Hello! I need help from all of you good, novel-writing people. I am at this point in my novel, where I don’t know what I’m doing anymore… I am about halfway through, and I had this experience before, with my Russian-language novels … and it took me years! to get out of it and finally finish these. What do I do? I used Dramatica, trying to figure it all out; and I used Screvener to map and play with the parts and chapters… nothing helps. I am there … here … again. I think it is there in my mind somewhere, and it had written itself already there, and its done with me, and I just need to write it all out. And I can’t. The energy is not there. I am bored. And I am tangled in all these chapters and throughlines, and characters… This is a desperate plea. Please help! 
I love you All!
Sounds like it might be time to move on to a different story!
I don’t have much experience, but I think what would help is when beginning a project, write down what gets you excited about doing it in a clear list (like a shopping list - e.g. i love this character, i love the idea of this scene etc.).
Then in the future, if you ever find yourself getting bored/tired with it, consult that list - if those things still excite you, you know there’s a problem with the way the story’s being told for example or maybe there’s not enough of those things / if they don’t however - it tells you it’s time to shelve the project.
Two things to remember:
- you might find yourself putting a project on the shelf, only to find that new idea or your passion return somewhere down the line. There’s a reason people call it shelving something and not throwing it.
- Ideas can be recycled - if you decide to shelve a project, it doesn’t mean you can’t take a character or scenes from it to be used elsewhere. I remember reading, a famous writer saying that great ideas never gone unused - a great idea might just not be right for the particular project you created it for
From my novel writing experiences, your brain might be writing too many stories at once, i.e. not telling just one person’s story. Who is your most favorite main character? Stick to just that one person’s experiences, writing in just first person as an exercise, for now. What is your most favorite chapter, to date? Stick to just that chapter as the complete story, for now. Use just a few Dramatica story points as a frame, thinking quick rough draft. (which will make a solid frame) No one elaborates on all of them, btw. Tolstoy whacked the first three chapters of Anna Karenina, and James Hilton wrote Good Bye Mr. Chips in one night (more or less). Look for just what is fun, keeping that fun bubbling through. You are caught up in the filing cabinet. We’ve all been there. It’s all right not to tell the reader everything. A neat filing cabinet is not the goal. Enticing the reader, that’s the goal.
What does this mean? (I’ve only read the first three chapters.)
I heard in some college class, somewhere, sometime, that Tolstoy cut out the first three chapters of Anna Karenina, before publication. It was given as an example of a story starting in midstream could be effective, and maybe preferred. It helped make Dramatica more relatable as a tool, btw. When I went on line to find out more about that, in order to answer your question, I discovered that Tolstoy did not care much about his own work (meaning no diva type stuff I guess). And guess what? I discovered that he started a novel about Peter the Great 33 times! And he never got it done, BUT it ended up being the launch into….wait for it….writing Anna Karenina! But I still have to find the three chapter cut info. more on that later
Even though it is one of the greatest novels ever written, I never read it, other than a few lines. I don’t feel obligated to read anything. When I was eight, I decided only one person could make me happy, me. I use reading as a perk up. Love Dramatica’s storyforming choice of good.
Hi @Prish, thank you for that. BTW, I did read it more than few times, in Russian. You sure you didn’t mix it up with War and Peace few first pages in French instead of Russian? The novel was published in a magazine in installments (Anna Karenina) and then, from what I remember, changed into a full volume.
I don’t know what his sources were, but he did say Anna Karenina. I can’t remember if it was a drama, literature or writing class, but it was 1993 or 1998-2002. After your question, here, I went online and did a google search. One community comment to one of the autobiographies of Tolstoy’s life mentioned, “Particularly interesting are the details of the mechanics of Tolstoy’s creation of his masterpieces, especially the many versions of Anna Karenina that preceded the final novel.” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8205861-tolstoy
Hi Jenya,
I understand the problem all too well. Here are my thoughts. Please accept them for what they are worth.
It looks as though you can’t see the wood for the 
trees. Do you think it may help to pick the character you most identify with? Ignore the other characters for now, much as you may like them. They may be useful later, or in another story. Decide what your chosen character wants to achieve by the end of the story. Then decide amongst your other characters, who is most likely to oppose their goal. You now have your protagonist and antagonist. Is there someone amongst your many characters who would most identify with your protagonist? There’s your sidekick. In brief what I am suggesting is decide on your plot, then build in your characters one by one, choosing only those who are essential to carry the plot forward. Ignore everything else. Save it for future stories. This may all seem rather obvious to you, but them I am new and getting to grips with the Dramatica theory.