IWSG: Ideas for When You're Stuck 2 - WIP

In last month's IWSG post, I gave some ideas for what I do when I'm stuck writing a blog post. Today I'd like to share my tips for what to do when you're stuck in your work in progress, your WIP. (Which makes me feel like a real writer when I say “WIP”, cuz, like, I know the lingo and all. I'm in the club!)

Maybe I'm not the best person to take advice from, considering I've been writing my first draft of my first novel for three years. What you need to understand though, is that I've really only been writing it about four months, if you count the actual time I've put into it.

I did a NaNoWriMo in secret. Got a lot done. That encouraged me, so the next February I did BuNoWriMo, which stands for Burrow...and you know the rest of the acronym. You can find them on facebook and I highly recommend you do because talk about a supportive environment! Got a lot done. Actually declared myself a participant and joined the banter. Same the following year. Then if I count the scraps of time I've invested that wasn't during a big, supportive push like that, and that's my four months. I'm at about 35k.

Just sayin', so you don't think that I think I'm an expert.

My novel is a sci-fi/thriller (which IWSG helped me realize when I was having genre-confusion – thanks wonderful folks!) and this rough draft is set in two separate time lines. I'm not quite sure how that's going to work out...but that's for the revising part. However, it leads to my first tip.

If you're stuck on a certain section, go write on another one. If the present is plaguing me, I go write a scene from the “back in time” part. If you're a plotter, you know what's going to happen, pick something you're in the mood for and write that instead of where you were stuck. Just because you're methodical, organized, and all those things I'm not, as a pantser (see, I really am in the club!) doesn't mean you have to write it in order. Movies aren't shot in order. (Now that's a club I'd like to join – screen writing...)

Go back and re-read what you've written. Maybe not from the beginning, but read a section. Bask in the wonder that is your writing. It's like finding a piece of your wardrobe in the bottom of a drawer and saying, “Oh yeah, I loved this shirt! Great shirt!” Instead you're saying, “Oh, yeah, that IS good. This is going to be a a good book. I remember that part more clearly now.” 

I get inspired when I do that. This might not work for you if you work more, um, consistently on your WIP than I do, since you probably remember all that you've written, but giving yourself a little pat on the back never hurts. Just don't edit what you're reading. (Not that I have that problem or anything...just, ahem, a warning...)

Write a scene that's key to the book. It will make you feel like you've really accomplished something. Yes, plotters, it might not be where you are, but you already know where it goes. Me? I have a vague idea what scenes might be needed to get where I think I'm going, so I go for something that might be useful later on. At least I'm writing!

Regardless of what kind of writer you are, you just have to keep writing. It's that discipline thing I talked about last month. JUST DO IT. Good luck!

~Tina

Alex “Ninja Captain” Cavanaugh  is our leader for this wonderful, supportive group. Don't forget we even have our own website now.  Be sure to check it out if you haven't already, and "like" our facebook page, too. I'm so impressed with what these talented folks are doing to promote this group! Encouragement month long is now just a click away! 

Thanks, Ms. Ruddle

I'm a writer today because of one extraordinary teacher: Ms. Marilee Ruddle. Yes, that's her real name and I hope she googles herself and reads this.

Ms. Ruddle had a reputation for being ridiculously tough. She famously didn't give A's. Overachievers like me with a 4.0 GPA got their parents to get them a different teacher for English 11. I was not so lucky. I got Ms. Ruddle. Ha! Turns out I was the lucky one after all.

Prior to my junior year, I'd always been praised for my writing, getting good grades, winning contests, feeling confident and pleased with myself. That was soon to change. I got my first essay back with a C+/C-. Top grade for mechanics, bottom grade for content. I was stunned to say the least. Angry. Treated unfairly. And for the first time, my work had turned all red. What was happening?

“This paper is all fluff and no content. You've made careless grammatical errors. I expect so much more from you.” Talk about developing insecurities. Who was wrong here? All my other teachers? Ms. Ruddle? Or was it me? I labored over the re-write of that essay. Got it to a B-/C+. Damn. This was going to be a long year.

As it turned out though, it was a fun year. We memorized poetry and recited it for a grade, during private appointments with her. THAT I got an A on. “You put such emotion into your recitation, and not only did you know them all, you seemed to enjoy yourself.” Now we're talking!

We sat in a circle and listened to an old, scratchy piece of vinyl that spun in circles before us.  It was Dylan Thomas himself, reading “Fern Hill”. 

We learned of art, it's various styles, and memorized the name of the painting, the name of the artist, and the years the artist lived. Again, we had private appointments and she held up a print, and we would say, “American Gothic, Grant Wood, 1891-1942.” (I only had to look up the years. Show me those 25 paintings today and I'd probably get a respectable B, if I don't have to recite the years. Everything else stuck. I can still recite the poems, too. Would you like to hear The Road Less Traveled or Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening?)

Fourth quarter we spent on a research paper, learning the entire process step by step. I worked my butt off on this. I remember lying in my bikini, all oiled up (we all had to be tan back then...) in my yard, books spread about me, and making index cards. I lamented the amount of work, but I persevered. I was jealous of those not in her class who had free afternoons.

I hardly dared look as she passed them back to us. I almost fainted when I saw the grade: A-/A. Unbelievable. As I paged through the ten, painstakingly typed pages, I came across one with only one line of red. It read, “This page flows quite nicely.”

I was a writer. I may not have gotten an A on my report card, but I got an A on a paper. The most important paper of the year. Ms. Ruddle liked it! I had my confidence, and I WAS a better writer thanks to her relentless pushing.

What inspired you to start writing? Maybe thinking back, and putting it on paper will give you a confidence boost. It worked for me. Thanks, Jeremy, for prompting me.

*****

The Insecure Writer's Support Group, brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh, posts first Wednesday of the month. You can join us. There's a tab at his blog.