when should you give up on a WIP and start something new??

my guilt stems from the fact that i have never finished writing a novel yet. unless you count a 60k first draft of this wip that was so bad that sitting and writing from scratch would be easier than editing.....

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If you keep on giving up, then you'll never finish one.

when is it "ok" to give up on a WIP and start something new?

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When you're absolutely sure you can't do anything with it, and when people around you also feel like it sucks big time.

If the plot idea is good -- then why should you give up? Just change the things you don't like. Or, keep writing till you've finished it, then mold it and pat it to something readable. You could also -- if you're sure you don't want to see it again, start all over again using the same idea but different characters.

Has this ever happened to you? do you think real published authors go through this?????????

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Yeah, all the time before I started my current novel xD I kept on finishing them at 15k or less...or just giving up and leaving them in some folder.
The one I'm writing now is my baby, so I'll never let it go! I'm so happy I don't feel like scrapping it!

Everyone does, when they first start writing (yes, even published authors).

What I suggest is leaving it for a while, but not deleting it. Then one day you can come back to it and not regret deleting it. That happened to me once

Lidiya said:

Everyone does, when they first start writing (yes, even published authors).

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Do they?

When it comes to giving up on a WIP, if you absolutely feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall, then forcing yourself to continue is counter-productive.

However, there are those among us and on Twitter who keep banging on about a new WIP, a new idea, a new shiny...and they hardly ever finish anything.

Don't be that writer.

Maybe this book isn't salvageable—it's impossible for anyone but you to know. If there are major pieces that are working like the plot or the characters, then I would not be too quick to scrap it.

Consider this. Perhaps soldiering through to the end of one work will teach you important things that starting a new WIP wouldn't. Your next WIP could immeasurably better if you do what's necessary to figure out what's wrong with this one and make your best attempt to fix it.

Sometimes as adults, we have a hard time going back to that helpless feeling of a child learning something as a beginner. We think we should know better because we're proficient in so many other areas. I'd urge you to allow yourself that discomfort of recognizing you're not as good as you want to be right now. It will help you get where you want to go.

This isn't something that has an easy answer. You have to make a decision based on your interest level, your gut feeling about the amount of work required to get it in good shape (if you feel that is even possible), the time invested so far, and a number of other personal issues.

Just consider a couple of things before binning the story:

The most insidious affliction of new and developing writers is an inability to finish projects. Writing a novel-length story is part fun and part hard work. The ease of jumping to another project to avoid the hard work of writing makes bailing the perfect antagonist to self-discipline.

If putting the story away is your best decision, before doing so, analyze your writing to find out where you had trouble and where you came up short. If you can identify these problems, think of how you can avoid them in future projects. If you keep making the same mistakes over and over, you shouldn't be surprised if you have a similar outcome in your future projects. In other words, a binned project is not wasted if you maximize what you've learned from it.

The biggest danger to writers is "the new shiny". The new shiny is what keeps you from finishing things. Another thing is that you'll get to the end of the book and loathe it. That can happen too. That may not really be a true feeling - and it may be more along the lines of wanting a change to bad that you want to burn what you're doing in a dark ceremony with chicken sacrifices and naked temple-dancers and... Hmm... *cough* Okay. Bad analogy.

The mark of the writer is persistence, and finishing stuff. Finish what you start. Or have a damned good, OBJECTIVE reason not to. You may find that there are perfectly objective valid reasons to burn the draft before anyone sees it.

This is just my opinion, but I would take detailed notes about what you want to change and then just keep writing. Since you have had difficulty finishing, if you go back to rewrite now, you might get stuck in perpetual revision.

Finish it. Even if you think it's crappy. If you've never finished a WIP yet, you need to make yourself finish one. Maybe then you will decide it's salvageable, or maybe you will trunk it, but get yourself out of the habit of giving up and starting something newer and shinier whenever the going gets tough.

I had a whole bunch of stuff written up and it all came down to this: finish the project.


Think of how much less guilt you'll have because you completed a project. Whether it's the next Big Famous Novel or a steaming pile of crap, you worked hard, completed it, and have done something that not everybody can do.

And the next one will be better. Yes, it will. Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a flaming hot poker in my eye.

I agree with others that you should finish this WIP, if only for your own sense of accomplishment and for practice.

Ultimately, I think the question of whether to keep going in the original direction or shift to a new one with new scenes is one only you can answer for yourself. There's no one right way to do this. Whatever keeps you writing to completion is your best method right now. If you change directions, you can always go back and revise the finished (!) draft later.

Have you read Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD? I recommend it to developing writers for lots of reasons, but the chapters that I find most helpful are the one on "Sh!tty First Drafts" (just write...silence your editor and just write whatever comes to you, even if it's crappy) and the one on focusing on one small piece of the story at a time (something about a 2x2 in frame, I think).

If you decide you want to finish this manuscript, then my main advice is to keep writing. Throw in scenes and characters and events out of nowhere, if you want. Use this draft as playtime.

Completing a draft is powerful stuff. You can let your inner editor tear it up later...for now, just write.

