When is it time to scratch your novel?

I know the feeling. I, too, have allowed work to "go stale" and it's the worst feeling. Then again, there's something to be said for finishing a project and seeing it through to the end -- even if it's destined for the trunk. I can safely say that I've learned a lot more from a single trunk novel than from a half-dozen incomplete ones.

I say, find your thread of inspiration. Re-read what you have; some of it might surprise you with how good it is. (I know sometimes I don't even remember writing some things, and they're usually the best pats). Find whatever it was that inspired you in the first place, and immerse yourself in it. For me, sometimes that's watching a certain movie that touches on similar themes, listening to certain music, reading certain books, whatever. Get yourself in a frame of mind that reminds you of the book, and see if that loving feeling comes back.

If not, maybe it's time to scrap the book and re-work the idea. Maybe your idea is good, but the form isn't working. Tear it down and start over with new characters, genre, plot, whatever.

Of course, ideas are cheap. You can always find more of them. If you've got something else lighting a fire in your brain, by all means work on that instead and come back to this other thing at a different time.

Whatever you do, though, I do encourage you to finish the book if possible. You'll learn a lot and feel much better about it once the story is resolved, even if it's not that great.

tlbodine said:

I can safely say that I've learned a lot more from a single trunk novel than from a half-dozen incomplete ones.

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This, so much.

It took me years and years to finish my first novel, which I started when I was . . . what, twelve? I restarted and rewrote so many times, but I learned more about writing a novel by finally finishing it than I ever did by starting over again and again, even if the technical quality of my writing increased each time.

Try to finish it if at all possible. Sit down and stare at the manuscript until the words come, or find something you love about it to get you going again. But finish it, because it's worth the experience.

Don't think of it as scratching the novel, just postponing it. If you have a new idea that burns while the old one doesn't, go for the new idea.

Or, make a commitment to finish everything you start. Either way.

Pick a direction and don't dither. Starting today, write 500 words a day, every day, rain or shine, tired or sick or well or working or weekend. The eight months left in the year will pass anyway, but if you don't start writing 500 words a day, you'll end the year with nothing. If you do write just 500 words a day (on good days, it'll take you a half hour), you'll have 122,000 words of something--either a whole new novel or the old one done or two whole new novel drafts or 30 short stories to start marketing.

Sadly, if you see nothing in your novel, why did you even start it?

When you start a novel, plan to end it. No matter what. Then, rewrite it.


If you are thinking of dropping it. Drop it. Don't waste time. Don't force yourself upon it. Drop it.
Because, you don't care for that novel.

Step back, start on a new one and grind yourself into the novel until you cannot live without seeing it finished.


Sorry if that sounded mean.

I don't work on a first draft daily. Sometimes I can't because real life interferes. Sometimes [as at this moment] I it's because I am working on the new WIP inbetween editing the previous book.

I actually find both books stay fresher that way. It doesn't allow me to obsess over one storyline.

I'm not the most efficient writer, but I do think there's something to be said for breaks and for re-charging. The thing about daily goals is that it can feel like work, and (until you are under contract) you should be writing because it's fun.

That said, if you haven't felt inclined to return to it for over a year, it's possible the story doesn't interest you much anymore. Perhaps moving on would be best.

King in On Writing also suggests that you leave a break between drafts. He suggests six months, so a few years might be a little too long.

If you've haven't worked on it since 2010, I'd say you've already dropped it. You just haven't admitted it to yourself .

randywrite said:

I once read in Stephen King’s book On Writing (paraphrased) he recommended working on the first draft of your novel daily, otherwise the story tends to get stale. I think I’m starting to agree with Mr. King on this one.

I started a novel back in 2008 and I’m not even close to finishing it now in 2012. I think the novel is based on a really decent idea, but I haven’t written anything on it since the end of 2010. And the thought of writing on it does seem stale and mundane.

I wonder if it’s time to scratch the novel and move on. Or should I try to rekindle a spark and start working on it again.
Any wisdom to offer on the subject?

