Deleting and Combining

00Pepper · Apr 21, 2014

I had a wild hair about five years ago and decided to try my hand at writing a novel. I had the main character and had a vague idea of where I wanted to go with the story. VERY vague. I wrote a prologue (that I’ve since converted to the first chapter) and got stuck. I picked it up again this last year and haven’t gotten very far and feel stuck again. I have a grand total of 6k words!

I really want to write this story, I feel like it has promise but at the same time I feel like I need to delete everything that I’ve already written and start over. I feel like my writing style/voice has changed some in the last five years so when I work on the story now it's not really meshing - it feels like two different people contributed to it. I keep thinking I can tweak it enough to mesh but I’m really starting to think I’m just going to have to do it…start completely over.

On top of that I had an idea for a completely different book last week and wrote a couple of opening scenes and really like the idea of it. Over the weekend though I thought maybe I should combine the two stories into one story. I think the two combined would make a good story and be a solution to some of the problems I’m having with the first WIP. But I also think the second WIP has a lot of potential on it’s own too. Gah! I’m starting to think that I can’t let go of the first story because it was my first try.

Any advice for me? Delete and start over? Combine the two stories? Is this all normal or the sign of a really bad story idea? Or a disorganized author? Or what??

ETA: And actually there is a 3rd WIP in the mix and that's probably the one I have the most worked out (in my head) and I feel like I can't work on it until I prove to myself that I can actually finish one.

sassandgroove · Apr 21, 2014

(in my head)

there's your first problem. it's in your head. you need to get it out on paper.
I never delete anything. I might remove it from the current file but I keep it somewhere. One time I found a poem I wrote in high school and the best part was the part I crossed out.

It's also ok to have 3 ideas. But you need to focus on one at a time. YOu can work on all 3 but when you are working on 1, you need to focus on it.

Now when I say don't delete, that doesn't mean don't scrap. If you feel you have a different voice now, then yeah, start over. But keep what you wrote before, it's not lost or wasted. And you can refer back to it later as well. I've reused entire paragraphs or scenes I cut in a different place or pulled pieces from them.

It sounds to me like you need to focus and get it on paper! Good luck.

Maryn · Apr 21, 2014

My first bit of advice: Please don't override the font size AW uses as its default. Copying and pasting from word processing results in teensy text like yours, which older eyes cannot read easily. (But just for you, I enlarged my display--which I will do one time.)

Advice for you: Jot down the shiny new idea, no more than 1 single-spaced page per idea. Then return to the story you have already begun. Finishing things is good practice for finishing things.

Don't worry even a little that it's no good. Lots of us write first drafts which are appalling, but that horrible draft is a starting point for revision and rewriting. When you have 6000 crummy words you don't like, the thing to do is add 54,000 more of similar quality--then you've got something!

If you don't know what comes next and feel paralyzed, you may not be a writer who thrives writing without a plan. If so, take the time to create a detailed master plan in whatever form works for you. (I like spreadsheets, myself.) If you have it planned down to who's in each scene, where it's set, and what has to happen, you will never find yourself ready to write but not knowing what to write.

Beyond that, it's discipline. You'll hear BIC around here a lot. That's your Butt In Chair, for a set amount of time daily, during which you write or don't write as you sit there. Those are the only two options during BIC time. Most days, you'll write.

Maryn, pleased to meet you

00Pepper · Apr 21, 2014

Thank you both for your advice!

Maryn - I hope this is better font I didn't mean to override the defaults but I did copy and paste so that must've been what happened.

I think I meant "scrap" instead of delete. I don't think I could bring myself to actually delete it but I think I need to completley move it to a different file so that I can start fresh.

I generally need a plan in real life too so you may be onto something there. I know you're both right about the focus and discipline, I keep getting distracted with new ideas and instead of just writing the idea down I start a whole new story.

Off to open Excel and give BIC a shot.

sassandgroove · Apr 21, 2014

one thing that helped me was realizing there isn't a wrong way to plan/outline. There are as many ways of doing that as there are authors. I wrote out my novel outline in prose and now I am going back and filling it out. Excel works for Maryn. some people like traditional outlines and some people like note cards. whatever works for you.

Maryn · Apr 22, 2014

True. What works, works, and who can argue with that?

Well, there are days I could, just out of sheer orneriness, but today isn't one of them.

Maryn, who has a fresh cup of coffee and a pleasant outlook

00Pepper · Apr 22, 2014

I've noticed a fresh cup of caffeine does a lot for my outlook. :tongue

I enjoy using Excel although I'm no master user. I think I'll give it a shot because the few Word outlines I've started have fallen by the wayside. They seem so messy and disorganized so Excel may be the answer.

I'm really looking forward to trying this method, I got busy yesterday and didn't get a chance to work on it but I was thinking this morning that this might just be the solution to my "getting stuck" problems. I've had this notion that I have to sit down and write the book, that it has to flow out of me otherwise it's not a good story. I'm not sure why I've held onto that notion so strongly because I know other writers use outlines.

