Damon

Wow, thank you for your thoughts, they really helped me! Now that I have forced myself a bit more down the scene(s) I realized that it gets less fakey as soon as it gets real for the characters and they actually have a feeling of progress. But you're right - they definitely need to end up somewhere worse than before (and surprising yet meaningful...). I'll do my best on that, too. Thank you all so much!

Hi! I wonder if anybody can help me to write try-fail cycles without the reader getting his/her pants bored off. I'm in the middle of my to-be-novel, and my characters have finally gotten from reacting to acting. Of course, they can't go for the real goal right away (understanding what's actually going on and thus coming up with a plan that works). But now that I write their attempts doomed to fail, I feel like such a fake. Or is that what's supposed to feel like at this stage? Anybody eager to share some wisdom?