While I was “working” on my latest book—and not exactly having the best day—in the spirit of procrastination, I casually posted on X something along the lines of “Does everyone always hate their 30,000 word WIP or is it just me?” The flood of messages like “oh god, yes always” and “this phase makes me want to throw my computer out the window” assured me that I was not alone.
In her blog This Itch of Writing, author Emma Darwin noted that the 30,000-word bleakness seems to always occur no matter how long your novel is, whether you’re writing a 75,000-word thriller or a 140,000-word history book. She surmises, “By 30,000 words, the initial joy of your idea has worn off, and you’re on the long journey but can’t see the end yet (in the writing sense; you may know how the story will end, or you may not).”
This is definitely the case for me – as a certified “pantser,” not only do I not know the ending, but in my current 30,000 words, the setting has changed, the era of the backstory has changed several times, some characters have different names or are different ages than they were at the beginning, others have appeared out of nowhere, and some have simply disappeared. I go through something like this process with every book and have finally landed on a usable story (so far), so for now I have to hang on and trust that it will work itself out.
If you ask the same question in some Facebook groups for writers, the problem seems to be almost universal – even if you plan your plot in advance. Heleen Kist, author of Killer bodies, was one of several who compared it to running a marathon where you “run into a wall”, while other recurring themes included “wading through molasses”, “the honeymoon of a bright, shiny new idea is over” and “you’re not even halfway there and it still feels like you have a lot of work to do”.
Orlando Murrin, author of Knife skills for beginnerswho has previously published several successful cookbooks, says the 30,000-word “stumbling block” delayed his career as a novelist by at least 10 years. He added: “I started project after project with the wind at my back, only to find that a third of the way through, my confidence collapsed and I threw the book in the trash. I don’t think I would have ever gotten a novel across the finish line if I hadn’t made three key decisions. I told myself this was my last chance – I was going to finish this book even if it killed me. I hired a professional editor to mentor me and spur me on when I hit the 30,000-word wall on my first draft. Third, I worked on a detailed outline that culminated in a thrilling finale that I was dying to write.”
And what does everyone else do when they hit the 30-kilometer “wall”? Some go to the end and start working backwards, others jump to a scene they really want to write, others stop writing to spend some time planning. Some just tell themselves to trust their original idea and keep going.
A big reason I like to keep my books at least two timelines and multiple points of view is so that I can write about another world when I’m stuck on what to do with the one I’m currently in. I start a new notebook for each book, and sometimes make handwritten (usually barely legible) notes about what might happen next and why, or how the characters are connected and what their motivations are. And if I’m not sure what my characters need to do next, I might spend some time describing an amazing meal they’re enjoying or a fabulous place they’re in.
Rosie Walker, author of The baby monitor and book coach, says, “The advice I often give my clients when they’re losing confidence in their book is to try something new, change your point of view, write a different section, go back to the original vision you had for the novel and see where you’ve strayed from it. But I’m terrible at following my own advice, so I usually work my way through to the end so I can fix the problem in the second draft. A little distance often helps, so for me, finishing it and coming back to it later is often most useful.”
Nice to know that it’s not just me.
