Struggling Writers discussion
Stuck on Your Writing?
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Starting a sequel, but writer's block has attacked!
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Are you trying to write your sequel from the beginning? Starting at page 1?
No, but if you have different advice for either situation, do give both!
Hey Emma! I am going to change the name of your thread so it is more specific and move it to a folder that it is better suited to. As for your issue, have you tried writing it from a major point? Do you have a specific scene that you know you want to happen? I actually know someone from NaNo who wrote their novel backward. They started at the end and then wrote to the beginning. So maybe try a different starting point than you would normally use.
(sorry couldn't come up with a name...)That's an interesting idea - I'll try that! Thank you!
(sorry couldn't come up with a name...)That's an interesting idea - I'll try that! Thank you!
It's okay, hope you like the one I've tossed up there for now. If we let everyone just use "help!" as their title we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the threads!You're welcome, best of luck!
I didn't consider it writer's block because I'm still writing - but it works anyway :D
Emma wrote: "I didn't consider it writer's block because I'm still writing - but it works anyway :D"It's very specific writer's block, and I was considering saying "has attacked it" but that seemed a little too dramatic.
Irene's advice is good. An approach I use - there's always some pivotal event or events that exist in the vision of a story. Focus on writing one of those. For me, it's usually a dialog sequence between two major characters.
I wrote a scene a while back now that probably won't happen for another 80k, but I wrote it because I was stuck on the section I was currently in and my brain was like "I want to write this part!".
I Did that and ended up writing 4-chapters of a book I hadn't even been considering.
Nice. Yeah, I try not to write outside of my current piece because things like that happen, but I will skip ahead.
Sorry Emma, sorta stole thread. Good luck.
Hi EmmaI can totally relate!!
I've written the full plot line to three other stories as well as a short novella, rather than finish the sequel to my "old enough to love you" series.
I guess I'm scared that the second book won't live up to the expectations set by the first book and I don't want to disappoint my readers.
I do find a little self motivation and positive talk helpful.
If I wake up feeling like I'm going to make progress on my sequel today then I usually do. Plus I try not to beat myself up over writing something else, since eventually the goal is to write as much as I can.
Most days I wish I had a personal assistant who would just read what I had written so far and tell me if it was good enough to keep going or if I should change direction.
I don't know if any of this helped - other than to let you know there is at least on other writer sharing your dilemma.
Good luck!!
Julie
It's not that I don't write.... I write a lot. It's just not what I want to be writing. It usually involves historical figures put in modern situations (or situations that aren't from their time) and how they react. Once Mary Stuart and William Shakespeare went to an opera called "Maria Stuarda", and Shakespeare's getting ready to leave but Mary Stuart is screaming about how much worse everything was in real life
Another time Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici were both in NYC for completely different reasons, but they ran into each other and get lost in the Metropolitan Museum of Art...
Sigh. The strangest things come to mind when I'm writing.
Wow! Sounds like you have a great imagination. Something to cherish. I can't say I have the same problem, but as long as your writing, I think eventually you'll find something you can use in your sequel. It will probably come to you when you least expect it. That's my experience anyway.
Good luck.
Write the prologue, or the end chapter or just put it to one side and go and do something else, reading is good, embroidery too. Anything that takes your mind off the source of the block. It's what I do when I have a problem, I don't bang my head against the proverbial brick wall,because all that gets you is a proverbial headache!
(I once did that in my Italian class... but not because of writer's block - because they wouldn't shut up!)
I had a similar problem writing my sequel to my first book, Nearly done it now but I couldn't get going until I just wrote a scene from the middle of the story. I liked that scene and almost put it in the first book. Then I wrote other stuff for nearly a year. Over Christmas I opened the scene and there was the plot in my head.Had to change the scene but the trigger was there
I did that once :D I had this great scene with tension and drama and such, but then I started editing and said, "No, this isn't right."
Maybe I don't have the right inspiration, because everything else I write is inspired by something.
What should I do?!