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  1.  

    Basically, yeah. I don’t know if I want to keep writing my story. After some massive deletions that twisted the plot the wrong way, I’m back to 13000 words or so, and I’m finding that I’m bored out of my skull with the lead-up to the end bit. I’m bored while I’m writing it. I don’t even like to read this sort of book.

    As to why I started writing it, a few things happened in my life—not to me, but to people I knew—and I wanted to extrapolate what might happen in this situation if a couple of other things happened at the same time. I also wanted to show a character being influenced to a big degree by somebody who wasn’t good for them. It wasn’t going to be a book I’d ever publish, I just wanted to write and finish something.

    (Actually, a freaky thing happened—I planned for one of the characters to run away, and his real-life counterpart really DID run away, but that’s another story.)

    The end bit is what I really want to write—it’s where all the action is. You see, I’m writing realistic YA fiction, so no swordfights, wizard duels, or thrilling car-chases for me. In the meantime, I can’t find a voice for my protag, I’ve lost my grip on who the characters are, if I ever really knew in the first place, I’ve drivelled on for 10 000 words about stuff I’m positive won’t be in the final draft, my outline is completely messed up… Altogether, it’s hopeless and I know it.

    But the reason I’ve kept going is that I’m kind of scared that I’ll never finish anything, because this is the third real attempt at a novel I’ve ever made and so far I’ve gone through three restarts and I just want to FINISH something. What if I never finish anything longer than 5000 words? I’ve got all these ideas, and so far, each one has come to naught. The stuff I’ve finished have all been things I’ve started on the spur of the moment and just gone and written.

    So yeah, that’s my analysis, but now I need to know what to do next and I really need some input.

    Should I keep going with it—try to redo it again? Give up and try something else that’s more interesting? Just write the end bit and move on? Give up writing original fiction for a year and just work on fanfiction? Write poetry for a while? Go drown my sorrows in chocolate? Do you want to give me a kick up the butt and tell me where I’ve gone wrong in no uncertain terms? Am I stressing out too much?

  2.  

    I would keep going just for the sake of knowing that you are able to finish something. That’s what I did with the only book I’ve actually finished (only 40,000 word, sort of pathetic really). I started to not like the story, and it got went in this weird/stupid direction. But I had come so far, and I just wanted finish something, so I’d know that I could do it.

  3.  

    Why is it that my fellow imps often end up being my shrinks.

    Be thankful that we don’t charge. XD

    Mmm…really, I’m not sure that you should invest all that time and blood and sweat and tears into a story if you’ve really come to hate it. What I’d do is step back and look at what you’ve done. What did you like about your story in the first place? Take a break for a few weeks and see if any of that enthusiasm comes back. If a month goes by and you still hate your story, then I’d say let it go.

    However, I would at least try to glean some benefit from your monolithic wreck by saving it, writing out a detailed plot outline of what you wanted to do and any ideas relating, and keep it for a rainy day if you decide you want to pull it out again. Or you might take some elements from this story and transplant it to another one.

    And don’t worry about being able to finish things- I’m the same way, and I’m plugging along. The way that I am, it took me a matter of years to develop the idea I have now, it’s still developing, and I like it a lot, so I’m sticking with it in the long run.

    So basically what I’m saying is- write what you love. You’re the person putting in all the work, and if you write, you must love something about it, so bring that love into the words that go onto the page.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2009
     

    @ Steph:

    Lets try to make topics that can be used by everybody, not just about one person. :)

    If you’re going to write a story you have to stay committed to it, I think you should stay with your origanal story, but take your new ideas and merge a bit of them into the story in a way. This way you have fresh ideas and your story develops.

    •  
      CommentAuthorVirgil
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2009
     

    Steph, do short stories first. You get that entire arc of writing a story from beginning to end in a much smaller time.

  4.  

    Steph- is it exhaustion or genuine hate? It may help to let it alone for a bit. Or you could try reworking it so that it’s a new idea, and remove all the stuff you hate. It’s really up to you- whether you think the satisfaction of finally finishing something would outway the price of working on something you absolutely hate.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2009
     

    Or… if you really, really want to write the end bit, jump in and start. Even if you have to rewrite it later, at least you’ll A) have something written, B) (hopefully) enjoy yourself, and C) definitely learn a lot about the characters. You can work out how they get to the end later.

    I ran into this problem in my NaNovel. I was writing this whole very long section leading up to the interesting part, when all of a sudden I realized I was boring myself almost to sleep just writing it. So… I just skipped it, jumped ahead to where it got interesting, and worried about explaining things later.

  5.  

    @ Steph:
    Lets try to make topics that can be used by everybody, not just about one person. :)

    This is sort of going to be a reference for others who have the same problem.

