Squawk Radio
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Eloisa on sharing Liz's Deadline Madness
As it happens, I'm in the same horrible quagmire. My current book is overdue. But more to the point, whereas in the past I've written up to twenty pages a day -- and boasted about it -- with this book, I'm lucky to make seven. Or, some days, one page.
So -- who has solutions for writing a book that simply won't write itself? In which the character problems seem so fundamental that it's impossible to see the end? I keep telling myself that this sort of irreconcilable problem leads to an interesting book, but how long can one say that about a manuscript that feels like a complete mess?
My current strategy is to keep pounding out the horrible sentences Liz described (only mine are worse), and hope that revision will be miraculous. After all, supposedly Nora herself said that she can work with trash, but she can't work with a blank page.
Anyone have miraculous keep-writing-while-late-and-writing-crap solutions?
So -- who has solutions for writing a book that simply won't write itself? In which the character problems seem so fundamental that it's impossible to see the end? I keep telling myself that this sort of irreconcilable problem leads to an interesting book, but how long can one say that about a manuscript that feels like a complete mess?
My current strategy is to keep pounding out the horrible sentences Liz described (only mine are worse), and hope that revision will be miraculous. After all, supposedly Nora herself said that she can work with trash, but she can't work with a blank page.
Anyone have miraculous keep-writing-while-late-and-writing-crap solutions?
Eloisa James, 11:36 AM
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