Dookie

What do you do when you reach chapter seventeen and your story seemed to be nearing to an end and you cant bring yourself to finish it? Or even any late stage of a story?

mswietek

Why are you having trouble? Can you not think of what happens next? Do you have an idea but can't make "fit" into the rest of the book? Can you give a few details to help us help you?

Michael

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"Don't imagine that the art of poetry is any simpler than the art of music, or that you can please the expert before you have spent at least as much effort on the art of verse as an average piano teacher spends on the art of music." - Ezra Pound

Dookie

Nope :p I just cant bring myself to finish the story.

Randatos

You can always plan to do a sequal, but never feel like writing that sequal, so you only end up with that first book.

playstation60

I don't think that would really work, Randatos. You end a book with a sequel differently than one without. There are underlying questions purposely left unanswered, character interactions left to explore.

Dookie, what is the point of your story? What is the main conflict, how is it resolved? Why are your characters doing what they do? Answer those questions and you will be on the way to being able to finish your book.

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barefootwriter

I just had a thought.

Can you write the last page, then write your way to that last page?

I'm guessing you know how it's supposed to end, you're just having a rough time getting to that ending. Am I right?

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Barefoot Writer
www.barefootwriter.com , an online writing community

Dirkin

Take a little break.. eventually you will get back to it... and if not, then it really wasn't worth worrying about... I just finished chapter 25 in my story... I hadn't written for about 2 weeks, I was experiencing the exact same thing as you...

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"As the celerity took its horrid grip on his body, he turned to the right to see the bullet coming. In his twisted sense of time he had hardly a second to duck out of the way. Before the second bullet could leave the chamber, Saede was feeding.

'How easily your life flows. The adrenaline only serves makes the sensation sweeter,' the assamite said through blood-soaked lips."

Robgb

Hmmmm. I get the impression that most people here who aren't already professional writers would like to BE professionals. I have no idea if this is true for you, but if you DO want to be a pro, there is something you must learn immediately:

You have to write even when you don't want to. You have to finish even if you don't feel like it.

So here's something that may help you. Give yourself a deadline. And at the end of that deadline, promise yourself a special reward.

Then sit your butt down and finish your story. Think of all the time you've spent writing this much -- wouldn't you like to have a finished product to show for it?

Pros can't afford to be blocked and can't afford not to finish what they started. And you have to start acting and writing like a pro long before you become one.

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Robert Gregory Browne
Anatomy of a Book Deal
http://www.robertgregorybrowne.com
A Measure of Darkness
St. Martin's Press, 2007

Dookie

Man I totally side tracked writing for about three weeks but here I am, back at writers forum. Ah what a wonderful place this is. I may even start writing right now. But, I must look over some forums to get me in the mood first. I like the sequel idea.

Robgb

No offense, but this is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't WAIT to get in the mood. You must write even if you AREN'T in the mood. If I waited to get in the mood, my family would starve.

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Robert Gregory Browne
Anatomy of a Book Deal
http://www.robertgregorybrowne.com
A Measure of Darkness
St. Martin's Press, 2007