    Your ideas are all great. Thanks. I’ll keep thinking about it, but I think I definitely will take a break.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2009
     
    Does anyone else find a suddenly changed mindset- an outlook on life or whatever- can really mess with a story's direction? I wanted to give my protagonist an uncertain fate, but now I want him dead and in fact hate the man. His friend is much more interesting but I'm finding the whole thing boring and kind of like 'go here, do this; go there, see that person; go here, do this; etc.' I need to break free of the cycle gaah
    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2009 edited
     

    I’m kind of stuck on what to do with my writing too. I’ve got a couple different stories I’ve been working on, and they’re all in different stages. I have 2 of them that I’ve completed rough drafts for, and another that’s about 1/3 of the way done. I really want to work on editing, but I’m torn on if I should finish the other first.

  6.  

    I’m stuck too. Got an idea for something hysterical… a stealth parody romance novel. A few imps know exactly what I’m talking about. I have an outline for every single chapter, and I like the way it is turning out, but… actually writing the chapters is so hard to start! I have about one page of actual text and dialogue at the moment. And the annoying thing is, it probably would end up being decent enough (considering how very, very low the standards are) to get published as a romance novel. Gahhhh.

  7.  

    @ Adam Pottle- then why don’t you kill of the protag and spend the rest of the story following the friend? It’ll be unexpected, to be sure.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2009
     
    oh I like that, SWQ. I like that a lot.
  8.  

    I think if you kill off the protag, you need to gradually make him more unlikeable or unsympathetic—kinda like what JK Rowling did to
    (spoilers)

    So that it won’t be too much of a wallbanger when the protag dies.

    Or you could even intersperse the part of the book while the protag is still alive with scenes from the friend’s POV.

    I like being the one to do Harry Potter spoilers for a change.

  9.  

    I don’t think you need to do that at all. Killing off a likable protag doesn’t have to be a wallbanger as long as it’s artfully executed and done for reasons other than shock value. Most of the cast members in my favorite anime die, and their deaths are generally their most impressive moments as characters.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2009
     

    Just so long as they don’t come back later. I hate that.

    (unless it’s a character I really really really like. Then it’s OK. ;))

  10.  

    So make the character the most swoon-worthy guy and then nobody will care.

    their deaths are generally their most impressive moments as characters.

    Don’t you think that’s kinda sad?

  11.  

    Only in the manly tears sense. Living like a badass is enough to make you good, but you must die like a badass if you wish to be great.

  12.  

    But it’s sort of saying that nothing you do in your life can be topped by your expiration. I mean, it’s DYING. Once that’s over, you can never do anything else to help people, etc. Dying to save a million people is one thing. Dying in a superspecialawesome robot cyber duel is another.

  13.  

    But it was dying in a superspecialawesome robot cyber duel to save all of existence, and beyond that, to save their companions.

    It’s about reaching the moment of truth and not flinching.

  14.  

    Okay, when you combine both, that’s good.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2009
     

    And the result?

    Harry Potter :D

  15.  

    You can’t fool me! I know

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  18.  

    • CommentAuthorsimian
    • CommentTimeJan 11th 2010
     

    I’m late to the party, but this has happened to me plenty of times. too many times. (Sniffle.) Only stories I’ve ever finished are my fan fictions. (Embarrassed smile.)

    Anyways, if you think there’s potential to the story then kill it now. In a few years time, after you’ve worked on other projects, you’ll think of what hat missing element was that kept this one from working out and you’ll return to it. I’ve returned to plenty of old concepts I’ve worked with … and still never finished them. But, well, that’s a different problem altogether.

    If you force yourself to finish it now it WILL be over in your mind and you probably won’t want to return to it again (“Oh, god, THAT story. Let it remain buried.”) In which case any potential it may have had will be gone. Unless there’s a compelling reason for you to finish it now, like somebody paid you for it. Otherwise it’s not worth the effort.

  19.  

    Only stories I’ve ever finished are my fan fictions. (Embarrassed smile.)

    Hey. I think we can all relate. (Embarrassed smile, too.)

    I think… I think I have to disagree with you, simian. I’ve decided—I should have said this a while ago, but we got so off-topic that I never did bother posting it—that I’m doing this: working on short stories (like Virgil suggested), and I’m just going to keep pressing through with this story, like Neurotic Platypus suggested. I want this story to be the one that I finish. And it’s getting easier now. I“m still nowhere NEAR done, but that’s okay, because it’s getting there and I feel like I’m achieving something.

    Thanks everybody for your suggestions. simian, I think deciding to kill the stories with potential before you’ve even finished them is probably setting yourself up for defeat because you get into the habit of not finishing anything. The problem is that if you want to write good stories about your good ideas, you have to practise. So trying to save all your good ideas for once you become good at writing is going to suck, because you aren’t going to care enough about your not-so-good ideas to practise writing.

    I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this lately.

  20.  

    Question: There’s about three pages of text that I want to get rid of and start over. Should I do it or just keep going?

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeApr 6th 2010
     

    Finish what you started, then you can edit later. If you just get rid of it all you really aren’t making any progress, work with what you got and you can improvise later.

  21.  

    I know, that’s my trouble, isn’t it? It just felt like a really unnatural excuse to get the plot moving. Oh well.