My favorite writing app crashed and lost a whole chapter draft

It happened last Tuesday night right as I was finishing a key scene. I was using Scrivener on my old laptop, and the whole program just froze and quit without saving. I lost about 1,200 words of dialogue that felt really right in the moment. I tried to rewrite it from memory, but the spark is gone. Has anyone found a good way to get back the flow after losing work like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenny58029d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, "the spark is gone" is the worst feeling. It's like your brain just closes the tab on that perfect version. Honestly, I've found the only fix is to write something terrible on purpose, just to get the bad version out so you can maybe find the good one again.

margaret69228d ago

Sometimes a forced rewrite actually makes the final draft stronger.

the_fiona8d ago

My friend's editor made her rewrite a chapter and it was way better.