Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Yo-yo writing

Paula thinks writing is sometimes like riding a yo-yo.

During the last few weeks I’ve been up and down with my current WIP. Riding high when a scene goes well, dropping down when I get stuck on a scene or conversation – and frequently getting hopelessly tied up in the string when the story plot became tangled.

As a child, I used to practise for hours with a yoyo, and became very frustrated when I couldn’t get the thing to wind back up the string after I’d thrown it. I felt the same kind of frustration last week when I couldn’t get the first chapter of my WIP right, even after several attempts. I felt I was dangling helplessly on the end of the string. With 12 chapters of the story already written, I was in a situation that I’d never experienced before i.e. not knowing the right point at which to actually start the story.

So I put the yo-yo away for a couple of days while I thought about it. However, the more I thought, the more tangled the string became, so in the end I metaphorically cut the string, threaded a new length of string onto the yo-yo, and started my first chapter yet again.

Success! So far I’ve managed to keep the yo-yo spinning – until the next time it gets stuck again!

6 comments:

  1. I'm that way when I reread my manuscript--I either love or hate what I've written and go back and forth many times. All part of writing, I believe!

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    1. I don't mind it so much once I've completed the first draft, but I get frustrated when I can't make the first draft work!

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  2. Terrific analogy. Unfortunately, I seem to find myself on the dangling end far too often.

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    1. Same here, Debra. Last week I kept swinging one way and then the other, and getting nowhere for what seemed like ages!

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  3. I just proofed my WIP's first chapters to enter a contest. I discovered I had a consistent and genre-appropriate voice. I labor over chapters individually. To see the first five hang together was thrilling.
    So the yo-yo can rise back up the string!

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    1. Great news that your yo-yo is rising high! I'm intrigued about your comment about your voice though - I don't have a clue what mine is, let alone whether it is consistent or genre-appropriate!

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