Do you ever get sick of working on your WIP??

[designatedvictim]

"Sick" might be the wrong way to put it, but I experience a kind of ADD as a writer. I'll be 3/4 of the way through a story and my attention gets distracted by a new story idea.

I probably could have picked a better word. Tired of? Something more like that, less disgusted sounding.

Not sick of the story, just annoyed that the one remaining big scene (and, as noted, it is a sex scene - one of several in sequence) isn't getting on the page.

 

[designatedvictim]

I hit the same point in my longer stories, and I've dwelt on it like you are.

One pain point is the editing I know needs to happen, and the sheer amount of work involved. I have a 40k story right now, I was ready to publish a couple weeks ago. I'd done it all, editing, etc. Then I slept on it.

It was good, because ideas came to me about scenes I wasn't satisfied with, that I'd been ignoring. It was bad, because ideas came to me, and I made notes, and I saw I wasn't completely happy. Which leads to the other pain point: when new ideas come to me, the longer the story, the more the changes can impact the rest of it, which leads to more editing, inconsistencies, etc.

It's sooooooo much easier to go work on that other story idea I just came up with while pondering the current one.

I opened a thread a few weeks back about something similar to this on this same WIP.

A back-fill scene hijacking the story line.

I usually don't write linearly. I tend to write big scenes, then go back and fill in the 'connective tissue' between them. I'll usually have the events already in mind, just not on the page.

I went back in this WIP and wrote the scene where the sister convinces the brother to try the nudist thing overnight at an isolated camping area on private land. It was supposed to be a light-hearted, teasing scene to get him to go bare.

After I wrote it and went back to re-read it, it turned out that it came across as a full-on seduction scene based on very few of its lines.

I loved it.

It just didn't fit any of the material I had already written downstream.

It was also followed by the two of them sharing a quiet naked evening relaxing in front of a small bonfire. That part had too much of a tinge of 'two lovers relaxing after the sex'. I liked that, too.

Much as I liked the two scenes, I re-wrote them to be platonic teasing with shared nudity, which fit the overall story.

 

[jpro56]

Get sick of? Absolutely not! Lose my muse and inspiration yes. I am 8 chapters into a fiction story that I haven't touched in 8 months because of writers block and I was really enjoying the story line and the way it was developing. I have written probably 3 other stories since but can't get back on the horse on this one.

 

[dirk2024]

(Currently at 47K words.)

Have you decided how you're going to publish this? And my that I mean, one story or will you break it down into a series of shorter works?

 

[THBGato]

All the time. Sometimes it's because the subject matter is hard and the story goes to places I dread. Other times because I'm frustrated that it is taking so long to get the story out.

I have one where I know everything that will happen but that makes it less fun to write because, well, there are no surprises for me (that's what I think - I'm sure there will be some surprises).

 

[designatedvictim]

Have you decided how you're going to publish this? And my that I mean, one story or will you break it down into a series of shorter works?

In my other thread called Size Matters, I had a nice suggestion of where to break it into three parts.

It could be done that way.

Part 1: arrival, nudists, being trolled to the Dark Side, so to speak.

Part 2: Fourth of July party and lots of sex between the three.

Part 3: Next morning AAR, discussions between the brother and sister, follow-on days to the send off at the airport

This way would be roughly in thirds.

Not sure if the BBQ/night of sex should stand alone. It might be able to. There is a several-day gap before that and the lead-in, giving a natural break point.

Moving the next morning/AAR bits to Part 3 may may make that work semi-reasonably on its own, but it would clearly be a continuation, not a true stand-alone.

Still leaning to One Big Story, though.

 

[designatedvictim]

See that never happens to me. If I'm that close I'm so excited to finish that I'll start obsessing and motoring through.

That can be taken many ways.

 

[LegendInMyOwnMind]

Not ever "sick." if I am, I know the story is not good, and I trash it. But "need a break" does. In that case, I pause for a bit and usually work on a different WIP.

 

[ChloeTzang]

that's the problem. there is no balance.

you write sex. or you don't.

if you force it where it does not belong, it's gonna be hard writing it.

I'v written stories here with no sex at all and they still get those little red hearts - a lot of people here appreciate a good story regardless of whetgher it has sex or not - yiu just make it plain with a comment right up front that there is NO SEX so you dont waste the time of people wh came here for a stroke story. Your audience will appreciate the thoughtfulness and those who continue to read are more likely to enjoy.

I get comments saying some readers skp over the sex in my stories (which is usually hot_ because they enjoy the story and want to keep reading it.... -
So don 't by shy. Yoo CAN do it and it doesn't turn your readeras against you