Writer Doubt

GabrielTenma

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Mar 31, 2023
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I've been kind of doubting some of my latest chapters. I kind of write with an overarching idea in mind while coming up with some stuff when I need to.

Now that I've reached more than 30 chapters I feel like any new chapter I write is going to derail something and then throw my overarching idea into disarray.

Anyone face anything similar before?
 

l8rose

Perpetually Positively Pondering
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I've been kind of doubting some of my latest chapters. I kind of write with an overarching idea in mind while coming up with some stuff when I need to.

Now that I've reached more than 30 chapters I feel like any new chapter I write is going to derail something and then throw my overarching idea into disarray.

Anyone face anything similar before?

All of the time. Like. Obsessively so. I occasionally doubt my chapters so much that I cripple my ability to write.

My advice is to write a part of the overarching idea. Even if it's something that won't happen for ten, twenty, fifty chapters. Just that idea of what will happen (whether it's dialogue, little notes or whatever). It'll help spark ideas and confidence in the new chapters because you will have a better idea of where you're going with your overall idea. Plus, that future bit isn't set in stone so you can tweak it or get rid of it completely.

Or at least, that's how I got through writing some of the really bland chapters for SfAL. I knew I was going to reveal one hell of a spoiler in an upcoming chapter but getting the characters there was painful. So I wrote it out with who was present which helped me make other decisions in earlier chapters.
 
D

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Well, just think of RPGs a lot of times the side quests are more fun than the main ones. We get lost in side quests, and that's fine. As long as you eventually find your way back.
 

GabrielTenma

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Mar 31, 2023
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All of the time. Like. Obsessively so. I occasionally doubt my chapters so much that I cripple my ability to write.

My advice is to write a part of the overarching idea. Even if it's something that won't happen for ten, twenty, fifty chapters. Just that idea of what will happen (whether it's dialogue, little notes or whatever). It'll help spark ideas and confidence in the new chapters because you will have a better idea of where you're going with your overall idea. Plus, that future bit isn't set in stone so you can tweak it or get rid of it completely.

Or at least, that's how I got through writing some of the really bland chapters for SfAL. I knew I was going to reveal one hell of a spoiler in an upcoming chapter but getting the characters there was painful. So I wrote it out with who was present which helped me make other decisions in earlier chapters.
I do something similar to this. I write what a chapter should be from the title and then write using the title
 

Hans.Trondheim

Low energy is king!
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I've been kind of doubting some of my latest chapters. I kind of write with an overarching idea in mind while coming up with some stuff when I need to.

Now that I've reached more than 30 chapters I feel like any new chapter I write is going to derail something and then throw my overarching idea into disarray.

Anyone face anything similar before?
Yeah, I'm currently going through one right now. I keep thinking that maybe Arc 4 is subpar compared to my previous ones, and it spilled to Arc 5, which I'm currently writing.

For that, unless it's really 'pronounced', I continue to write then check for plot holes after I completed the manuscript.
 

GabrielTenma

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Mar 31, 2023
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Yeah, I'm currently going through one right now. I keep thinking that maybe Arc 4 is subpar compared to my previous ones, and it spilled to Arc 5, which I'm currently writing.

For that, unless it's really 'pronounced', I continue to write then check for plot holes after I completed the manuscript.
What I'm getting at is just write and worry later
 

Obsoleteness

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Dec 29, 2023
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I've been kind of doubting some of my latest chapters. I kind of write with an overarching idea in mind while coming up with some stuff when I need to.

Now that I've reached more than 30 chapters I feel like any new chapter I write is going to derail something and then throw my overarching idea into disarray.

Anyone face anything similar before?
Going through it right now. All my edits have thrown the coming plot points into disarray and I hardly know how to fix it :sweating_profusely:
 
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