Sunday, April 7, 2013

Is It a Break or a Break-Up?

Again, I've been away a while.  I'm sorry.  But I'm back!  With a new header and everything.  And a new story!  But more on that in a minute....

If you've watched Friends, my title will make sense to you.  If you haven't, you'll miss the context.

This is a post about whether a story that's hit a brick wall is done for good or done for now.

I spent the winter working on a Victorian historical romance. I've written a couple historical romances, but my previous stories have been Regency-set. This story required a bit more modern thinking, so I moved it forward to give my heroine a credible career.

I finished a draft. At least I got to the black moment. I couldn't go further than the black moment.  I told myself I'd figure it out in the next draft.

I revised.  I pondered.  I changed some characterization and refined some plot twists. I added a conflict. 

I thought I had it, I'll be honest. 

But, again, I got to the black moment and well, it just didn't feel that black. 

Then I stalled out.

So it sat for a month. I opened the file. I stared at it.  I refined here, adjusted there, to no avail.

I think the problem is lack of conflict in the second half.  For the life of me I can't figure out what the real conflict of that part is. 

After much soul searching, I've decided to set it aside for now.  I'm not sure if it's a break or a break-up yet.  I needed to write something else. Maybe I'll find that spark, that thing that I was missing in the story and I'll come back, revitalized.  Then again, maybe I won't. For now, I refuse to let it bog me down.

I've started working on something else.  It's a Upper YA/New Adult story.  I'll give more details in a bit, when I have a decent blurb together.  Right now, I'm just writing. 

Hope you all are well!

So tell me.... Have you ever set a story aside for a while and come back? Or have you ever abandoned one completely, that close to the end?  Why?