Wednesday, May 18, 2016

T =Tearing My Hair Out

Paula sometimes feels like tearing her hair out.

I’ve recently spent what seems like an inordinate amount of time on a short conversation in my ‘work in progress’. It’s less than 500 words, but I’ve written and re-written those words at least a dozen times until I felt like I was tearing my hair out. Each time, I thought I had got it right i.e. the balance between what the heroine actually said, and what she left out of her explanation. When I looked at it again, I decided there was either too much – or not enough.

Sometimes I can whip through 2 or 3 pages of dialogue with no problem. Other times, like with this conversation, I agonise, and go back and forth with it forever! There’s a ‘fine line’ somewhere, and I’m not sure I have found it yet.

I can recall having similar struggles with some of my other novels, usually with short but highly significant parts of the story. Often it can involve an explanation of something, where you don’t want to give everything away to the readers, but at the same time need to give enough to arouse their interest or curiosity.

Other times, I struggle with how to get my characters from Event A to Event B without saying, ‘Three weeks later…’ or ‘padding’ the story with unnecessary detail about what happened (if anything!) during those three weeks.

I’m sure most readers have no idea of how much we struggle at times to get things right, so that the story flows. It’s only we authors who know we have to paddle like mad through the white water to get to the smooth flowing waters!

What part of writing makes you feel like tearing your hair out?

10 comments:

  1. The first chapter My plot outline looks good but knowing how and where to start stops me dead in my tracks.
    I know it's best to write everything and then trim, but I still panic.

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    1. One writer (can't remember who) suggested writing the whole story - and then deleting the original first chapter - presumably on the basis that many writers start their stories at the wrong place or time.

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  2. First one or two, for me. Can you leave this scene for now and go on? Let the next ones define it better for you?

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    1. That's what I did, Ana, but when I looked back at it, I could see it wasn't right, and tried revising it - several times!

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  3. Er...with all of it? It's good to know that experienced writers have the same problems.

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    1. Anyone who says writing is easy is lying! Carving marble with a plastic knife is the best analogy I've found!

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  4. I don't think there's a particular aspect that makes me want to tear my hair out. Like you, I tend to get 'stuck' at certain places/scenes and it drives me crazy. And there's no rhyme or reason for what will cause a hang up for me.

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    1. It varies for me, too, Debra, but the two examples I've quoted are the my worst ones.

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  5. Anytime I get stuck, I want to tear out my hair. It usually is getting from point A to point B, but not always. That's actually why I work on more than one at a time, so I can switch between them and think about my problem while working on something else.

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    1. I sometimes skip to Point B and then go back to 'fill in' because by that time I usually know what's happened in the meantime. Don't think I could switch to another story, though, as I need to stay focused on my characters.

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