Oh lordy, I think we've all been there at times.

I do think that it's very natural to have sags in energy when writing anything as long as a novel. An awful lot of writers, I find, have a real wobble about a third of the way in (how does your 50pp translate relative to that?): the initial excitement's worn off, they've got to the end of the things that were fairly clear in their head at the beginning, so they're having to thinking things out much more from scratch as they go, and the end isn't yet in sight...

I would say, 'boring to write = boring to read' may be true, but it may also be because you've got a hangover, or flu, or are horribly worried about something in the background of life. And if when you look at it a couple of days later it still is truly boring, it may only be how you're writing it, not what you're writing: it may not be a matter of junking the scene, but revising and re-writing it. (If then you really can't get it to work, then the book's trying to tell you it shouldn't be in there.)

Some thoughts - apologies if they repeat anyone - which you can try on for size and see if any resonate (more apologies for the mixed metaphor)

- accept that it'll be like pulling teeth for a bit and go on pulling. It's not much fun, but it does actually get words down on the page which you can then have another go at. If you keep pulling teeth, at some point things will suddenly fall into place ahead of you and you'll start rolling again.

- decide to think about your writing time in terms of time, not words achieved or art wrought. Your task is to just show up (see here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

- decide that if the right words won't come you'll just put down stuff - words which say the basics of what you need to say. The right words aren't ready to come yet, so regard these ones as placeholders for when you discover what you're really trying to say. (This is the foundation of the concept of the shitty first draft - not necessarily that it's a mad splurge, but relaxing about the fact that the words aren't necessarily just the right ones.)

- reckon that you need to do a bit of planning, so that you know a bit more clearly what you're trying to write next. Have a think about what the next chunk - say the next 50 pages - needs to be built of, and make a few notes of what the scenes would be. Once you know slightly more what you're trying to write, you may find it comes more easily.

- go for the all-out splurge, almost free-writing. I agree this is harder once you've got some kind of outline and boundaries for the story: I think the trick is not to worry too much if it breaks the boundaries, but use what that's telling you in your thinking about the story.

- do some clustering/mind-mapping around one or more of the characters, or a place, or a theme of the work, or several. This can recapture a bit of the spontaneity: the important thing is not to stop the ideas flowing just because they don't fit with stuff you've already pinned down in the 50 pages. Let the clustering take you in whatever direction it pleases. At the very least it'll remind you of the sponteneity and fun of the thing, and it should point you in some new directions.

Hope some of those help.

Emma

<Added>

Oops! Clicked 'post' too soon.

- reckon this is, as someone's said, a novella. If you've got to the end of the story, maybe the story's telling you you've got to the end... In which case, congratulations! You've finished it.

- reckon this is, as someone's said, a novella. If you've got to the end of the story, maybe the story's telling you you've got to the end... In which case, congratulations! You've finished it.

Assuming you've got enough characters in the story; that you aren't wrapping things up into neat parcels as events happens, but rather making things gradually worse for your main character (until the happy ending); and that you are not summarising parts of the story with a word, phrase, or paragraph, which could be expanded into scenes in their own right; then it can probably be expanded into a full novel.

Hey guys!
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the advice!

I did finally get unstuck.

Funny my best writing comes when I try not to write anything serious (I was trying out a writing excercise - describing a box of strawberries as something disgusting - ended up putting a torn off finger in it and giving it away as a surprise to one of my MC's). This makes it extremely difficult for me to plan the story... but that's the way it's got to be!

Writing random scenes and then stuffing them in at different places in the story is kind of tough, but I think it's the only way I can do it, because planning beforehand just bores me too death! The planning is still there in the back of my mind so it all fits together in the end.

I decided not to edit too much before I'm done with the massive chunks of writing. It just slows down my momentum and gets me thinking of things like what the story SHOULD be like.. kills the creativity off like a gun shot to the head!

Well, I hope this way of working will work out for me.. wish me luck Wish I could post some text, but I don't write in English

And again... thanks.

if i can't write i think. if i can't think i'll listen to music that suits the story or go for a walk. i write great stuff when i'm not writing.