Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Inspration Lost

This is topic Inspration Lost in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Alye (Member # 5017) on :

Well I lost my inspiration. This makes me sad, as I feel that I may never finish my current story. Its not writers block, I can sit down and force the words on to the page. There is a clear brake form my inspired writing to the forced work though.

So I think I will scrap the 20k words of forced plot, and get back to where it all went wrong.

That’s easy as highlight, cut, open, new, paste, sever an arm, save and close, and then save original.

Done.

Now the hard part, getting back the inspiration, this is where I need your help.

Anyone know of some good modern Dark/Goth fantasies, modern faerie tales, and/or satire fantasy (other than Peirs Anthony and Terry Pratchett – I’ve read all their stuff)?

Posted by Balthasar (Member # 5399) on :

No, but I can recommend this piece of advice from Stephen King:

quote:
I had written three other novels before CARRIE -- RAGE, THE LONG WALK, and THE RUNNING MAN were later published. RAGE is the most troubling of them. THE LONG WALK may be the best of them. But none of them taught me the things I learned from Carrie White. The most important is that the writer's original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader's. Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position

Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :

That's a great quote, Balthasar.

Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :

From a great book, Jeanne.

Alye, just keep plugging away - I always find the mid-point of a novel to be some of the most gruesom writing to do. The beginning is easy, and the ending is fun, but the middle? Blech.

Just keep shovelling that shit, it'll get better.

jayson Merryfield

Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :

I love that quote. It encapsulates how I feel after 10,000 words. For me the feeling only intensifies until I stop. The furthest I got was 40,000.

Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :

On Writing by Stephen King in case someone doesn't recognize it. It's some of the best advise around.

Skadder, you just have to keep forcing yourself. I'm working on two novels. I'm at the 50,000 word mark on one. I have to force EVERY single word and at the moment every word seems like dreck. But I WILL slog through the remaining 50,000 words.

[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited December 06, 2007).]