Frustrations!!

I am disappointed to report that progress with my novel has ground to a halt.

I began serious work on it at the end of July and made some awesome progress for the first couple of weeks. I had some good ideas on where I wanted the story to go and managed to sketch out a decent plan for my first few chapters, and piece by piece my new world was taking shape.

Then I hit a wall. When I reviewed my progress so far I realized that some of my brilliant new ideas contradicted my original story. Some of the ideas that I had made up to support the story now seemed forced and contrived. The more I looked at it the unhappier I was with the path my adventure was taking, and the harder it was to try and get it back on track.

The next two weeks were filled with discouragement and frustration, until I got to the point where I wanted to give up. The problem there, though, is that I am still really passionate about my original idea and I think there is a fantastic story there that is begging to be told! 

And so today I decided to take drastic action and go back to the drawing board. I will spend some quality time going through my notes and decide which of the best ideas and characters I want to keep (as some of them are bloody brilliant!) and then I will take a couple of weeks to mull over new ways to tell my story. Perhaps I will tell the story from the assassin's point of view rather than the princess? Perhaps my main girl won't even be a princess any more? Perhaps the adventure will take place in Glasgow instead of whatever made up world I could cobble together? Who knows?!?!?! 

As annoying as it is to be back at square one again, it is also quite liberating to have a clean sheet and a second chance to write the story that I know I can write. I think I have a better idea of how to go about the planning process this time round so hopefully I wont find myself backed in to another corner, and if I do I should have the courage to be brutal and cut out the crap that isn't working before I get too bogged down.

I am also realizing that my goal of finishing my book by the end of the year, which seemed reasonable when I set it in April, is now a bit unrealistic! I know now that I would much rather take an extra year to create something that I am proud of than churn out any old nonsense just so I can say that I finished it.

So that's where I am with my novel. While I am regrouping my thoughts I do not plan to be idle. I have a couple of ideas for short stories that I would like to work on and maybe send them into a magazine or a competition and see how they do. Even if I just write them for my own personal pleasure, I think it will be a valuable exercise in seeing a story through from start to finish which will benefit me both from a story crafting point of view and by boosting my motivation and giving me a sense of accomplishment.

Meanwhile, I have just started an online course to teach English as a foreign language. I have done a little research and with the volume of people moving to Silicon Valley from all over the world there seems to be a demand for English language tutors. I don't suppose that this is something I could make a full time living from, but I think it is something that I would enjoy, and anything that might help me avoid a full time office job is definitely worth exploring!!

Well, that's all I have to say for today. I had hoped to be able to give you a more positive progress report at this stage, but I am happy that I still have a plan and I am still moving forward, albeit a little slower than I would have liked. Fingers crossed I have a more encouraging update for you next time!!