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Writing: Salvaging Sucky Writing

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    Okay, so I actually finished 40,000 words in March, and most of what I wrote really, really sucks. But, occasionally, there’s something non-suckish. Is it better to try and fix the story, to abandon it out completely, or to write a new story with elements of the old one. I was all set to abandon it, but I like a few scenes. So, this is not specifically a thread about my sucky writing, but more about how to salvage (and whether to salvage) bad writing in general. You thoughts?

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      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeSep 20th 2009
     

    Look at what makes the writing bad, take out that and keep the good stuff that’s left. Like I had a really bad plot, but I kept the characters, because I felt like they were the best part of the story.

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    But if you’re asking whether to start completely over, I think you should (haha, that’s what everyone told me to do) and then add in non-suckish elements as you want to.

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      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeSep 20th 2009
     
    Never delete it, for sure. Amputate scenes, phrases, characters etc. as you go along writing other things, and eventually you'll have taken everything good from it.
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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2009
     

    If the plot’s OK but the writing just sucks, keep the whole thing, copy the well-written scenes to somewhere else, and rewrite the in-between bits.

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    In my case, I’m going to start anew (because I changed a significant plot element), but I can copy/paste and then fool around with sections from my old draft that are reuseable.

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    Are there ever situations where you just leave it, forget it, and never try to fix/salvage it? If so, what would these be?

    I’m not talking about deleting here.

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    what would these be?

    Sometimes, I think that the exercise of writing it and finishing is a good boost or like a really, big warm-up. But I’ve never done that. I don’t think I’ll polish and nearly perfect every novel I write.

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    ^^That’s what I thought. Sometimes it’s just good to finish in order to jump up and down and say, “I did it! I did it! I did it!” That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth trying to polish to perfection. It is a good confidence boost, though I must say, I felt more excited when I was almost finished than when I was actually finished. It was very anti-climactic.

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    I know what you mean. Then I go around like a lunatic saying ‘I finished! I finished!’ anyway, because I feel that it’s expected. I may not come back to some of my current stuff for a long, long time.

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    Oh, man, I feel you. I hate writing entire chapters KNOWING that they suck…. It’s so damn hard. XD

    I dig the advice about amputating the good parts. I’ve managed to make a problem with that, though…

    I’ll set out to write merely a short story, but become so impressed with the problem/character/setting that I stop everything to incorporate it into my “Big Shiny Work”.... which means I never finish a good short story. Only crappy short stories get finished.

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    I know. It’s so stupid.

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