Giving up

[TheAntiRebel]

Hi all,

Been working on a story for a bit. Recently, I've become bored with it and I'm not longer interested in it. I almost despise working on it. I don't want to give up on it but I've got this new story idea that really has been burning a hole in my proverbial idea wallet.

My fear is that if I give up on this one, then I'll start a horrible habit and I'll never finish another one again.

Any advice?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hi all,

Been working on a story for a bit. Recently, I've become bored with it and I'm not longer interested in it. I almost despise working on it. I don't want to give up on it but I've got this new story idea that really has been burning a hole in my proverbial idea wallet.

My fear is that if I give up on this one, then I'll start a horrible habit and I'll never finish another one again.

Any advice?

I question your fear. I've dropped a couple of series and an entire novel because I just couldn't make them work. Since then I've finished a novel (currently at the editor's) and two more pair of related shorts. Quit worrying and write!

 

[sr71plt]

Go ahead and write the new one and then see where you are. I have stories play through all the time--recently had four flip on through one I thought I was ready to write. When I got back to that one, I had even better ideas. But if I'd forgotten it in the meantime, that would have been no great loss either.

 

[slyc_willie]

Hi all,

Been working on a story for a bit. Recently, I've become bored with it and I'm not longer interested in it. I almost despise working on it. I don't want to give up on it but I've got this new story idea that really has been burning a hole in my proverbial idea wallet.

My fear is that if I give up on this one, then I'll start a horrible habit and I'll never finish another one again.

Any advice?

I've always thought that if you lock yourself into doing only one project at a time, you begin to resent that project because you feel that it's holding everything else back. On the other side of the coin, you can have too much going on at once. There's a happy medium there somewhere.

Take sr71's advice. Try something else. let the stalled idea sit for a while. When you get back to it in a month or two (or three, or four) you might have renewed enthusiasm and some novel ideas for it.

 

[TE999]

Hi all,

Been working on a story for a bit. Recently, I've become bored with it and I'm not longer interested in it. I almost despise working on it. I don't want to give up on it but I've got this new story idea that really has been burning a hole in my proverbial idea wallet.

My fear is that if I give up on this one, then I'll start a horrible habit and I'll never finish another one again.

Any advice?

SR pretty much nailed it. I have unfinished stories that have been languishing for months and years...yet I'll get an idea one day and bang one out in no time. If you're not motivated, put it aside. Go with the fresh idea that's captured your fancy.

 

[DeeZire]

Putting it aside could give you new insight when you look at it again in a few months.

 

[oggbashan]

Putting it aside could give you new insight when you look at it again in a few months.

Or make you decide that it wasn't worth completing but another story is a better use of your writing time.

I now have over 100 incomplete stories. The only one I have completely abandoned as beyond salvation still niggles. There is a story there - it just needs re-plotting and totally rewriting.

Og

 

[Liar]

Any advice?

Clinging on to a story that doesn't work may be blocking you from writing the next and best story of your life. Imagine that.

 

[TheAntiRebel]

Thanks for all the input everybody. I've shelved my old one for the time being.

 

[penandpaper]

I would humbly disagree with the posters here. I understand their point of view, but I feel there are often times a story becomes very difficult to write, painful even. I've always found it helpful to work through it. Sometimes you may have to re-write a lot of what you wrote, but you took the story another step forward and that's what counts.

I've even talked with a friend of mine about this who's experience was very similar to yours. He worked through it, and eventually got excited again because the story had picked up steam. Later, we edited out a large portion of what he wrote during his lull, but it was that portion that led him to the good stuff.

So my advice would be, if you have nothing else screaming at you to write, then continue down the path you're on. Keep writing and hopefully you'll get over the lull. Good luck.

I should point out to that I am different from some of the posters here in that I do best when concentrating on one story at a time. Once I start mixing up character's emotions and motives it's all over.

 

[Katyusha]

As you've read above, many of us have stories we haven't finished and may never finish, and we all have stories since then that we've finished.

My advice: Don't try and force it. If you can't work on it anymore you can't work on it anymore. And putting it aside to work on something else might get it out of your mind for a long enough period of time that you get some fresh ideas and can look at it with fresh eyes. If not, it's not a big deal. Sometimes a story just stops working out, and you find that there's nothing to do but scrap it.

 

[fit2betied]

I'm glad to hear that you're moving forward. Many times when we write we run into bumps in the road. There is nothing wrong with starting another project and getting those ideas and thoughts out of your head. Therefore making it easier to write the original work. As Penandpaper stated sometimes we have to push through in order to meet a deadline or get it done because we fear he might lose the flow of the story. Everyone's different and we each have to find the way that we work best. So relax and enjoy your writing don't let it be a pressure that chases you away, the thoughts that flow to your head or the ideas write them down get them on paper and pen so should you forget you have it written down somewhere get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper somewhere. There's nothing wrong with taking a break and stepping back and getting fresh eyes.

I wish you the best of luck keep writing, don't get frustrated it's a process.