Scribes & Archers

A few years ago, I had a conversation with someone who said he’d tried to write a number of stories, but could never seem to get past chapter eight. I was familiar with the feeling, and maybe you are, too. It’s easy to blaze through the start of your story, fueled by all the excitement of a bright new idea, banking on momentum until… that momentum inevitably runs out. Today, I want to talk about how to get past that initial loss of momentum to keep going and complete that exciting new project you’ve started.

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What is the “Chapter 8 Slump”?

For the purposes of this post, I’m discussing that first big case of “writer’s block” after you’ve started a new story. For some reason, it seems that has a tendency to hit around the chapter-eight mark, or after 10-20k words. In my own personal experience, it’s also more prevalent when “pantsing” a story vs. working on a story that has already been plotted out ahead of time, but that could just be a personal issue; if this “chapter 8 slump” is a problem you’ve faced, I’d love to hear in the comments whether you’re usually a “pantser” or a “plotter”!

Tip #1: Expect the Slump

Here’s the thing: Every new story idea loses its luster and causes the author’s momentum to falter. As Rick Riordan put it,

“Writing a book is always hard work. It’s much easier to think of new ideas. You’ll get to the middle of the manuscript and you’ll think, ‘Oh, this is too hard. I’ll start another book instead and that will be easier.’ DON’T! That new book won’t be any easier.”

Part of having a strong defense against the chapter 8 slump is to expect it and prepare for it ahead of time. One way to do this is to outline your project ahead of time–however that works best for you. I like to use K.M. Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel* as a reference when I’m outlining a new novel, but I’ve used less “structured” methods in the past as well. One major cause of the chapter 8 slump can be not knowing what comes next, and plotting your story ahead of time bypasses this problem.

Already hit the point of “What comes next?” Subscribe for a set of character-driven plotting prompts to help you brainstorm the most effective next move for your story!

It can also help to have an established writing habit. Fueling your writing process with discipline over momentum might not make the chapter 8 slump disappear, or make the next steps of your story easier to figure out, but it can help keep you going despite the slump and get you through to the other side–the point at which writing becomes easier again.

But even if outlining isn’t your thing and this season of your life doesn’t allow for a consistent writing habit, simply knowing that the slump will come and preparing yourself mentally–as well as arming yourself with some of the mid-slump tips that follow–can make it easier to navigate and push through.

Tip #2: Revisit What You’ve Already Written

The chapter 8 slump has two primary causes, in my experience:

1. Decreased interest in the story
2. Lack of clarity about what comes next

Both of these causes can be helped by going back to the beginning and rereading what you’ve already written of a project. In the mad dash of getting the beginning of a story onto paper, we can lose track of details slipped in and plot points alluded to, even by the time we get to chapter eight. Backtracking can help us expose these forgotten details, which can sometimes help spark new ideas for the next portion of the story.

Sometimes, there are no specific details we’ve lost, but revisiting the beginning of the story as a reader–or with an editor’s eye–can help us trace the goals and actions of our characters to clarify what they would realistically do next.

This rediscovery of plot can sometimes even be the catalyst to reignite your excitement over a project! But sometimes, when lack of excitement is the problem, you need to go back without analyzing so much; you need to go back with an eye for what you love about this project–whether it’s a certain character, certain details, the setting, a plot point you’re working toward, etc.

In some cases, this story may have lost its luster to you because you feel that the story on the page isn’t living up to the vision you had for it in your mind. Then, you may have to go back beyond the start of your draft to what that vision was. What excited you about it? What are the core elements of that vision, that you can focus on implementing as you move forward? The hard part is that you will also have to acknowledge that your draft probably won’t live up to that vision initially–but that doesn’t mean you can’t use this project to strengthen your writing skill, or make that vision come to life more clearly in the editing stages! The only way you’re guaranteed not to capture your vision on the page is if you give up. So keep at it!

Tip #3: Intentionally Brainstorm

While revisiting the earlier part of your story may be sufficient to give you the next steps, sometimes it takes a little more dedicated brainstorming time to determine what’s holding a story back and what needs to happen next.

If you’re still struggling, pull out an empty document or notebook page, grab a friend if you need someone else to bounce ideas off of, and start testing ideas. List everything that could happen next, no matter how crazy. Explore your characters’ goals and motivations and consider what might happen if those were pushed too far. Think about what sorts of scenes, settings, and situations would further your vision for this story.

Once you’ve come up with as many possibilities as you can, go back and filter them for those that make the most sense for your story and/or interest you the most!

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Tip #4: Backtrack

Sometimes the chapter 8 slump hits because we’ve genuinely written ourselves into a corner. Hopefully, through revisiting earlier parts of the story and/or brainstorming, you’ll be able to identify when this is the problem. Sometimes characters act outside of their character, the plot goes in an unsustainable direction, you find a crucial part of your world is under-developed, etc. When this happens, it can sometimes warrant completely deleting portions of your draft (or relocating them to a separate document, if you don’t like to permanently delete anything) and starting over from a previous point.

This can be difficult, especially when you’re struggling to make forward progress and it feels like you’re backtracking and losing ground! But removing what doesn’t serve the story and replacing it with something that does can actually enable you to make more forward progress than you would have otherwise, and will ultimately serve the good of your story as a whole.

Tip #5: Take a Break

Sometimes we chase a story too far, too fast and we end up burned out. In these cases, no amount of preparation, revisiting, or brainstorming is going to solve the problem; the only effective solution is to let yourself–and the project–rest for a time. This can mean a number of different things. Maybe you need to take a break from writing entirely and refill your creative tank, or maybe you just need to switch over to a different project until you can come back to this one with a clearer head and increased energy again. Maybe you need to focus on a different creative outlet for a little while. Maybe you just need to give yourself enough space from this project for your mind to start working in the background to solve whatever problem has you blocked. Whatever the case, rest from a project is sometimes the best option.

Just make sure (if your burnout is mild) that you make a plan to come back to the project after a certain amount of time has passed, so it doesn’t accidentally end up in the indefinite archives!

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Have you faced the “chapter 8 slump” before? What have been your most effective tools against it? Share in the comments!

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