(for those of you who follow my posts, the novel I'm thinking of ditching is the Carpenter's Creek one. you know the one about the boy who catches his pastor having sex down by the creek...that one.)

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try reading through and editing what you have, all of it, in a week. if the refresher course doesn't pique you, I'd move on....you can always come back later

I used to abandon stories all the time... I'd get about 40,000 words on a novel, hit a wall, and put it away for a year (or three). At first I didn't see anything wrong with it ~ if the idea wasn't strong enough to hold my attention, then why bother working on it, right? But then I realized I was developing a really bad pattern of never finishing anything I started. I also realized that many, many writers hit a slump somewhere in the middle of their manuscripts and the only way past it is to keep going. So I went back and read some of my false start projects and discovered that a couple ran out of steam because they make better short stories. Fine ~ I wrote them (and finished them!) as short stories. One is such a weak premise I don't think it will ever have potential, so I threw it out. Two have promise, so I sat down and brainstormed, thinking about them as totally fresh ideas. I plan to re-write one from the beginning as soon as the current wip is done.

For me, the best way to decide what to do with a story is to consider:
Why did you stop working on it? Did you realize the idea just needed more time to mature, did you need more time to mature as a writer, or did you just run out of motivation? In the meantime, what have you been working on? If you've finished many other projects, then maybe the idea *is* stale and maybe it is a good idea to let it go. But if you've had trouble finishing another novel, then maybe you just need to make a commitment to getting it done.

I would also consider whether the premise works as a novel. Would you feel more inspired and excited about it as a short story?

Good luck, whatever you decide to do with it.

Writing projects (not to mention the ability to write) tend to harden like stale bread if you neglect them. If you take long breaks from any piece of writing, you'll have to put some time and work into it before it feels alive again. That's normal. So King is right: the more often and regularly you knead the story, the more pliable the dough and the better it rises.

So my advice is not to scrap it, but get in there and pummel it. Then see whether it's got any life to it.

Buffysquirrel said:

If you've haven't worked on it since 2010, I'd say you've already dropped it. You just haven't admitted it to yourself .

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Yep.

Buffysquirrel said:

If you've haven't worked on it since 2010, I'd say you've already dropped it. You just haven't admitted it to yourself .

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This.

quicklime said:

try reading through and editing what you have, all of it, in a week. if the refresher course doesn't pique you, I'd move on....you can always come back later

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And this.

If a reread doesn't either A) pique your interest or B) show you where you took a wrong turn (that subsequently killed your want-to, and the identification/correction of which would revert you back to A), then I'd say forget about the thing.

Nice thing is there's really no wasted writing, even if it doesn't make its way into a nice, completed story. So long as you're learning why something didn't work and avoiding the problem in future writing, you're golden.

Are you stuck on a difficult scene, one where you don't know what to do? You can always try skipping it. Maybe you should write the ending, if you haven't already, then figure out a way to get there.

And what happens when the next one gets stale?

I hit something similar. It's been about seven months since I had last worked on my WIP. I had worked myself into a corner I didn't like so I wanted to rewrite it. I was so depressed about it though I couldn't make myself do it. I started last night and I think working on short stories for SYW has helped me. I have also spent a lot of time thinking about why I wanted to write this in the first place.

I remember reading your first chapter in SYW and I enjoyed the premise and your description, I think. Maybe you could rewrite and repost the first chapter. I asked myself why my first try didn't work. It was POV and tone for me.

Lastly, without being overly critical, as we all can be, imagine someone else had posted your first chapter on SYW. What comments would you make, what questions would you ask?

I say pick it up again and write everyday for a month and then decide if it is stale.

I don't know what you should do. My sense is that you don't really want to give up on the idea. If you were ready to let it go, you wouldn't be wondering about it now.

