When you hate your novel...

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When you've discovered a brand-new, shiny idea for a novel, you never think it will come to this: the point where you're ready to pitch the thing out the window. Or press the delete button.

New love is a powerful thing. We fall in love with our characters, our story world, our plot. Life is full of rainbows and fairy dust. But a few months (or years) later, we become convinced it's stale, trite, overdone. 

The best medicine for this kind of despondency is to realize it will probably happen to you. Expect it. Prepare for it. And get past it. By making yourself keep writing, no matter how bad it sounds even as you type.

The other cure is to realize it happens to others. Not just other writers, but other published writers. Bestselling writers. If they go through it, then it must be part of the journey, right? And multi-published author and former agent, Nathan Bransford says that means you're almost done. His brief post on revision fatigue could be the shot in the arm you need to keep going.

I remember feeling this way multiple times, but the most recent was after the summer, and I hadn't been writing very much. Without my head in the story, it was easy to listen to the negative comments in my head, and consider just starting on something new.

But I did two things. I started mapping out the plot, to see where I might be missing things, and I began reading a few scenes. It's not perfect, by any stretch, but I began to remember what it was I loved about this story. And it made me want to fight to finish it.

When did you hate your novel? Or question your ability as a writer? And what pulled you out of the muck?