Nah, I don't like the pain.
.Just curious if anybody else here feels the same way I do after writing. I've been writing my novel lately, and after I'm done writing for the day, I feel like I wrestled with a 200 kilo gorilla (mentally). My story seems to fight with me, and I need to kick the hell out of it to make it good.
I'm not saying that I am forcing anything, its just that nothing seems to come easy. Sometimes I slip into the "writers trance" and just write and write for and hour, but most of the time its like, "Put me back in Mick, I can do it! This chapter will not get the best of me!"
However, I've noticed that when I find that I fight with my story, my writing is at its best. My wife is my "reader/editor" (I write fantasy, and she hates fantasy, so if she reads something and likes it, I usually know its decent) and she always likes the sections that were the hardest for me to get the way I wanted them.
Anybody else fighting with gorialla's while writing?
Ronnie
My two WIP's plus something that I thought I should've started writing to atleast get it down.
"Call of Faya" is just kicking the crap outta me. I'm having to completely rewrite the whole thing.
"Olympus Uprising" is feeling like a heavyweight bout. I'm making dents in it, but it is slowgoing.
I've almost given up on "Monolith's Arrival" and going to go another way and introduce the other characters I have for another story.
That's my gorillas that I'm wrestling.
Anyone else?
[This message has been edited by Monolith (edited November 21, 2005).]
I'm not sure you were talking to me, or the post above you, so please forgive me if I'm out of place.
I think that I'm starting at the right place, but my char's like to fight with me it seems.
Its OK though, I just remember my ma telling me "Nothing worth having is easy." (Where would we be without ma's wisdom?)
Ronnie
. My gorilla hit me in the head today with a 500kg frying pan. Well thats what the migraine felt like, I may of only got about 500 words done but I feel its some of my best work.
Maybe I should get a headache for everytime I write? Nah, I don't like the pain.
PS - When do we get to read some of those brilliant passages that you reserve for your wife?
BTW, I thought this quote was somewhat germane:
quote:
Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired--you quit when the gorilla is tired.
--Robert Strauss
quote:
I have written and rewritten the first chapter of my novel at least 10 times. I am dying to get past it because I'm raring to write the rest of the book if I could just start it!
sojoyful, you don't have to write Chapter One before you write Chapter Two, or even
Chapter Twenty-two.
Write Chapter Whenever if it's the one you are most excited about. And then write Chapter Later-on next, if that's the one you're excited about next.
Once you've written everything you're excited about, you can go back and rewrite them and add whatever you need in between so that they flow smoothly through the whole story.
Instead of wrestling with the Chapter One gorilla, lock it in a cage and go take on the gorilla that has grabbed hold of your brain and is demanding to be written.
My WIP is my gorilla, as well. The last little bit. Seems to be a common one. Well, I just need to suck it up and get to it!
...More easily said then done.
For myself, I also find that I learn things about my character through writing the rest that is important and that I later go and revise into the opening, making it better. Maybe that's just me.
As for my gorilla, it's really sticking with whatever is my work in progress, and not getting distracted by some new story idea. Finishing things that I start writing is my biggest problem as a writer. I've started several novels over the years, but never gotten further than about chapter 12 or so. I'm still working on it.
Heresy
(edited for clarity, blame my cough syrup)
[This message has been edited by Heresy (edited November 23, 2005).]
So thank you rcorporon for sharing that insight and experience here.
Kathleen hit the nail right on the head. Don’t lose your momentum when writing your first draft. Go cover to cover as quickly as you can while remaining comfortable that what’s in your head is making it onto the paper.
sojoyful, you are correct about OSC’s comment in that regard. But he is only talking about the critical flow of the first page or two. Once he feels it coming to life, like a successful birth, he lets the wet cat out of the bag. Maybe that’s what you’re talking about though, that you can’t seem to get the open just right. My recommendation then would be to pick the one you like best and run with it, or maybe select a different starting “place” for the book.
The best thing to do is to trudge through the muck until you come out on the other side. When you look back, you'll get some satisfaction in the effort if nothing else. I know I am.
I just wanted to make sure I wasn't fighitng gorilla's alone.
Ever watch that Simpsons episode where Homer becomes an artist? He is in his backyard, slamming a pile of garbage with a stick and yelling "Be art damn you!"
Most of the time, that is me with my novel. A jumble of words on the ground, and me hitting it with the pencil screaming "Be a chapter damn you!"
As to when you'll get some of my stuff, its hard to say. I do all of my first draft stuff with the pencil and paper, so I don't have any typed versions of my WIP. My ma is coming to Japan this Xmas to see me, and she is bringing me my laptop from Canada, so in the new year I'll type up the first 13 lines or so and plop them down in F&F for you guys to tear up.
I worry about novels in F&F though. Every time I go there I see "there isn't enough info" as if we are supposed to put our entire novel in 13 lines of text. My novel is nice and easy for the first 3 or 4 chapters.
Anywho, thanks for the input!
Edited to add: thanks for the input, folks. I guess I took OSC's comments too much to heart. I'll give the rest of the book it's day in the sun now, and let chapter one sulk in the dark until it's ready to behave.
[This message has been edited by sojoyful (edited November 23, 2005).]
rcorporon, I feel as if I've slightly highjacked your thread. Sorry. 
Just don't expect a Xmas gift now!
Ronnie