_____________

Note: Having said that, I did give up on one of my early manuscripts. I loved the characters and setting and what I "knew" of the storyline...but I wanted the story to grow organically and realized I didn't have much of a plot, at least not an interesting one. And I found the direction of the story dark and depressing...instead of feeling energized at the end of a writing session, I felt increasingly sad and heavy. So, I set it aside and eventually started a WIP in a completely different genre and direction...one that I find much happier and more fun to write, and I found I was able to complete a manuscript with comparative ease that way.

Whatever you decide, best of luck!

I_love_coffee said:

so if i decide to finish this draft, how do i go forward? ignore the stuff that was already written thats not working or changed midstream and then just write the next scene? I was looking over my draft and i think its more of a case of wanting to rewrite before first draft is completed.

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What I do (which was based off advice from a published author I admire) is I just write the next scene. I put notes in the pages before about what I need to change, and just move forward. As raif said, going back and starting over from the beginning might get you stuck in a perpetual rewrite cycle. This happened to me, but more annoyingly what would happen is I'd rewrite, get farther into the draft, and realize I had to change something else. So back to the beginning again. It was a lot of extra work I didn't need to do. With notes, they're easily adjusted and you don't end up reworking scenes that might have to be changed or cut later anyway.

Good luck!

when should you give up on a WIP and start something new??

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You should give up when you've reached "The End," revised it at least once, and it's been rejected by every appropriate publisher in Writer's Market.

You should start something new the day after you type "The End" on the first draft of the WIP under discussion.

I agree with those who say you should finish this WIP, largely for the reasons they've listed. Of those, I would underscore the notion writing a novel is not something everyone can do. I think there's value in knowing you can, even if that novel never sees an ISBN.

Are there still ISBNs?

Anyway, the only other thing I'd add is, if you do finish this WIP, you can edit it with the the mindset and frame of reference you have now, that is, a unifying perspective, which can be a big help in smoothing and homogenizing all the disjointed bumpiness you see in it now.

Or, hindsight is 20/20, if you like.

-Jason

I'd say finish, now matter horrible u think it is. I've finished my first novel after years of stopping after like 10,000 words because i thought it was garbage. even with this novel, i thought it was garbage. i didnt keep going back and re-reading, i just picked up where i left off and made it to the end.

there were a ton of problems, like voice, tense, plot holes, etc. but once i finished, i knew the story, where it wanted to go, the characters, the voice, everything. from their i revised it, a lot. i had to change almost everything but i enjoyed the process a lot more than thought i would because i knew what needed to be done. i seriously cut like 15k and added another 20k.

just try to finish it and then decide! if there is stuff you like then it should be salvageable when you revise. good luck! it's a lot of hard work but it's worth it

JasonChirevas said:

Are there still ISBNs?

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Depends on whether you want someone, somewhere, sometime, to buy a copy.

If yes, then yes.

I see this:

If you believe your writing/story cannot be improved with your current predicament; then throw the story out the window. End it like: "And they all died." and move on.

In your case, I would tell you to practice writing, get 50 posts and visit the SYW forum to see what you can improve on.

After you have a stable platform that you feel comfortable writing from, then work on the next story. And all of this time while you're practicing, detail the story you wish, let it stew and return to it when you want to.


And I'll tell you:

You will always be throwing out stories, finished or not.

I've got handfuls of stories that I have thrown out, for all of the known reasons. But I learn from them, and move on.

Give up when you decide quitting is a good thing, a good habit to have. I'm a firm believer in Heinlein's Rules. Those who follow them almost always achieve some level of success. Those who do not follow them, who make excuses for breaking this one or that one, very seldom achieve any success at all, and certainly do not achieve the level of success they should.

Simply put, you haven't done anything until you type "The End". You haven't even practiced. Practice on half a story is no practice at all.

I've never given up on a WIP, but that doesn't mean the finish product was good enough.

But string enough of them together, and you not only get better, but you learn how to plot, construct and--wait for it--FINISH.

I consider my first to novels as *practice*. I think finishing something, even if it's crap, has merit. It proves you CAN DO IT. (This from my agent and mentor, a seasoned author himself.)

.02.

WillSauger said:

If you believe your writing/story cannot be improved with your current predicament; then throw the story out the window. End it like: "And they all died." and move on.

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I think this is a good compromise between giving up and struggling counterproductively. If 'they all died' doesn't fit, you can try something a bit more involved - maybe even a whole paragraph's worth.

Good luck

Taking a step back from one Novel may be the correct decision. However, if you find yourself constantly doing so it's probably worthwhile just finishing something.

I_love_coffee said:

OK I GET IT!!!!
A huge thank you to everyone for their responses. You just talked another jumper down from the ledge.

I'm gonna finish this draft. My goal is 80k and i am at 43k now. I have a beginning a sketchy middle and a few end scenes written.

Its not a bad story its just a first draft! My issue is i see something i think needs to be changed and then i want to go back to the beginning. I thought that was necessary to get the story "on track" but now i see i should just keep plowing forward and revise later, if I ever want to FINISH something. and yes i want to finish something!!!!

***hugs to everyone for their help******

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Congratulations! Now go write.