Novel Lily

when to stop

When do you realise that the time has come for you to give up on your novel and start a different idea? Do you plod on hoping that you can come to love your novel again, or do you just let it go? Do you continue with your plot hoping that it will come together and praying that you get better replacement ideas by the time you come around to editing?

I look at my novel and think hmm. There are so many factors that make me love it - it's original, it's on a topic that I'm passionately interested in, and it's sexy and smart. But then on the other hand it's disjointed, it lacks description [see first blog post] and also lacks knowledge.

Maybe more research will help me to carry on with it. I just don't want to continue with it knowing that I'm struggling and not believing in it. And then I don't know whether it's just a phase I'm going through [or a boring chapter], because obviously as a more-or-less amateur writer you're bound not to be confident at times.

I think it's just the place I'm at in the novel. My previous novel was sad, heartfelt and serious, and I really enjoyed writing it, the words easily flowing when it came to an emotional chapter. But with Legs it's the complete opposite: the happy, first chapters were the easiest to write and now that She's got to a certain, broken part of her life I feel I can't get into her head and put out any raw emotion.

I don't know. I am rambling.

I think I may give Legs a break and go back and edit my previous novel, to give me some time to think about what I am doing and what I want from my novel. And then after that break I may start researching more into my current novel so that I can make it the best that can be.

I really thought I was onto something with this one, but maybe not. I already have ideas for three more but I don't want to start those and then abandon them before I give myself to make something of them.

Sigh.

PS// my word count for tonight is 712, all of which may be scrapped tomorrow!