What to Do When You Can’t Focus on Your Novel

I have poor focus to begin with. Usually to achieve high focus, I pretty much have to shift into Obssessive Mode, which if it goes on too long  can get draining. It’s not pretty either because my eyes go dark and puffy for lack of sleep and I start talking to myself.

Unfortunately a series of life events, which have been ongoing since the spring, has underminded my concentration. Surgery, recovery from surgery, house hunting, purchase of house, packing, first half of vacation in London UK and the second in Nova Scotia, then more packing, final possession of house, moving into said house, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Crash courses in getting a mortgage, what to look for in a dud house, researching train schedules and maps for London, how water softeners work… well, the list is a long one, but my point is all of this took over my mind.

Mapping the Words of a Novel

Been away from the blog for a while but not from the novel. As it is, it’s been slow and laborious. Realization can be slow and laborious as well, and it finally occurred to me that revisions are like travelling unexplored territory if it isn’t something you’ve done before. Well, it just so happens a whole bunch of other writers have, and while their advice can make for great markers in this crazy process, there is no definitive map because the novel I’m writing hasn’t been written before. The themes may have been done before, but this particular story hasn’t.

Basically, the difficulty I’m having has to do with not being able to see the novel in smaller, manageable units. I am essentially re-arranging timelines and changing chapter divisions, so no wonder it’s getting difficult to navigate the text. No wonder I’m getting lost. And the time it’s taking to make these revisions is starting to be a concern, because working within time restraints is a skill that will facilitate any changes requested by editors and agents.

On Endings and Never Ending Revisions

The changes being made to Ule the Unfurled are still predominantly in the front half section of the story, and as I make them, a certain awareness regarding the ending of the story keeps growing.

Endings are funny creatures. Recently, my husband and I saw the movie Skyline in the theatres, and we weren’t certain what to make of the ending. Without giving away details, the final moments of the story fall into a category of endings known as “the new beginning”.

A Story About Multiple Origins

In the beginning, Ule the Unfurled was supposed to be a free online serial novella to help regain creative writing skills I hadn’t used in a while.  Nothing too big of a story, something somewhere in the vicinity of 50,000 – 75,000 words in length. When it blossosmed into a novel, I put a word goal of 85,000 words, a recommended length for first time novelists. As of this week, while re-writing, expanding and revising, the novel has officially exceeded 96,000 words and is making a mad dash for the 100,000 word finish line.  Watching the evolution of wordcount with this story has me looking back to its origins.

A Change in Point of View

Recently, I’ve begun tackling the more difficult and complicated revisions required to improve the story of Ule the Unfurled. Currently, I’m re-writing an important scene which was originally told from the point of view of a mystic. Although the character has an important role to play in the overall story, he isn’t a central character and it just didn’t seem right he should be up on the Point of View Platform spewing his internalizations.

Three Crazy Revision Lessons Learned

Revising Ule the Unfurled so far has been a tremendous learning experience, so in the spirit of sharing, here are three of the crazy lessons learned over the past few months.