Hitting a wall when you’re writing a story is a writers’ rite of passage, in its own way. You know how the story ends, perhaps, but not exactly how to get it there. Not all the twists and turns are locked in place. You know all the answers are in there somewhere. You just haven’t found them yet.
As I celebrate one of these rare moments when the fix to one of my story’s biggest issues has finally clicked, I wanted to take a second to remind you — and myself — that sometimes, these things really are wroth the wait.
Why We Get Stuck Writing Good Stories
Writing an original story, you’d think all the pieces would fall into place quite easily. The idea came from you, after all — surely you know the ins and outs of it. But that’s actually one of the most frustrating yet rewarding parts of writing. You start out thinking this will be easy, and fun! And some parts of it are. Then you go back to look at what you wrote and realize it’s not quite “all there” just yet.
Storytelling is a puzzle. We know generally how this thing is going to look when we’re done with it, but all we have to work with at the start is a huge mess of pieces we have to fit together to transform an idea into a tangible narrative. Sometimes, even with a full draft done, some of those pieces might still actually be in the wrong place. And we still have to figure out what the right configuration is.
Agonizing Over the Puzzle Means You Care
I’ve written full stories I’ve later given up on because I couldn’t figure out how they were really meant to go. It’s always been the stories that I’ve poured over, woken up in the middle of the night thinking about or zoned out trying to solve in the middle of doing something else that have been the ones I eventually figured out.
As frustrating as it is to know your story isn’t yet as good as you know it can be, figuring out how to get it there is the fun part. And that moment you finally figure out where all the pieces go … it’s a feeling unlike any other.
You’ll Be Glad You Didn’t Quit
The moment it finally hit me how I needed to rearrange the pieces of my book to make it the best possible version I could, I felt lighter. Free, almost. There is still a lot of work ahead of me, to be clear. Epiphanies like this don’t come without strings. I’m going to have to do some rewriting to make it work. But no longer fearing that I’ll never be able to get that far? It feels pretty good.
You, too, can find your way to this glorious place. With a lot on your plate, but still knowing where you’re going, maybe even with newfound confidence. You just have to give it time. You’re going to make it. Trust me … if I can do this right now, you can, too.
Meg Dowell Writes 