Anyhoo...thanks again!

sassandgroove · Apr 22, 2014

outlining in a spreadsheet
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79297&highlight=excel+outline

00Pepper · Apr 22, 2014

sassandgroove said:
outlining in a spreadsheet
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79297&highlight=excel+outline

Lots of good info and it looks like a lot of people don't like Word for outlines, good to know I'm not the only one.

Huh! Here I thought I was having "story" problems but really it was just not having enough structure.

rwm4768 · Apr 22, 2014

I wouldn't delete anything, but you might want to start over. I've found that I've had to do a lot of rewrites of some of my books because my writing style has improved and changed so much since I began writing.

Only now, after writing for more than eight years, do I finally feel like I'm settling into a style.

kkbe · Apr 22, 2014

Right now, you have three WIPs, all of which have potential. Seems like the first may have served it's purpose. That writer is somebody else, you've had other experiences since then, you aren't the same person you were so I might say, set that one aside. Your second WIP reflects the new and improved writer, maybe. You know more than you did, your writing reflects that and you started kicking around ideas, but you didn't want that first attempt to go to waste, as they say so you tried to incorporate it, and you're not feeling it. . .

Sounds to me like you've given your third WIP some thought. More importantly, it seems like you're interested in that one, excited about it, feeling those creative juices flowing when you think about it so maybe give yourself permission to run with that one for a while. See if it takes you anywhere, or where you might take the thing. I don't know if you're a panster or outliner, whatever works best for you now but don't lament anything you've written in the past. Whatever you have written has served a purpose, it's gotten you to this point so embrace that, accept that and move forward.

As for wanting to finish what you start, to write a real novel with a beginning, middle and end, no advice except to sit down and do that. Write the thing. That sounds kind of simplistic but honestly, that's the only way it's going to get written.

StephanieZie · Apr 22, 2014

I can relate. When I started on my WIP it was a very different story than what it's evolved to now. I have a master document with scenes written out-of-order over the span of about four years. In my earlier scenes, the characters out of out-of-character, the voice is off, bits of information like locations, ages of characters, relationships between characters, etc., are inconsistent. But the important part to me is just to get the whole story out. I can fix anything I need to fix later. Beware of falling into the trap of continually starting over as your ideas change.

Atalanta · Apr 23, 2014

Just to add my two cents to the good advice above...

If you're having trouble coming up with a structure for your outline, look up the "Snowflake Method" and give it a shot. I've found it tremendously helpful over the years, though I never go past the 4th or 5th step.

Also, it's a tad early, but you might want to look up "National Novel Writing Month" as well. It's a worldwide virtual event that takes place every November -- and has helped many a novice writer make it to "The End" for the first time (including me).

Anywho, good luck.

Lots of us have been there.

beck_magruder · Apr 23, 2014

For some reason I really find Notepad to be very...muse-like. You can't really do any formatting, you can just type and type as if you're writing in a...well, notepad. A lot of times, especially when I'm brainstorming, I'll just type things as they come, even if they're disorganized, out of order, etc. As I type, the more things come together in my head, and the more the novel takes shape. I find that most of the time I don't even need to go back through the document to read what I wrote, because by the time I'm done, I know the story well, and it is fleshed-out and complete enough for me to make an outline or even begin writing it in earnest.

I'll do this with ideas for other stories that pop into my head, even if I'm still working on another manuscript. I may not start working on it until I'm finished with the first, but at least then I've already got something new to start.

LupineMoon · Apr 25, 2014

I had this happen to 2 of my WIPs that just sort of fell into place together. But I have saved both WIPs and started combining them in a separate document because then I can go, "Oh, I like that!" and add things from each.

WendyN · Apr 25, 2014

Atalanta said:
Also, it's a tad early, but you might want to look up "National Novel Writing Month" as well. It's a worldwide virtual event that takes place every November -- and has helped many a novice writer make it to "The End" for the first time (including me).

This. I played with a lot of novel ideas and started a lot of opening chapters and plotted out a lot of stories in my head before finding NaNoWriMo. Outlining, plotting, planning, and brainstorming only takes you so far, and at a certain point you just need to sit yourself down and actually write. Check out campnanowrimo.org -- they're just finishing up a session and will be starting another in July, and that's a great way to hold yourself accountable to just getting a first draft finished by giving yourself an achievable daily word count goal.

Good luck!

Deleting and Combining

00Pepper

Super Pepper

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut

Maryn

At Sea

00Pepper

Super Pepper

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut

Maryn

At Sea

00Pepper

Super Pepper

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut

00Pepper

Super Pepper

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

kkbe

Huh.

StephanieZie

Trust me, I'm a doctor

Atalanta

Bring me a knitting needle.

beck_magruder

Beck

LupineMoon

WendyN

8-armed cyborg tree