Finish It or Scrap It?

[carsonshepherd]

How do you know when it's time to quit a story?

After a few pages I sometimes know something isn't going to work and I don't have a problem scrapping it. But this story I'm working on now... after 5 weeks I have 31 pages. In July I wrote a 59,000+word novella in 6 weeks.

It it time to quit when you're editing more than you're writing?

What about when you're agonizing over every scene?

Or when you're not having fun anymore?

I think it's a good story to tell, but I must not be telling it the right way.

 

[rikaaim]

How do you know when it's time to quit a story?

After a few pages I sometimes know something isn't going to work and I don't have a problem scrapping it. But this story I'm working on now... after 5 weeks I have 31 pages. In July I wrote a 59,000+word novella in 6 weeks.

It it time to quit when you're editing more than you're writing?

What about when you're agonizing over every scene?

Or when you're not having fun anymore?

I think it's a good story to tell, but I must not be telling it the right way.

I think sometimes we have to struggle through those stories. The reason being: stories can be very complex. The more complex the more difficult to write, but ultimately more enjoyable to read. Not only are you trying out something more difficult, but you are growing because of it. Even if it seems like crap to you now, stick with it. If nothing else you are expanding your writing horizons. Editing more than writing doesn't always mean it's a bad story. It just means that the first time you put the words down, they weren't exactly what you wanted. I see no problem in taking time to make sure the words used are exactly the ones you want.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Put it away for now, you're over analyzing it.
Give it a week, then look at it with fresh eyes.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

Try to finish the rest of it without doing any more editing. Save the editing for when you are done.

If that doesn't work, try taking a break from it and then go back with a new perspective.

 

[woodnymph_O]

carson

Put it away dear, and later share it with a friend, you'll have new ideas and it will be fun again
Nymphy

 

[Guest]

Carson, the advice above is good. Leave it for a bit. But don't think of it in such a negative term as 'scrapping'. Everything you write propels you forward as a better writer. A published first novel is rare, most first published novels are the second, third, fourth, etc. I don't believe any writer regrets their unpublished work, so don't regret anything 'unfinished'.

Perdita

 

[Guest]

great words of advice

i have many folders named "try" "try again" "maybe another time"
im dumbfounded that i can't ever find them...

 

[carsonshepherd]

I'm jumpy when I'm not working on a story. I feel grouchy and unfocused. And I've put in so much work on this damn thing already. (Arrrrgh)

 

[Rhys]

Put it away.

Sometimes characters resist you because of something you are not thinking through.

There will be a day when you have an itch to work on it again and you can dig it out, dust it off and finish it up.

Until then, find something else that lights your fire.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Put it away.

Sometimes characters resist you because of something you are not thinking through.

I've thought it through so many times I think I'm gonna scream...

There will be a day when you have an itch to work on it again and you can dig it out, dust it off and finish it up.


Nothing ever returns from the back burner. It's the bermuda triangle. So many promising ideas lost forever...

Until then, find something else that lights your fire.

 

[Rhys]

So you don't finish it.

Are you that fucking attached to it?

Does it piss you off, irrationally?

Last but not least...are you having fun?

It may be a great story to tell but perhaps now is not the time to tell it.

All I'm saying is don't get neurotic over it

(and in the words of my favourite band of all time...

Everything Works if you Let it...)

 

[carsonshepherd]

In the words of a band I liked too long ago to even talk about it...

Everything is best when it comes easy.

 

[rikaaim]

In the words of a band I liked too long ago to even talk about it...

Everything is best when it comes easy.

Not everything. Just ask my wife sometime.

 

[carsonshepherd]

So you don't finish it.

Are you that fucking attached to it?

Actually, I just realized today, No.

Does it piss you off, irrationally?

Yes, because I can't relate to the main character.

Last but not least...are you having fun?

Not anymore.

It may be a great story to tell but perhaps now is not the time to tell it.

All I'm saying is don't get neurotic over it

Neurotic? Me???

(and in the words of my favourite band of all time...

Everything Works if you Let it...)

 

[Evil Alpaca]

In the words of a band I liked too long ago to even talk about it...

Everything is best when it comes easy.

And in the words of a band I kinda liked . . .

"The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company"

Completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, but I wanted to belong.

 

[carsonshepherd]

And in the words of a band I kinda liked . . .

"The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company"

Completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, but I wanted to belong.

*pats on head and gives alpaca-treat*

 

[Evil Alpaca]

*pats on head and gives alpaca-treat*

*Thrums contentedly as it wanders off, the songs of Toto dancing through its head.*

 

[Rhys]

Does he like Scooby Snacks?


*eyes the box full on the counter*

 

[carsonshepherd]

Rye roo! Rye roo!

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Carson, you know I'm of the opinion that you should take a break when something isn't fun anymore. Not that writing shouldn't be a challenge, it should. Let's face it though, as erotica writers, we should all be excited about our work and having fun.

 

[CharleyH]

How do you know when it's time to quit a story?

After a few pages I sometimes know something isn't going to work and I don't have a problem scrapping it. But this story I'm working on now... after 5 weeks I have 31 pages. In July I wrote a 59,000+word novella in 6 weeks.

It it time to quit when you're editing more than you're writing?

What about when you're agonizing over every scene?

Or when you're not having fun anymore?

I think it's a good story to tell, but I must not be telling it the right way.

Keep it! Never throw anything, NEVER. Something you can't work on now, will be worked on. Example - not really - but, hm, analogy? You think it, and it needs to be told. You know it does, YET, it cannot be told in your current condition, under the current milieu, in the now . . . it needs to be SAT on . . . and a day will come when it MUST be written.

My theory: A story is told when the experience is right. You don't know it yet, but the seed is there, don't force it, let it flow?

Not the pointed thing I want to say, yet apparently what needs to be said by me as one person, who will get you where you need to go?

It's twilight zone, and I hope there is significance in it Meaning: not so much that you are not writing it the right way as, its not the time, yet?

 

[carsonshepherd]

Carson, you know I'm of the opinion that you should take a break when something isn't fun anymore. Not that writing shouldn't be a challenge, it should. Let's face it though, as erotica writers, we should all be excited about our work and having fun.

It sucks, doesn't it?

 

[OhMissScarlett]

It sucks, doesn't it?

No, dumbass! As a matter of fact I can't get that one scene out of my head. You know, the drunk sex scene? Jeez. (giddy giggling)

 

[oggbashan]

I agree with CharleyH above.

Even if you think the story will NEVER work - keep it.

Revisit it from time to time. Someday you might get the inspiration to finish it or reading it might spark ideas for a different story.

It might seem impossible now but in a few months, or years?

File it and keep a back-up on detachable media.

Og

 

[Green_Gem]

Carson, if the story you are referring to is the one that I think it is, I'd definitely say keep it! It will all come together in time, even if it is months down the line when you relook at it.

Ironically, the one I spoke to you about has also reached an impasse. It's been the hardest, most impossibly frustrating story I've ever tried to write and it haunts me too. It's like the characters won't let me get on with other writing until their story has been resolved. I've finally put it to rest for a while to simmer and I'll go back to it in a couple of months or whenever a brilliant flash of inspiration takes me and the words begin to flow around them again.

Just hang in there!

Green_Gem