Avoiding...Your WIP

I have a confession to make...

I haven't worked on, edited, looked at, or even opened my latest WIP (work in progress) story in over a month.

Now, for some of you, that may seem like no big deal, as if no progress on something that is a side interest and something that generates almost zero income for a month is nothing to worry about. But, to a writer, that's almost unimaginable. 

I've been working on this particular story for years. I jumped right in--as I usually do--when I first came up with the concept. I wrote about 20k words and then I got stuck. That happens a lot with me. Last year, I blew the electronic dust off the story and jumped in again. I added a new storyline to run concurrent with the existing one and got another 10k words. I even did something I almost never do--I outlined where I wanted the story to go.

A few months ago I added another 10k words, and then...

Nothing.

I know it's been more than a month because I haven't even implemented the notes from my writing group for early May. 

I remember when I got stuck writing my middle-grade novel that came out in 2018. I was working to complete the 50k word in one month and there were a couple of times when I just wrote and wrote--all to keep writing. I wrote stuff that didn't make sense. I wrote things that I had not researched or knew they'd be in the story. But I kept at it. On my current WIP, I've been doing that for the past 15k words. The problem is, it's not working out the way it did before, and I think I expected it to do that, to come together the way my novel did.

And since it's not...it's just sitting there, being avoided.

I know me. I know how I write. I know that there'll be something that kicks me in the butt and gets the gears moving again. The problem is, I don't know when that'll be. I still like the story and think it has legs, so much so, one of the reasons I've been avoiding it is because it's not reaching its potential, the potential I believe it has.

Theoretically, I can get it finished in a few weeks time, that is, if I do attack it. If so, I would be one happy writer. But, for now, it's not going anywhere, as long as I continue to avoid it. Looks like it's time to get to work.

Writing Without An Outline...And Hitting A Lull

There are as many theories of how to write a novel as there are writers. Maybe even more, since many people who have never written a novel have opinions on how novels should be written. From a macro view of suggested ways to write a novel, there are two main camps and they go by the names of Plotter, or Pantser.

There's even books written on the pros and cons of each style. They have their strengths and their weaknesses. If I had to choose a side to describe my style, I'd have to go with Pantser, or "writing by the seat of your pants" over Plotter, or one who outlines the story before they write the actual story.

Personally, I like just running with a story and seeing where it takes me. The problem is, I run out of steam, sometimes at 5000 works, sometimes at 20,000. The story I'm currently writing has over 33,000 words. That may sound like a lot of words (and, to be honest, it is a lot of words...), but depending on the genre, that could be halfway, or just a scratch. For my story, it's about a third of what it needs to be.

I've had this story in my mind for years. I'm excited because I've gotten farther in the story than ever before (I've re-written the beginning several times...). I'm pleased with the progress and I do like the characters. I can see several novels coming from this universe. Of course, I've got to finish this one first.

One reason I don't do a lot of plotting is because my mind thinks it's unproductive, even though that's not true. I could spend weeks writing several hundred words of outline. If I were writing the story, I could write tens of thousands of words in that same time. But, then I hit walls where I'm not sure where I want it to go. And thus, I hit a lull.

I think I'm going to have to do some serious outlining on this story so I can finish it. If I can pull it off, I could write the remaining 60,000 words relatively quickly. So, maybe plotting isn't for me, nor is pantsing, but a combination of both. I wonder if anyone's written books about that...