YOU’RE WRITING AWAY ON YOUR NOVEL. YOU’RE GETTING YOUR CHARACTERS DOWN, YOUR PLOT, YOUR STYLE. YOU’RE IN THE MIDST OF IT ALL, YOUR EYES GLUED TO THAT COMPUTER SCREEN, DISAPPEARING INTO IT AS IF THE LIFE OF YOUR NOVEL HAS BECOME YOUR OWN LIFE - OR MUCH OF IT.
And then it happens. You don’t feel so good. The zeal you began with is no longer there, the inspiration gone. And, worse, is this thing before you any good? Is it worth more and more effort, or would you be better off just trashing it?
What should you do?
We asked six well-published novelists. What’s novel “sickness” like for them? What do they do about it? What do they recommend? Are there any strategies you can employ? But beyond that, can getting sick of your novel pay off in some way by being a good learning experience, not only for the present but also for future novels?
Diagnosing the problem
What can make you sick of your novel? Is getting sick of a novel-in-progress something that can happen with any novel you write? Or does the problem depend mostly on the type of novel you’re writing, your mood at the time – or perhaps something else?
“The novel I’m working on now started out well until one day I got a sinking feeling in my gut,” says Erica Ferencik, award-winning novelist of literary thrillers. “For days, then weeks, the feeling intensified. I ignored it until I couldn’t any longer.
“I finally owned up to it: I was sick of my novel. Dreaded my writing time. Something just felt truly off. I know I’m not alone. I believe all novelists hit the wall, at some
