Since finishing the third and final version of Second Star to the Right, I've been excitedly working on my Alice in Wonderland continuation, King of Hearts. Badger, the MC, has been a character in my head for a long time. His story with Alice's has been a story I've day-dreamed about and thought about and waited for the right time to write about.
The story just didn't click or sit well with me until the end of December when I just sat down to write and the first chapter of Badger's story flowed out of my finger tips with ease. He's one of my favorite characters I've come up with and written. He's damaged and complex and introverted but also dangerous. I've loved writing his story but once I left the beginning behind and passed the threshold into act 2, things started to slow down. For me that usually always happens. I love writing beginnings, their my favorite. Middles however, are the hardest and I feel like that happens to a lot of writers. We lose steam around the time we pass through the act 2 door near the middle of the story where the Big Middle Scene is. But for the most part I usually always take a beat, recenter myself and the story and then keep going. Most of the time I end up plotting out the next few things I want to happen and then usually the story falls in line.
That did not happen with King of Hearts. I got to the middle and everything just sort of fell apart. Badger speaks to me loud and clear but his story... not so much. Him and Alice have a very complex story. The kind I've never written before. It's heavily character driven and him and Alice share the spotlight equally. Both of them are important to the story and both of them have their own motives and drives and goals. But though I know my characters super well, the story just isn't working. Badger and Alice aren't cluing me in as to what to write next and yesterday was kind of the tipping point. I was tired in general and frustrated with the story. I'm nearly at 50,000 words and after attempting to completely redo the story I realized that I like the plot I have. The bare bones of the plot. I just don't know what to do next. Usually I have an idea, a vague inkling as to how the story will end. With this story? Everything goes blank and foggy when I look past the the Big Middle Scene (which I also had a very vague idea of what I wanted to do with). The story just wasn't working. The characters weren't talking.
When I start a story, I almost always finish it. As a beginning writer (like most beginners I think), I couldn't finish a story. I got to the middle and the idea sputtered out and died. I would give up and move on to my next idea hoping, praying that this one would stick around. It almost never did.
But as I grew as a writer, as most writers do, you start to hear over and over again to stick with the story. Put your foot down and fight through the middle even if you're blocked or aren't feeling it. Finish the first draft because first drafts are supposed to be messy and are fixable. I heard it so many times that it finally stuck in my head. I've finished tons of stories since then and haven't given up on a book in a long time. Actually, giving up is a bad word to use. A better way to say it is, set the story aside for a little while. I haven't done that in a while and didn't think I would ever have to do that again.
Like I said, as writers we hear over and over again to not give up on the story. To do whatever you have to to finish it. But... what if the story is just frustrating you to the point of wanting to throw your laptop out a window? (Fun fact: In middle school my science teacher told us the name for that: defenestration which literally means to throw something or someone out a window). What if the pieces of the story just aren't fitting together no matter how many times you brainstorm? It's kind of hard to write something (for me anyways) if I don't know where I'm going or if the characters won't cooperate. At. All. I've spent so much time pushing my way through the first draft and revising process that I just want to give myself a break. I spent two years on Project Hellion. Pushing through the times when the story didn't fit, pretty much rewriting it from scratch and then still writing and revising it even when the characters wouldn't talk and even when I didn't feel like it. Because I was determined. Passionate about the story. I even did that with Second Star. I wrote that book three times in the last four months! But you know why I've stuck with it? Because I'm determined and passionate about it.
What's the point of writing and working on something if you aren't passionate about it? If it brings you no joy and if you lose all sense of determination at finishing it? Maybe it's just not the story's time. Maybe I haven't matured enough as a writer and in my craft yet to properly tell Badger and Alice's story.
Yesterday I read a few blog posts and articles about how to know when to "give up" on your story. They had a few good points but I want to add a few of my own, so here's a list (because lists are the best) of when it's OK to set your story aside for another time:
When you feel no passion or determination to work on it. I already covered this point, but this is important. If it brings you no joy and you're not feeling the inspiration or excitement then its OK to take a break from it. This is a very specific kind of feeling no joy though. I'm not saying if you're having writer's block or burn out or if you're just feeling unmotivated and blah on certain days to throw your hands up and X out of the document. There have been lots of days when I didn't want to work on my story but I did even when I was blocked or unmotivated because deep down there was a determination and need to finish it.
