Does anyone else go through the mid-book slump? This is actually the first time I'm experiencing this particular problem. I'm 40,000 words in. I know exactly where my WIP is going. I know what's going to happen next. I'm not having problems with plotting. I know how the story ends. But for some reason, I've lost that manic enthusiasm I had in the beginning. I wonder why. I feel like I'm dragging and therefore it feels like the story is dragging. Not good.
So how do you get that enthusiasm back? What do you do?
I know some people just put the story aside, even for a little bit, and work on something else. I'm way too neurotic to do that. I have to finish this. But how can I get excited again? Because I feel like when I'm not fired up, it reflects in my writing. I don't like that. I need it back. I need my writing mojo back.
Any suggestions?
Hitting a writers conference this weekend got me totally pumped up and out of my slump. I also use sour patch kids. (I'm particularly fond of the watermelon ones right now.) For some reason they get my brain working. Must be the sugar high.
ReplyDeleteI think the middle is around the time when a book starts feeling less like fun and more like work. And sometimes they ARE work. I pretty much get through that stage by setting time aside every day and making myself write. I know it's in my personality that if I don't make myself do it, it won't get done.
ReplyDeleteI've heard other people write a different scene in the story to get some of the rush back, so maybe you could try writing a later scene? Personally, I don't do that because I like to "save" the fun scenes to reward myself with when I get the "work" part done.
I feel it a bit, but I do my best to power through to middle to the end. I hate leaving things unfinished, so the slump doesn't last long. Thank heavens!
ReplyDeleteDo something that inspires you. Read a good book, watch a good movie, or browse some sites. It will click again. My slump usually comes just before the big final climatic scene in the story. I think it's because I don't want the story to be over!
ReplyDeleteI go through slumps all the time, and when it happens I know that I'm producing really bad writing, but in the end it doesn't matter. That's what first drafts are for! I find that I just need to carry on and make it to the end, and then I can go back and make it all sound pretty. But for me it's about getting the words on the page first.
ReplyDeleteBird by Bird. If your urge is to 'get this finished' you need to slow down and just focus scene by scene.
ReplyDeleteDo you write in order or do you allow yourself to skip around? Like someone else mentioned above, if I feel the slump I allow myself to write/sketch out a part I really like. Sometimes this is enough.
ReplyDeleteOther times I find its because I'm missing something important about my character's personality that is slowing progress. When this happens I stop writing and really mull things over. Is this really where I want to go? Would my character do something else? Why? And so on until I get excited again.
Good luck!
The slump is so tough! I've heard exercise helps, actually. Gets your energy up, your brain gets a little bit of a break, you feel rejuvenated, etc. And then I seclude myself (as much as possible, anyway), get my favorite munchies (for me it's plain ol' chocolate chips, yum), and crank up my favorite tunes. I also have a prompt book that has a different prompt for each day of the week. And even if I don't feel like writing, I force myself to just freewrite on that day's prompt, and somehow it almost always ends up turning toward my WIP.
ReplyDeleteBtw, today's prompt is: Write about a time someone lost control.
Wow- thanks for all the advice and the comments! I'm not in a hurry to get it done, I just can't put it aside. I did write today, getting a thousand words done. I have to do like some of you said and just keep writing, even if it's not my best work. That is what editing is for.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I jump around, but I've been writing this consecutively, mostly because I know almost exactly what's going to happen since it's a retelling.
On my last book, to get through the slump I played online. I searched google images for pictures that reminded me of my characters and their inhuman physical qualities. Pictures that reminded me of the setting, their home, town, the water near where they lived. The car they drove, stuff like that. It brought back the excitement to see their lives as though they're real. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been there with this, and what usually works for me is to skip ahead to a scene I'm really looking forward to writing and just go ahead and write it. I usually end up having to go back and revise it once I've caught up, but it's worth it to regain my enthusiasm and momentum. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThere are a few things I do. First is to re-evaluate what I've written; sometimes I've gotten off course or I'm not developing things right, or there's a plotting problem I've caused through chapters I just wrote but I don't realize it.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing is to skip ahead to the good bits. If I'm looking forward to writing that confrontation scene, then I just ahead and write it. Sometimes that helps me write the parts that lead up to it.
And the third thing that I've just started doing lately is to write journal entries from my characters' points of view about what's happened, what they want to happen, what kinds of things they are planning to do to accomplish their goals. Sometimes that helps me jump start into writing again.