Isn't it amazing when looking back that you can see how intuitive those pauses were?

Generally, all of that character and world building isn't for the reader; it's for us. It's how we're then able to bring an engaging character onto the page or screen from the moment they appear.

I loved hearing your story! Thanks for sharing.

I'm always amazed at how much better our books become when we welcome the ideas of others.

You can do it. You'll have to share when you do finish so we can celebrate with you!

Everything you said, Jenny! It's amazing to discover how much we don't know and so odd that we're coming from believing we know everything.

Thanks for the kudos. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

My "first novel" took me about ten months to complete, working around my day/night/weekend/wee-hours-of-the-morning/always on-call job. And then... I discovered there were local critique groups I could attend. It didn't take long to start recognizing my weaknesses and learning the craft involved in good story-telling.

One thing I'd done, knowing that 140,000 words was too long for a first novel, is cut back on characterization. I knew my characters' personalities and concerns, but the readers probably wouldn't. Once I knew that and looked more closely at my story, I realized there was a distinctive switch in their objectives and challenges–conveniently about 70,000 words in. I really had two separate stories.

With the help and encouragement of my critique groups, I re-wrote the first saga, breathing life, hopes, and personal challenges into my characters. Same basic story, but far better–one I'm proud of–and topping out at 120,000 words.

My (now) second novel thrusts my same characters into a much more complex world. Twice, there were months where I had to pause for my aforementioned jobs. Each time I stopped, I felt need to make major plot (villain/challenge) changes, resulting in much re-writing. At an unfortunately high 149,000 words, I have to say I'm even more pleased with the results.

The more we learn, the more we realize how little we knew when we started [fill in the blank]. That's why it's so important to let our pages rest.

Kudos to you for going back and giving your work a hard look through your fresh(er) set of eyes...and then doing the work. That's what it's all about!

It totally IS worth it! I agree with your assessment that this is NOT writer's block. Just some quicksand along the way that we're sidestepping.

My conversion went slowly, too. I lost count of how many times I've reread the story.

Thanks for sharing your story!

The original outline for the trilogy, and its list of scenes turns out to be robust enough for the additional material - without even affecting the ending much, but it's going to make a much better book/trilogy.

Unfortunately, I also had a lot to learn, and then figure out how to get into the story without detours.

It is going slowly, and physical problems keep getting in the way, but I know it will be worth it. It's not REALLY writer's block when you have to stop and do some hard thinking and planning, but it feels very much like you're going nowhere, for a very long time.

Oh, well. It's the job.

As much as I'm always in a hurry to publish my books, I've learned to slow down, to pause. Patience has been a life lesson!

Thanks for commenting, Marian.

Total agreement about loving how our posts resonate with others. Your post was so close to what was happening with me, I felt like you'd been spying on me! LOL

Thanks for commenting!