That leads to my next point. In all the articles I read the big thing was to follow your gut feeling. As a writer you have an instinct for lack of a better word, to tell you when a story is going to work and when its not. Take a beat and find that instinct, that gut feeling in yourself. If it's telling you to take a break and step away, that the story isn't ready yet then fine, give it a break, but if you think you can figure it out and it's worth your time and effort then get to work.
Which, again, leads me to yet another point (kind of). For me, writing stories has to be organic. It can't be forced. There are some days where I force myself to sit down and write the words, but I'm talking about the heart of the story, the plot, the characters. Those can't be forced. Sometimes a story isn't ready to be put on a page yet. Some stories are still premature. They're still forming in your mind, still collecting all the right puzzle pieces to make a good story. Sometimes the story just needs to stay in your head a little longer before their ready to be put on the page. I think I started writing Badger's story out of desperation. Out of a lack of other ideas. I wanted something to throw myself into and work on so I dove into King of Hearts when I think the story was still premature and not ready to be put on the page. Again it comes down to your gut feeling, your instinct of whether you feel your story is ready or not yet.
The same can go for you as a writer. There are some stories that can't be written yet, that you can't do justice yet because you haven't matured enough in your craft yet. I couldn't have written Project Hellion or Golden at any other time in my life than I did. That may not make complete sense but like, I couldn't have written either of those books at 16 or 17 years old. I wasn't mature enough in my craft yet. I needed those few extra years of practicing and writing before I had the tools to write them. I think maybe I don't have the right tools or experience yet to give Badger's story proper justice and make it the best it can be. I need to practice a little more before I get to the level that I want Badger's story to be on. And that's Ok.
I'm not giving up on King of Hearts. Consciously and even subconsciously I'm going to be mulling over the story and figuring out what worked and what didn't and how I can work through my blocks, but to do that I think I need to step back from it and give myself patience and space to do that. So, though it pains me a little bit, I'm going to set it aside and work on something else. Because Badger's story deserves the best writer I can be and right now, I just don't know if I can be that writer yet.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on taking a break from your WIP. If your feeling the same way or are struggling with a certain WIP then I hope this post helped you make up your mind on whether to take a break or keep going. One way or the other, you're still a writer and even if you choose to take a break from your WIP doesn't make you any less of a writer than you are. It just means your listening to your gut and your story and yourself.
That did not happen with King of Hearts. I got to the middle and everything just sort of fell apart. Badger speaks to me loud and clear but his story... not so much. Him and Alice have a very complex story. The kind I've never written before. It's heavily character driven and him and Alice share the spotlight equally. Both of them are important to the story and both of them have their own motives and drives and goals. But though I know my characters super well, the story just isn't working. Badger and Alice aren't cluing me in as to what to write next and yesterday was kind of the tipping point. I was tired in general and frustrated with the story. I'm nearly at 50,000 words and after attempting to completely redo the story I realized that I like the plot I have. The bare bones of the plot. I just don't know what to do next. Usually I have an idea, a vague inkling as to how the story will end. With this story? Everything goes blank and foggy when I look past the the Big Middle Scene (which I also had a very vague idea of what I wanted to do with). The story just wasn't working. The characters weren't talking.
When I start a story, I almost always finish it. As a beginning writer (like most beginners I think), I couldn't finish a story. I got to the middle and the idea sputtered out and died. I would give up and move on to my next idea hoping, praying that this one would stick around. It almost never did.
But as I grew as a writer, as most writers do, you start to hear over and over again to stick with the story. Put your foot down and fight through the middle even if you're blocked or aren't feeling it. Finish the first draft because first drafts are supposed to be messy and are fixable. I heard it so many times that it finally stuck in my head. I've finished tons of stories since then and haven't given up on a book in a long time. Actually, giving up is a bad word to use. A better way to say it is, set the story aside for a little while. I haven't done that in a while and didn't think I would ever have to do that again.
