Did anybody watch the movie version of Evita with Madonna and Antonio Banderas? Yeah. That's my favorite song from the show. (And if it's now stuck in your head, you're welcome.)
This is the position I find myself in. I was in the middle of a major redrafting/revision/rewrite of my WIP when we moved and got sick and general craziness ensued. Now, I'm going back to that major redraft/revision/rewrite. And I've lost my momentum. And a little of my direction. I'd put in a lot of time on the rewrite and made a lot of progress. So, now, where do I go from here? Do I start over? Do I try to recover from the time off and move forward from where I'm at?
So, friends, have any of you been in this position? What did you do? What would you recommend?
5 comments:
Read what you have so far, see how it feels. Chances are you will get back into the momentem of the story and be ready to go forward with editing there. You might even want to edit more before you go forward.
I'd move forward from where you left off. You may have lost some momentum and direction, but it doesn't sound like you suddenly realized you were in the WRONG direction. See if all those changes you made still feel right, and if so, then onwards and upwards! :)
I know what you mean though. I was on a roll during August with drafting because of Camp NaNoWriMo, but then I went on vacation early September. So I'm off the ball now, but I'm trying to get back on. It's hard!
I agree with Cynthia. Read what you have and see how it feels. Hopefully, the magic you felt a few months ago will come back. Or maybe you'll realize that you weren't headed in quite the right direction, after all. If that's the case, I'm sure new ideas will come.
(By the way, I have seen that Evita. One of my college roommates introduced it to me. It was one of her favorites, and I fell in love with the music, too:) Madonna and Antonio Banderas absolutely nailed their performances.)
"... This isn't where we intended to be. We had it all. I believed in you. You believed in me"
I believe in you Kayleen!
This is what I think: Try the read through. If that doesn't get your fire going then search inside for that story that you have been putting on hold while you write this one. While there is an ember for that story- write it as fast as you can. Perhaps before you finish the new one you will be inspired to return to the first one. Perhaps after you finish the first draft of the new one, you will be inspired to give the rewrites another shot.
Basically, just don't stop writing. If you stop writing you might have a bugger of a time getting back into it. After all--all that time that you would be getting back! Don't stop until you feel inspired to.
I depend a lot upon inspiration, does it show?
I agree with most of the commenters...I think you should go back and reread it all to see how it feels. For me personally, if I'm not into what I'm writing, it loses something. There's that spark missing because it's obvious I'm forcing it.
So if you reread it and still aren't "feeling" it, I say try something new for awhile and revisit it later. :P
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Post a Comment