To abandon or not to abandon

rquinlivan · Aug 16, 2012

I've written a 70,000 word WIP. It took me a year of hard work and teeth-pulling to keep hammering at it, during which I learned a bit of what is required to turn an idea and some prose skills into a novel. I consider it a wonderful learning experience to have attempted this project, but at this stage I'm not really interested in the project anymore. The story is bland and convoluted. I don't really want to finish it and feel as though my efforts could be better spent on something else. And the story is such a mess that I don't really know how to finish it. On the other hand, it feels awful throw away something I worked on for a solid year. It almost feels like a waste of time.

My question for you is, should I try to finish a project that I've almost entirely lost interest in, or should I stick with it for the sake of saying I finished something? I should mention, this is the first novel-length project I have ever attempted.

Brightdreamer · Aug 16, 2012

Well, just 'cause you're not actively working on it doesn't mean you've thrown it away, or wasted your time.

You yourself said that you learned a lot from this project. Take that and move on. In the meantime, set this one aside for a while. Maybe, in a few years, you'll come back to it and figure out how to fix it. Or maybe you'll just want to plunder it for future projects. Either way, it'll keep.

(Heck, if you do become a famous novelist and pass away, your relatives will make a killing having it published posthumously... in which case, you're perfectly justified in coming back from the grave and wreaking vengeance upon them.)

Kerosene · Aug 16, 2012

Welcome to AW. Visit the New Members area and read the FAQ.

To your question:

Personally, I believe if you don't have confidence in your piece, drop it, shelf it, throw it away. Because, mentally, it's like putting a old goldfish on life support--no matter what, it's going to go belly up.

To finish it (I stole this from another user): "And they all died. The end."

This is your first long piece. Don't feel bad about dropping something. I've got hundreds of half written, starts and false worlds where I've just dropped them because I didn't see any value in them.
But, the benefit of this; is that you're learning and moving on. You can grab characters and material from the old work and press it into your new piece. All the learning you've done during the old one, can always be transferred over.

However, it's all up to you.

Maxinquaye · Aug 16, 2012

Always finish what you start. If you get in the habit of abandoning works, you'll never finish works.

It is a fairly normal reaction to loathe something you've worked on for a very long time. You want to do anything but that. Discipline says you should finish.

Finishing a learning experience is not a waste of time. Finishing becomes, in itself, a learning experience.

BBBurke · Aug 16, 2012

Just my thought, but it sounds like to 'finish' this WIP you're going to need to completely rewrite it. If you're going to have to write a whole new book, you might as well start with something you're interested in.

On the other hand, if you actually see a way to finish it without starting over, then that could be a good learning process.

Either way, I'd recommend you set it aside and start writing something else right away. Keep writing, keep the momentum going. If you get caught up in something new and never come back to the first one that's fine. If the new project dies out, then you really need to consider if you have a problem with finishing in general and it's not just the first story. One unfinished MS is a learning process. Two is a pattern.

Layla Nahar · Aug 16, 2012

I say write something new. The book "Art and Fear" gives the example of a class that was graded for the number of pots it threw and a class that was graded by the quality of pots. May or may not surprise you, but at the end, the students in the class graded by number were making better pots.

rwm4768 · Aug 16, 2012

Write what you want to write. Try to bring the current one to an end, though. There's a lot you can learn from writing a full book even if it is crap.

sunandshadow · Aug 17, 2012

Try making an outline of what you've got so far. That should help you figure out what would fix it and how much work it would be.

truemay · Aug 17, 2012

Rather than looking at it as a whole piece waiting to be binned work through it again chapter by chapter.That way youll either fix the whole novel more to your liking or at the worst salvage a good few individual chapters to work back into a new novel you might feel better about.

rquinlivan · Aug 17, 2012

sunandshadow said:
Try making an outline of what you've got so far. That should help you figure out what would fix it and how much work it would be.

Could you give some advice on how to outline – an "outling guide," if you will? I think one of the reasons this first project has been so monstrously disorganized is because I took the "write first, outline later" approach.

ccarver30 · Aug 17, 2012

I feel like you answered your own question by showing your true feelings of it. Trunk it and if you never think about it again for the next 3 months, it was the right decision to ditch it.

jaksen · Aug 17, 2012

Maxinquaye said:
Always finish what you start. If you get in the habit of abandoning works, you'll never finish works.

It is a fairly normal reaction to loathe something you've worked on for a very long time. You want to do anything but that. Discipline says you should finish.

Finishing a learning experience is not a waste of time. Finishing becomes, in itself, a learning experience.

I abandon stuff all the time. I also finish stuff all the time. So this isn't true of everybody. I recently finished a novel I put aside in 2002. I also sat down and finished a group of stories from the 90's that were just hanging around in my PC. I felt like finishing them, so I did.

