want to do. But still, two novels fizzling and 15k is far more than most literate people who want to write will have written :)