Story Killers
If you’ve ever given up on a writing project, let me assure you that you are in good company. I currently have eleven—I repeat, eleven—unfinished manuscripts sitting on my computer, ideas that I genuinely thought were great when I started writing them, but for whatever reason, fizzled out over time (or which I still intend to finish “one day”).
It’s worth noting that some stories SHOULD fizzle out. Not all of the book ideas that pop into your head have the grit to go all the way, and you might be surprised at which ones actually end up carrying you through to the finish line.
False starts aside, there are some books that have genuine potential. The idea is solid, the timing is right, and yet… Something is getting in the way, and you find yourself stuck.
What can you do?
Let’s start by exposing some of the common literary assassins that can sneak up and sweep kick your manuscript’s legs out from under it. Once you become aware of their presence, you can strategize how best to fight back.
Assassin 1: Inauthenticity
Your writing can have a lot of problems, but so long as it comes from a place of honesty (you, the writer, are telling a story that you believe to be true for the characters you have crafted), there’s a good chance you’ll be able fix it eventually. However, if your text lacks authenticity, no amount of rewording is going to help.
Inauthentic writing sucks—not just for the reader, but also for the writer who FEELS that something is off but has no clear idea of how to fix it. I run into this problem in my own work when I’m trying too hard to make a story fit into an outdated vision. For instance, sometimes I have a clear picture in my head of what I think a scene should look like, but once I start writing it, I realize it isn’t landing the way I’d hoped. At this point, I typically buckle down and try to MAKE it work until I finally realize that what I needed to do all along was delete the sucker and allow the story to flow in a different direction. (It may sound frustrating, but honestly, the moment I hit that “Delete” key is usually one of intense relief.)
Keep an eye out for these red flags that indicate something in your work is inauthentic:
a vague feeling of unease (apart from normal day-to-day existential dread, that is)
characters who diverge suddenly from their usual mode of behavior (unless they have a really good reason)
conversations that are resolved to everyone’s satisfaction (real-life conversations are almost never 100% satisfying; human interactions are riddled with oversharing, undersharing, clumsy apologies, dumb comments that don’t even make sense, etc. etc.)
a sharp turn in your experience of the book where one moment you’re on fire, enjoying the crap out of it, and the next you’re stressed, anxious, and uncertain how to proceed
If you think something in your work isn’t landing right but can’t quite put your finger on what it is, it can be really helpful to have someone who’s not you—and therefore not stuck inside your brain with you and the story you think you’re supposed to be telling—to read your work and give you some honest feedback about which parts made them wrinkle their nose in skepticism or confusion.
Remember, whether they realize it or not, readers are looking for something true. Even fiction can be true in the sense that it shows us something about life or human nature or both. Even books about non-human characters (robots, unicorns, whatever) still tend to be about human nature at the end of the day. This means that your work as a writer centers around a subject about which your readers—being human—are all experts. Even if they can’t verbalize exactly where or how you are being disingenuous, they’ll probably know that something is wrong. It behooves us, then, to be authentic in our work, both for our sake and for the sake of our readers.
Assassin 2: Lack of characterization
I love this quote from Anne Lamott in her excellent book Bird by Bird: “Having a likable narrator is like having a great friend whose company you love, whose mind you love to pick, whose running commentary totally holds your attention, who makes you laugh out loud, whose lines you always want to steal. When you have a friend like this, she can say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to drive up to the dump in Petaluma—wanna come along?” and you honestly can’t think of anything in the world you’d rather do” (1994, 47). 1
I personally believe that characters are the heart and soul of good fiction. This is not to say that all your characters need to be likable, but they should certainly be distinctive. There should be things about them that we recognize, and perhaps some things that we don’t—traits that fascinate us and teach us something new about human nature.
There’s nothing wrong with having a plot-driven story; however, it is worth slowing down a bit and giving your characters room to breathe on the page. They are your readers’ main gateway into the world of your book. If your story is feeling flat and you can’t figure out the problem, you may need to explore your characters a little more deeply. You could spend some time writing out what’s going on inside their heads in a given scene, or you could try putting them in a situation that they/you weren’t expecting and seeing what they do. Something I personally love doing in my work is pairing unexpected characters up together in scenes and seeing what they end up talking about. I have more suggestions for how to spark inspiration for characters in this post.
Assassin 3: Stilted dialogue
Straight facts: Your characters should sound like human beings, not robots (unless of course your characters are actually robots).
Think about how real people talk. A lot of us speak in fragments. We get distracted partway through a thought. We ramble. We shmooze. We circle the thing we really want to say without actually coming out and saying it. A lot of conversations, when taken out of context, are confusing to listen to, if not completely nonsensical. This is because humans don’t just use words to communicate; we also use tone, visual cues, and prior context. What we’re saying makes perfect sense in the moment, but to someone outside the situation, the words may not be enough to paint a whole picture.
Writers should also consider the fact that different people will choose different words—and even different sentence structures—to express themselves. Characters should sound different from one another. The differences don’t have to be major, but the author should be able to identify some of their varying patterns or tendencies.
The takeaway: Dialogue is a powerful storytelling tool—just as actual speech is in real life. It reflects character, but when it’s stiff and inauthentic, it can lead to loss of interest in the story, both for you and your readers. You might be stuck in a project because you’re having a hard time getting your characters to talk to each other. If that’s the case, I recommend a) reading books by authors who write good dialogue, b) thinking of what YOU would say in your characters’ place and using that as a springboard, or c) giving your characters interesting things to talk about. If they have good discussion topics, your dialogue should flow a little easier.
Assassin 4: Anxiety
The first three assassins hide inside the writing itself. This one shows up inside you, the author. It’s everyone’s favorite little orange-haired emotion, blitzing around your brain with buggy-eyes and doing its darndest to keep Joy away from the control panel. The one, the only… Anxiety!
There are a lot of what-ifs that could invite anxiety in your work. Here are a few repeat offenders:
What if no one but you cares about this story?
What if it’s not good enough? What if YOU’RE not good enough?
What if you can never get past this difficult scene/chapter?
What if your writing abilities are all dried up? What if this is it and your writing career is over?
They look exaggerated and ridiculous written out like that, but these are the doubts that I often find myself coming back to in my work. Needless to say, they aren’t exactly conducive to a healthy writing environment. If you find yourself stalling in your writing project, it might be worth checking in with your anxiety levels and seeing if you can name any specific concerns that are taking up your processing space. Acknowledging your fears can give you back some control over your own thinking and help you to get back to work.
Assassin 5: Criticism (before you’re ready for it)
If anxiety is the assassin that hides inside of you, then this is the assassin that hides on the OUTSIDE. Or, perhaps hides is the wrong word. More like strides boldly forward and kicks you where it counts.
Criticism. It’s something all writers have to face if we are really serious about putting our work out there for others to consume. Sometimes criticism is unwarranted. Sometimes it is warranted, but we aren’t ready to hear it. In those cases, criticism can be paralyzing.
My recommendation for circumventing the problem is to ask yourself honestly how much criticism you are prepared to take before sharing your work with others. If you are still in the early stages of a project, you may not want to share it at all—or only with a trusted few. If you do choose to share, you may wish to specifically let them know what you’re expecting from them as readers (i.e. you would like their honest reactions but not their grammar advice or character critiques).
Being stuck on a project doesn’t make you a bad writer. It can be a discouraging place to be, however, and identifying the source of your stall might allow you to move past it. I hope this post has helped to give you some ideas.
Good luck and happy writing!
References:
Lamott, Anne. 1994. Bird by Bird. New York: Vintage Books.