The N Word: Novel

[thewildhunt]

I hate the damned thing. I love it dearly. I can't seem to finish it, and I'm stuck. It's the middle. I have the beginning and, I think, the end, but the middle? All that struggle trying to get from here to there—I am overwhelmed. But I need to finish it. I HAVE to finish it. I have put it off for years, and I don't want to do that anymore.

The problem is it's not an A-Z timeline. It wanders around. It is working that way, or so people tell me. So the middle—how do I continue that winding but somehow get to where I need to go?

OMG I think I need an outline. I hate outlines. But here's the thing; I have tons of chapters written. I just need to go through them and tease out the parts that work, blend them together with the rest of the novel. Yeah. THAT'S all. But it needs to be done.

Any advice is welcome. I have tried working from point A to Z, I have tried a random approach. Part of my problem is I get scared. Yep. It's a dark little novel, starts that way and doesn't let up much. So the subject matter is daunting. And the idea of actually finishing it scares me, and I have no idea why. But there it is, living in my head, larger than life. I haven't worked on it in over a year, and instead took a break from fiction to write poetry, which I love, but...

I need to get this done. It's haunting me, and it needs to be put to rest.

Comments

[fufaraw]

Per my own experience, a lot of what you have is probably backstory--you need to know it, but the reader does not. Once you identify those parts, what's left is story, and will more easily fall into place. I also hate outlines, but I look at story this way. Here, where we start, is a hill. Below us is forest. Across the forest is a high, tall tree, and that is the end of our story. Certain things have to happen for us to reach the end tree and each of those things is a tall tree, taller than the forest, and our story moves from tree to tree. This is the outline. If it helps, you can label each tree with events that must occur along the way. I took my tree outline to a bookshop cafe with legal pads and pens and organized the trees--this has to happen before that does, so getting from here to the first tree, and then the second, and the one after that--that's your timeline.

That's very simplistic but it worked for me. Maybe that will be a little bit of help. Backstory can slow or still your progress, when things pile up around a specific tree and keep your story from moving forward. A lot of delicious details you need to know about a beloved (or hated) character your readers will not need to know--your opinion of that character doesn't often need those details, they will affect how you write about him or her and inform your readers without all the backstory.

For what it's worth. Hope it helps a little.

[thewildhunt]

Some of it is backstory, yes, and most of that I already ruled out, but I will look at anything remaining with a fierce eye. Which is to say, cut, cut, cut! At the same time, sometimes a little backstory is necessary. Went through 25 chapters quickly, and labeled them more clearly so I'd know what's in each one. Still—there's that middle I have to write.

Thank you. I like your tree metaphor. I think I will work on that.