Like I said, as writers we hear over and over again to not give up on the story. To do whatever you have to to finish it. But... what if the story is just frustrating you to the point of wanting to throw your laptop out a window? (Fun fact: In middle school my science teacher told us the name for that: defenestration which literally means to throw something or someone out a window). What if the pieces of the story just aren't fitting together no matter how many times you brainstorm? It's kind of hard to write something (for me anyways) if I don't know where I'm going or if the characters won't cooperate. At. All. I've spent so much time pushing my way through the first draft and revising process that I just want to give myself a break. I spent two years on Project Hellion. Pushing through the times when the story didn't fit, pretty much rewriting it from scratch and then still writing and revising it even when the characters wouldn't talk and even when I didn't feel like it. Because I was determined. Passionate about the story. I even did that with Second Star. I wrote that book three times in the last four months! But you know why I've stuck with it? Because I'm determined and passionate about it.
What's the point of writing and working on something if you aren't passionate about it? If it brings you no joy and if you lose all sense of determination at finishing it? Maybe it's just not the story's time. Maybe I haven't matured enough as a writer and in my craft yet to properly tell Badger and Alice's story.
Yesterday I read a few blog posts and articles about how to know when to "give up" on your story. They had a few good points but I want to add a few of my own, so here's a list (because lists are the best) of when it's OK to set your story aside for another time:
When you feel no passion or determination to work on it. I already covered this point, but this is important. If it brings you no joy and you're not feeling the inspiration or excitement then its OK to take a break from it. This is a very specific kind of feeling no joy though. I'm not saying if you're having writer's block or burn out or if you're just feeling unmotivated and blah on certain days to throw your hands up and X out of the document. There have been lots of days when I didn't want to work on my story but I did even when I was blocked or unmotivated because deep down there was a determination and need to finish it.
That leads to my next point. In all the articles I read the big thing was to follow your gut feeling. As a writer you have an instinct for lack of a better word, to tell you when a story is going to work and when its not. Take a beat and find that instinct, that gut feeling in yourself. If it's telling you to take a break and step away, that the story isn't ready yet then fine, give it a break, but if you think you can figure it out and it's worth your time and effort then get to work.
Which, again, leads me to yet another point (kind of). For me, writing stories has to be organic. It can't be forced. There are some days where I force myself to sit down and write the words, but I'm talking about the heart of the story, the plot, the characters. Those can't be forced. Sometimes a story isn't ready to be put on a page yet. Some stories are still premature. They're still forming in your mind, still collecting all the right puzzle pieces to make a good story. Sometimes the story just needs to stay in your head a little longer before their ready to be put on the page. I think I started writing Badger's story out of desperation. Out of a lack of other ideas. I wanted something to throw myself into and work on so I dove into King of Hearts when I think the story was still premature and not ready to be put on the page. Again it comes down to your gut feeling, your instinct of whether you feel your story is ready or not yet.
The same can go for you as a writer. There are some stories that can't be written yet, that you can't do justice yet because you haven't matured enough in your craft yet. I couldn't have written Project Hellion or Golden at any other time in my life than I did. That may not make complete sense but like, I couldn't have written either of those books at 16 or 17 years old. I wasn't mature enough in my craft yet. I needed those few extra years of practicing and writing before I had the tools to write them. I think maybe I don't have the right tools or experience yet to give Badger's story proper justice and make it the best it can be. I need to practice a little more before I get to the level that I want Badger's story to be on. And that's Ok.
I'm not giving up on King of Hearts. Consciously and even subconsciously I'm going to be mulling over the story and figuring out what worked and what didn't and how I can work through my blocks, but to do that I think I need to step back from it and give myself patience and space to do that. So, though it pains me a little bit, I'm going to set it aside and work on something else. Because Badger's story deserves the best writer I can be and right now, I just don't know if I can be that writer yet.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on taking a break from your WIP. If your feeling the same way or are struggling with a certain WIP then I hope this post helped you make up your mind on whether to take a break or keep going. One way or the other, you're still a writer and even if you choose to take a break from your WIP doesn't make you any less of a writer than you are. It just means your listening to your gut and your story and yourself.
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