Seven ghost stories have been written, only one remains until I can pronounce the anthology complete and go into full editing and publishing mode.
So naturally my muse has jumped a bus to Cancun....
This is a problem I have started to notice, and wonder if its just coincidence...just me...or a problem that other writers run into. I'm going to call it the "Almost Finished Paralysis".
I get a project about eighty percent done, and then suddenly it gets difficult to impossible. I have a ninety thousand word novel at about seventy thousand words. I have another novel that should be about a hundred and twenty thousand words at about ninety thousand words. And now I have an eight story anthology at seven stories...and just like the two novels I suddenly find myself running into all kinds of resistance.
Do any of you other writers out there ever face this phenomenon?
This is really irritating!
No, uh-huh, never. LOL! Of course I do :>) My simple solution is to-- start another WIP, and the one I abandoned starts screaming. Or you could kick your muse out and get another one.;-)
ReplyDeleteI know that feeling well! I even have the trouble these days where I get 80% of the idea and can't find the last puzzle piece to start writing.
ReplyDeleteI think there is the same thing with marathon runners, something about the twentieth mile... I'm not remembering right, but the solution is to bust through (in their case) and the rush carries the rest of the journey.
When I find a solution for the muse, I will let you know :)
Maybe trick her, tell her it's the first story for a new project instead of the last.
:)
@Cherri...I would soooo love to fire my muse. She is a total slacker! She's always on break, or vacation, or doing her makeup, or probably flirting with some other muse nearby instead of doing her job.
ReplyDelete@Lenka... lol! You may have something there! The Ways of Khrem was originally intended to be a four part novel and I finally decided the three I had were good enough. There was going to be another shorter story in the middle besides The Cistern. So I successfully wrote a three part novel by setting out to write a four part novel. Hmmmm..... Alas, the cover for Shades is already done and it says eight stories. Next time, I'll know better.