Writer's Malaise: Defining a Beginning

[Red]

I have been writing a series of stories for about fifteen years now. It started as a single story but it bloomed into something completely different. I won't go into specifics but it's a very complex, fluid story and I'm having a hard time sitting down to begin it.

The original version was with one main character, we'll call him John. Over time John was fleshed out over the course of three different full-length iterative versions of this book (which I have since scrapped or thrown out altogether), but now his story has transmuted into something wonderful, but also completely different.
The complexity is a bit much for me to take in to the point where I've made a rather sizeable reference file so I can keep track of the massive amounts of information. But this information is always changing, the story is liquid and impossible to hold down.

With brevity, my problem is this: the story changes so much that I can't seem to find a good time to just wrestle it to the ground and get it going. I fear that I will write it, it'll go somewhere, then I'll come up with a much better idea (which I have a few times now) and sorely regret the finalized version. A lot of these ideas are...I don't know, character-specific so I couldn't just use the ideas in a different story.

I've tried writing a master outline for the entire series of books, it's looking to be about six novels total and that is kind of helping, but that paranoia is still there. I suppose this problem wouldn't be as horrible if it were only to be one story, one novel, but that just isn't the case. I need to write this before it completely devours me and I go insane. 

Does anyone have experience with this problem? Any advice would be very helpful.

[Andrea Martin]

and sorely regret the finalized version

It's not final until it's sent to the printers, I say. Go ahead and start writing. If you get a better idea, that's what revising is for.

[Dean Karpowicz]

I can relate to your problem. I think that there is a time to which you are "committed" to a piece of writing. That is the time when you actively shape, outline, brainstorm, and actually write it. I haven't found anything that I have been able to devote years to as a single project, but I suggest that you shape one narrative at a time, commit yourself to that project, and finish it. Divert your effort to rough out something new, but leave it until you get through the first piece. Once you have completed it, let it sit for a bit and then start the editing process. It may be that 2 years down the line you return to it, but I think that it's healthy for a writer to commit and then let something go, give it some space while you work on something else.

[Red]

I suggest that you shape one narrative at a time, commit yourself to that project, and finish it.

I appreciate the responses. Andrea, it takes me a very long time to write something personal such as this project, and it is emotionally consuming. I just don't have the energy to do it over and over.
The re-writes I did were total re-writes, as in I did not even attempt to salvage any of the old stories.
I suppose, though. I guess I'm just waiting for a sign or some other ludicrous notion to tell me when to stop.

As for the quote above, that's what I have done. Each narrative is almost self-contained, where you wouldn't particularly have to have read the previous story in order to pick up on what's going on, although it wouldn't hurt. That has helped quite a bit, actually. I'm more confident now in each of the stories individually than I was with them as a "collective".

Thanks again.

[Jan Hansen]

Red, I can totally understand your issue, but if you want to get it on paper, you have to put it down. Start small, with a dialogue, a scene, but you have to write it. Don't overwhelm yourself with the overall project, remember--we are just the muscle pushing the pen or keyboard. Your story has its own evolution. Jan

[Dean Karpowicz]

Red, I can totally understand your issue, but if you want to get it on paper, you have to put it down. Start small, with a dialogue, a scene, but you have to write it. Don't overwhelm yourself with the overall project, remember--we are just the muscle pushing the pen or keyboard. Your story has its own evolution. Jan

I like the way you put this, even though I only push my keyboard when I am angry at it! 

[Red]

You're right, Jan...I guess I just need to get on with it.
I have been writing scenes, dialogue pieces and setting pieces fairly regularly though. Kind of getting the grunt work out of the way.
I suppose as soon as I have my first story completed and ready for writing (it honestly isn't ready to be written yet, even though it's my oldest) then I'll put a little wordcount in my sig too.

[Jan Hansen]

Good luck! Jan

[Ann Star]

I like the way you put this, even though I only push my keyboard when I am angry at it! 

You only push yours? I tossed mine out the window yesterday. Great stress relief, but it's a good thing it was an old keyboard. 

[rdvstray]

I agree with Dean here.  Time gives your work perspective.  I can't tell you the number of times I've edited and the re-edited a piece over and over until I lose all perspective.  Sometimes you just need to write it and then let it breathe, but the process of writing it will undoubtedly lead to new ideas which you haven't thought of before and will change the whole grand plan anyway.

Best of luck!

[Red]

It's interesting to come back to this post a year later and still be in the same position. Yet, oddly enough, it isn't a "problem" anymore.