Quick post:

Sometimes it takes time to realise what is wrong with something you’ve written.

If in doubt, allow yourself the time and consideration and honesty to look at what you’ve done and say, “it’s not good enough.”

For me it’s not always clear what is wrong with a piece. I get a headache and think about it too much.

I often find myself working and reworking a section, changing it around, trying and trying to make it work. And sometimes, little by little, it feels better and falls into place.

But what happens more often (and at the moment in fact), is that the piece doesn’t ever feel right, it feels like something I might cringe at if someone read it back to me.

If I’m honest with myself, I generally find the problem to be my own arrogance (especially when I’m trying to write something emotional) or telling rather than showing.

And what I’ve found is almost always the best solution is to scrap what I’ve done and rewrite the section again from scratch in as pared back a way / as matter of fact a way as possible. Flourishes and depth can always be added in later.

So that’s my vent for today, now I have some rewriting to do (of my fourth chapter – chapter three is ok, yay!)