Monday, June 8, 2009

Ugh.

I've been trying to write the last chapter of Aigaion Girl for ten days now, and I'm completely blocked. I even started writing a numberless chapterette, so my fictionpress readers would have something to read while I'm getting out of this funk - and even that is giving me trouble.

I think it's just because of the build up. I've written things this long before, and I've written for fictionpress, with next-to-live updates, but I've never written anything that I worked on and updated so consistantly - or anything that's gotten as many good reactions from people - or anything that I myself have liked this much. I feel an inordinant amount of pressure to get the ending perfect, and I'm terrified it won't live up to anyone's (including my own) expectations.

I honestly am not sure what to do about it. I've written the whole thing thus far gin-free, and it would be a shame to start relying on my trusted writing aid now - but at the same time, if I don't post the last chapter for ever and ever, I'm going to lose the interest this story has generated, not to mention delay editing it for publication.

Anyway, I don't mean to whine. I guess it will come to me when it comes to me and until then, about all I can do is keep my mind fresh and clear. That being said, if anyone has any advice, I'd be more than happy to hear it.

That's it for me. Time to go work out (*ambivalent aski face*)

4 comments:

E said...

I actually know exactly what you're going through right now, I'm having the same problem with a story of mine. I have one or two pieces of advice, which I don't know if they'll work or not.
First: the thing that really rejuvenated my seecond-to-last chapter was changing the perspective it was written from to a different character. For me, this helped remove the block and made the story flow better overall. It might not work for the final edit for you, since the whole story's been told through Apple's perspective so far, but maybe you could use it as a kickstart to get your head back in the game. However, since you said you were struggling with writing the chapterette in Death's perspective, this might not work out. Sorry, I meant well.

Second: Have you got a song or a playlist of songs that seem to suit the story? I find that choosing a bunch of songs that seem to fit with the theme of the story, or a character in particular, or one scenario, and listening to them almost nonstop helps me focus on the story I'm writing.

Third: Take a break. I doubt you're going to lose too many readers if you've only got one chapter left (although with the notoriously fickle ficpress audience, you never know). It might do you good just to take a step back and maybe do something else for a while, maybe a short (really short) story or something completely unrelated to writing, so you can come back to Aigaion Girl with a whole new perspective and a fresh crop of ideas.

Just a few ideas. I don't know if you've tried these or not, but this is what tends to work for me. I hope your muse comes off strike soon.

Athena said...

Hrm. All good ideas. I have sort of a playlist for A/G, but not one I've made into an actual playlist on my computer. I should do that. That could really help, because I have about a million songs that make me think of the events of the last chapter... I like this idea a lot... in fact, I might do that now.

Breaks are good too, but I'm afraid if I take one, I'll just never come back to it. I know how the story ends, so I won't be dying to get it done.... but a *little* bit of relaxing might be in order ;)

Thanks muchly for the advice :)

E said...

(Okay, so it was a bit selfish - I want to read the last chapter.)
But still, no problemo! Hope it works out for you.

Athena said...

I've written about a thousand words of the last chapter... it seems to come to me in short little bursts. I'll get there soon, I hope.