Today was what I consider to be a productive day. I finally got over the slump in my story (still working on that NaNo story - it's now just shy of 77K!) and hit a part I'm really enjoying writing again. Occasionally, I hit a part in a story where it's just about torture to keep putting words on the page, either because I need to recharge or just because I'm not really interested in that part of the story right then. That would be what the last twenty pages before today's spree were.
A few of the NaNo emails have addressed this issue in the past, so I know it's not just me: somewhere in the middle of the first draft, the author wants to do anything besides keep writing. If the story could just magically finish itself, that would be great. I figure there are a few reasons behind it: boredom or a short attention span on the part of the author, it's a part the author just doesn't want to write, or that part just honestly is not that interesting.
In the case of the last one, that's a problem, because chances are good that your readers will feel the same way. At best, they'll skim along until things start getting good again. At worst, they'll put your book down and find a better one.
Approaches to fixing this vary. Some writers take a step back, do a little reworking, and fix the problem. Sometimes that works for me, but I have heard revision horror stories where a writer just keeps trying to fix the problem right then and there and ends up never moving forward. Personally, I'm a big believer in finishing the entire first draft before starting in on the revision cycle. This also means I keep a notebook or stack of Post-It Notes nearby so I can write down the big revision ideas to implement later. After all, chances are that I'll be doing multiple revisions anyway, no matter what I do to the story, but I can't actually revise until there's something to revise!
In other news, my hand has decided it's capable of drawing again, so I've gotten started on this week's Strawberry Syrup page. You have no idea how ecstatic this makes me.
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