Personally, I think that the end of 2010 wasn't all that long ago, but I suppose it depends on what you've been doing in the meantime. I'm planning to go back for another revision of a novel I last worked on in 2009, and after that I'm maybe going to return to my epic fantasy series, which I haven't actively worked on since 2007. Some people take 10 years to write a novel. I don't think that's necessarily terrible. We aren't all three-book-a-year writers.

I think you'll be bugged by it if you leave it unfinished, but that for whatever reason, the story you hope to write and your current development as a writer have you at a standstill. I recommend taking the third way, which is to hack a finish that must fulfill only two requirements - be in narrative voice and be logical, even if completely stupid - example,

... two weeks later Lady Maincharacta received an inheritance from the ex-husband of her aunt Reynalda. The money was enough to pay Joshua's ransom, and with what was left, he could go to plumbing school so that they would never have to want for anything again.

This sounds silly, but it will satisfy the requirement for finishing, leaving you with a clean slate to start your next project. Here's where I like to tell the story of the teacher who graded on class by the number of pots thrown, another class by the quality of each pot. At the end of the semester the first class was making objectively better pots. See "Art and Fear" for the reference.

This is a really tricky one. On the one hand, you don't want to abandon something that you have invested heavily in. On the other hand, you don't want to throw good time after bad by doing lots of work on a project that might be going nowhere.

I don't think there is a definitive answer. I can't say "yup, go back to it" because I don't know (a) how good the book is or how good it could be or (b) whether you are going to finish it or not or (c) if you start again will you come up with something better?

You seem to be looking for us to answer a question that you can only answer yourself. I don't really think we can do that for you.

Instead of answers, here are some questions...

Do you think about the unfinished book often?
Does it bug you that you didn't finish it?
Do you leave other things unfinished in your life?
All the time that you haven't been working on it, have you been working on something else?
What made you fall in love with the book in the first place?
What made you stop?
How much effort would you need to finish it?
What are you most afraid of?
Is it any good?
Would another project be any better?
Is it still useful as a learning experience?

It might be worthwhile getting a second opinion. Why not ask someone to read your book and let you know if they think whether it's a diamond in the rough? Or just rough.

This next bit is a pure guess - only you can tell if it applies to you. I believe that writing a book needs several different skill sets. We need to have the imagination to think up a premise, the observational skills to sketch characters, the precision needed to research and get facts right, the stamina to keep it going to the end, the discipline to edit and the humility to chop out bits that don't really work. And lots more skills besides.

Where many people go wrong is that they have some of these skills but not all. They might have the imagination to dream up a fantastic story, but don't have the stamina to finish the job. Or they might create some fabulously interesting characters but get their research wrong.

When we leave a book unfinished, it could be because we've run out of ideas. Or that we haven't yet developed sufficient stamina. Or we don't like the idea of editing. If we can identify why we have stopped, it might help us to finish the next novel.

Or it might be a spur to go back and finish the first one. How else do we develop skills except by practising?

Sorry to be so vague. Some of the questions on this forum can be answered pretty definitively. This one, I think, is for you to answer yourself.

Is it bad that when I saw the title of this thread, I thought "when it itches!"?

If you've been writing a lot and progressing as a writer in the interim, it could be that your refined eye recognizes that your novel is fatally flawed. Not that any book can't be revived with enough time, skill and dedication, but if it doesn't excite you, why bother? If it's going to take 3x as long to finish as another book and you're only finishing it because you think you have to, give yourself permission to set it aside.

It doesn't make you a failure. Many successful writers have abandoned early novels. The point is that they finish the majority of their projects.

randywrite said:

the novel I'm thinking of ditching is the Carpenter's Creek one. you know the one about the boy)

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Sounds like you've got other novels in progress? That's... maybe scary for you. Why not pick the one that is 1)most exciting to you and 2)most developed and commit to finishing it, forsaking all others...

The novel I'm close to finishing right now was one I started almost 10 years ago. Back then, I just couldn't do anything with it. I worked on it off and on for about two years and finally gave up. I never forgot about it and about six months ago, something clicked and the whole thing came together. Just like that. Easiest thing ever. Maybe it's just not the right time.