I think you have to be dedicated to your work. I spend a half an hour on my novel every weekday, no matter what. (This is done between my freelance jobs and the blogs I maintain.)
But the other side of the coin is:
Knowing when to let an individual story go. Sometimes I say,
I tried my best, but it was time to move on.
Great article you wrote.
I like the fact that you quantified "how many" projects you should finish before it becomes a different problem altogether. It gives writers a measuring tool to judge by until they gain their footing in the writing world.
One thing that has me curious is this: If you start a story with a great idea, then why isn't it a great idea later? I ask this because of two things. One, I had a story that grabbed me, shook me, made me excited, etc. and I shelved it. Why? because the genre was flooded with similar stories. You could ask, what's one more? I mean they are popular, right?
Well yeah...but at the risk of popping a few bubbles out there, fiction writing and fan fiction are two different things. Even if you change the names, the setting, you still are guilty of riding the tails of the wave.
But no one can be different all the time!
Yeah to that too. Even my wildly non-conformist daughter is the same as her wildy non-conformist friends.
Second reason I ask is because maybe your great idea fizzled because you simply had an idea, not a story concept. That's almost an easier one to let go. You've got great characters, figured out what makes them tick, have a setting, possibly even an opening conflict. But you don't have a story. You don't have a rising action. You don't have a complication, you don't have a climax. And most importantly, you don't have an ending.
Yikes!
Fiction writing is hard because there are many ways to start a story. There are many people waiting in line to tell you how they should stand out. But there are few truly intriguing situations and conclusions that mix well with your writing, your personality, the characters you've dreamed up, and most importantly for those who want to be professionals...the market.
That's why it's one of the hardest businesses.
This thread isn't meant to be a downer. I'm illustrating a point that even though you have an opening, even though you have characters, and even though you are working on the mechanics...there is still one element out there to grasp. That element is the closing.
Like closing a sale, you have to ask for it. Demand it. Insist on whether you're going pay by credit or cash rather than just saying you're going to do it. Giving up on a story doesn't mean you have given up. You are shelving it until you can ask the hard question. How does it end?
Work on the ones that you know how they are going to end. In my case, that is approximately one-third of the zany ideas that actually make it to the BIC phase. I'm certain the actual percentage is more like one out of a thousand stories make it paper, then a third may have endings, etc. By working on the ones you know you alleviate at least one major obstacle in your path to finishing a story. Why make your life harder?
Write down those zany characters, the plot twists without background, the story settings without MC's and the odd jolts that wake you up in the middle of the night. But don't think they are stories. Until all the pieces fit together, they are ideas. Ideas can be shelved, put on hold and pigeonholed for later dusting. Stories on the other hand should be written.
Gee, that got much longer than I originally planned.
Amy
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