Writers Block Battering Ram discussion
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How to break out of research mode and write the dang story?
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message 1:
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Christina
(last edited May 16, 2009 08:26AM)
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May 16, 2009 08:25AM
Hello Battering Ram folk - I need help breaking out of research mode. I wrote what others have said to be a really good first chapter (for which I did a lot of research). However, now, as an example, my character must leave on a ship from where she was born(it's the late 1700's) to go to another part of Europe . For months now I have been researching ship types, construction, ports, sailing, sailors, sailor speech and songs, and on and on. The trouble is, I can't get on with writing Chapter 2 where she sets sail. The voyage is not even a key part of the story - I just need to get her to the other place. But every time I start to write, I think of something I wish I knew and start researching again. How have you finally said "enough!" to research and gotten back to writing and avoided getting back into the research mode again on the same topics. And, is this a subconscious delay tactic or what?
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Hm. I'd just say start doing it. You need to push yourself. If you usually use the internet for reserching, disable your wifi for a few hours. Or go to a park with a notebook and your notes and start writing by hand. If you don't know something you NEED to know, maybe put a sticky note- just keep writing! and make sure you have a strong outline so you arn't stuck thinking 'what shoud I do now?'
I like the idea of going somewhere else to write where there is no internet connection. One of my most productive days was when I was stuck in a car for 14 hours with someone else driving. Of course, I am not saying I've never tried to jot down a scene while *I* was driving...
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I see it now - the news story goes like this:Ms. Jones was hospitalized after she veered off the road for an unknown reason. Papers and pens were found scattered about the interior of the vehicle. When first hospitalized, she worked on the novel intensely, but unfortunately, her condition deteriorated and she passed away before the last chapter was complete. Her son keeps her unfinished novel in a box in the basement with other pictures and keepsakes. He said he sometimes wonders how the story was supposed to end.
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Marisol had a good idea in message 3. I do the same thing a lot. I'll research what I need to get started, and then I begin writing. I worry about facts when I've got a few chapters done. i'll go through and tag spots that I know I need to look into a little more. I usually only write what I know, research hasn't been a huge part of my writing but I have had to do some for each book though.
One I'm currently working on is set in the bayou, and it includes voodoo and stuff like that.I know very little about that stuff, and I also had to refresh my basic french so that I could make the cajun dialect believable. Much of it is a mixture of english, french, and creole. Once I read a little french and then a little creole, it was easy to understand how they flipped back and forth.
now I just need to go through what I've written and put it in.
The secret I guess is not to get so bogged down with research and "facts" that you forget your story. Write a bit, read a bit, and so on.
Oh and try not to drive while doing either.
On the bayou... Oooh I like the setting Renee. A while ago, I started a ms about a noble french girl coming to New France. I researched it online Bibliothèque nationale de France for about five years. After six years, I got so bogged down and sick of the story, I dropped it and started my YA story.
The change of genre did it for me. Some research, jumped in the story.
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I have a 16-yr old. Yikes! She and her friends read my work (I bribe them). I have to get this story written before band season 2X a day practice.
Christina wrote: "Hello Battering Ram folk - I need help breaking out of research mode. I wrote what others have said to be a really good first chapter (for which I did a lot of research). However, now, as an exampl..."maybe you could tell yourself not to use the internet until you get on writing the second chapter. use paper if you have to.
Mod
I tend to do a lot of research, outlining and so on before I write anything. I have a one sentence log line, a one page synopsis, a ten page outline, the title, the back cover blurb, the character bios, the geography, maps, timelines, climate, exobiology of alien cratures (if applicable), stores of mythology (also if applicable) and all the scenes or chapters done on index cards. When nothing new and exciting has occurred to me as I think about the story, dream about it, mutter to myself about it, then the time has come.I write it.
New things will come to me as I write, and afterwards. Readers and critiquers will come up with holes in the plot that are obvious in hindsight. OK, that's what the second draft is for. All those things can be fixed.
It's important to note - I do the research for the wholebook or script before I start writing anything. Each hour I spend on the research increases that nagging desire to get on and write the thing.
There is a point at which the desire to write the book overwhelms the desire or need to do further research or elaborate the plot further, or build a bigger and better character bio.
In short, Christina, do the research until you can't bear not to write anymore. Then write, and don't stop, don't divert, don't start other projects, till you've finished the first draft.