But I also still have plenty of unfinished things which may just stay that way forever.

If the story is boring you, or is something you no longer care about, why waste time working on it? Shelve it. Don't throw it out. (I never throw anything out, finished or not.) But if it's like an albatross around your neck, then untie the dead thing and put it in a drawer.

And start something new.

Layla Nahar · Aug 17, 2012

rquinlivan said:
Could you give some advice on how to outline – an "outling guide," if you will? I think one of the reasons this first project has been so monstrously disorganized is because I took the "write first, outline later" approach.

You might want to try the Holly Lisle One-Pass revision.

http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manuscript-revision-from-first-draft-to-last-in-one-cycle/

Buffysquirrel · Aug 17, 2012

Eh, if you've lost interest in it but force yourself to continue, you may put yourself off writing entirely. It wasn't a waste of time. You learnt from it. Now it's played its part. Trunk it.

BBBurke · Aug 17, 2012

rquinlivan said:
Could you give some advice on how to outline – an "outling guide," if you will? I think one of the reasons this first project has been so monstrously disorganized is because I took the "write first, outline later" approach.

Lots of different ways to outline. Here's a few threads on the topic:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250328&highlight=outline

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247369&highlight=outline

lacygnette · Aug 17, 2012

You don't need to finish finish it - as in write the final chapters. But probably it would help you to parse it so you can pinpoint the structural weaknesses that are keeping you from a conclusion.

I outlined one of my early messes chapter by chapter, noting what I hoped that the chapter accomplished. And a yes or no notation if it succeeded.

The thing is, you don't have to write the end, but it might help you to work until you can envision the end. But, as others have already said, you don't need to do it right now.

BTW, a year is nothing...at least for me. The one I'm getting ready to submit took over three. sigh....

IAMWRITER · Aug 17, 2012

You've done great to get that far but if your heart isn't in it anymore maybe it is time to focus on other projects.

Don't throw it away, just put it on the backburner just in case you do want to return to it.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 17, 2012

If you don't take this book all the way to the end when and how are you going to learn to take a book all the way to the end?

It's entirely normal for writers -- even long time, multiply published authors -- to hate their current books while they're in the mid-book. To consider it the worst piece of junk ever put on a page. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful.

One sad thing that I see all the time is the writer who, after writing for fifteen years, has thirty half-novels in his desk drawer.

folkchick · Aug 17, 2012

I say you finish it. But first, it might help if you answer these questions:

1. At 70,000 words are you closer to the ending, or to the middle?

2. What made you want to start this project in the first place?

3. Do you think you could finish this book in a few chapters before putting it aside?

4. What would it feel like to see your book in a store? Would it have made the effort worthwhile?

5. Would it make you mad if someone else wrote a book similar to yours?

Esther_Jones · Aug 17, 2012

I would never throw it away. It might look like a mess now, but three years down the road you might suddenly find a use for one of the characters, or have a moment of epiphany that saves the whole thing.

Or might never pick that particular MS up again. But at least you'd still have the option.

My general advice would be to look back at the MS, find where you started to lose interest, and see if you can figure out why. Rosemary Jones has a blog post about a panel at SpoCon called "the muddle in the middle" during which the authors talked about stalled manuscripts and what to do. You might give it a look. http://syaffolee.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/a-writer-centric-view-of-spocon-2012-part-2/ (Side note: Nope. I'm not related to Rosemary or Fallon.)

If you still can't do anything with the story, shelve it and move onto a new project. Good luck!

HeavilyMedicated · Aug 21, 2012

I'm getting the urge to abandon my latest WIP.

I keep wanting it to be perfect, even though thinking logically I know it won't be. It won't be the best thing I ever write, even. But I just keep getting more and more anxious about it.

ryanswofford · Aug 21, 2012

The first novel, I believe, is all experience. You may think you're writing a novel, but you're not. You're writing a pre-novel. The next one you write will probably be pleasant and easy to write, since you now know the mechanics and all the work it takes. You'll be prepared.

Don't sweat it. You may be attached to your manuscript, but if it stinks, it stinks. Revise here and there, if need-be, but then chuck it in the drawer. I say that boldly because I've met writers (many writers), and this is just their method. It sucks, but it's worth it. And those 70,000 words are just 70,000 seconds of experience (depending on how quickly you type...)

Dylan Hayes · Aug 21, 2012

Well, we all want to be able to say we've finished something. But that alone is not enough of a reason to continue. If you've lost interest, you can set it aside for now and move onto something else if you want to. But don't throw it away if you've put so much into it. Maybe someday you'll want to get back to it.

Rusted · Aug 22, 2012

It sounds like the demons of doubt have caught up to you. You need to type faster to get away from them!

This happens to me all the time. I have plenty of unfinished works lying around. I come back to them months later and think, "huh, it wasn't so bad, I should have finished that one ..."

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