|
Your "great American novel" may have started with a bang, but now it's all you can do to drag yourself to the keyboard.
Long writing projects often become difficult as self-doubt, writer's block, and endless everyday distractions begin to pile up and take their toll. The enthusiasm that was nearly overflowing at the beginning has dried to a trickle. Even worse, that old advice, "Do something else and you'll come back feeling refreshed and ready to write," hasn't worked.
But before you give up, try these ten ideas for interest retention:
1. Keep a journal of all the triumphs and pitfalls you've experienced. Include what you've already achieved and what you hope to accomplish in the near future. Rereading it may stimulate new ideas and dredge old tangents to the surface, giving new direction and renewing inspiration.
2. Pretend your story is a movie. Who would star in it? Where would it be filmed and who would direct it. What songs would you have on the soundtrack and in what part of the movie? While you may never see (or want to see) your work on the silver screen, this will get your mind thinking in new ways.
3. Edit what you've already written. Editing will not only improve what your work, it will temporarily give your mind a break without letting it shut down all together. This "working vacation" can often do wonders.
4. Visit the setting of the novel or a place that reminds you of it. Immersing yourself in the location of the book is, in many ways, like immersing yourself in the book itself. Local people and events may provide the inspiration you need.
5. Make deadlines (and actually stick to them). Because so many of us are simultaneously goal oriented and procrastinators, self-imposed deadlines are excellent motivational tools. Break a large project into smaller pieces and give yourself a time limit in which to accomplish these smaller tasks. Write your plans down, since you'll be more likely to stick to them when they're in black and white.
6. Reward yourself. Much more important than the actual deadlines, the rewards you give yourself after meeting them will make self-discipline much more appealing. A reward can be anything - a candy bar or a cruise to the Bahamas. Just make sure that your treat is something you wouldn't normally do or buy and that you have both the time and budget to enjoy it.
7. Work out of order. If you're at Point A and know what to do at Point C, but have no idea how to get there, go ahead and jump ahead. If you have a scene, or even a sentence, floating around in your head, write it down. The next time you have writer's block or are bored with what you are currently working on, gather all these loose tidbits and see what you can do with them.
8. Make a dust jacket. If your manuscript was finished, what would you say about it? How would you summarize your work to make it appealing to the casual reader? A view of the bigger picture may clear up your mind as it struggles with details.
9. Do something for your novel besides writing. Write a poem or a quote to stick at the beginning of the first chapter. Draw a map that details the setting or make character sketches for easy reference later. Again, this productive down time will utilize your creativity and breathe new life into your project.
10. Talk to people. Tell everyone what you're working on, what you've done and what you hope to do. Let them read and critique what you've written. Not only will they be able to give you advice on how to improve your manuscript, but, more than likely, they'll pressure you to keep writing so they can read more. Family and friends can give you that extra push you may not be able to give yourself.
If none of these suggestions have helped, you may need to take a serious look at your writing project. But, with a little effort and creative thinking, you should be back on track in no time.
| 
