So, how many novels have you trunked exactly?

[Maxinquaye]

01 am.

Max is sitting at the desk, only illuminated by the glare from the computer screen.

He takes out a large envelope, stuffs about 250 printed manuscript pages into it. Seals the envelope, sits a moment, and then dates it and marks it as "Scrolls and dolls". After a quiet little sniffle it joins two older, more yellowed envelopes, in the bottom drawer of the metal filing cabinet beside the desk.

Aka the trunk.

*sniff*

Scrolls & Dolls just didn't work as intended, and it was so different from what I'm writing otherwize. Sometimes you've got to cut and run and make room for more productive stuff.

*sniff*

But I'll rescue it. One day. One day... I'll free all of them, all the huddled Myrtles (http://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/the-sobering-saga-of-myrtle-the-manuscript/), yearning to breathe free.

*sniffle*

Anyways, it makes my third trunked novel. How many have you got, exactly?

[thethinker42]

3 fully written (including one that was written 3 times) novels, probably a dozen or more started-but-not-finished drafts. I'll be revisiting a few of the latter in 2010, but I have no idea if they'll ever see the light of day.

[gonovelgo]

I've only trunked one fully written one. Hopefully my current WIP won't make two :P

[sheadakota]

2 fully written- I was going to say one has hope, but on second thought- no-

[Ellefire]

Three nano-novels, which are too short really to look at rewriting for publication and are more 'practice novels' than anything else.

One fully written novel, which may have some hope if it was completely rewritten.

[NeuroFizz]

None (so far).

[Linda Adams]

Two, one unfinished and the other was in early submission to agents.

[Phaeal]

None. Any unfinished work goes into the plot bunny hutch with the other bunnies. After sufficient interbreeding, its progeny emerge bouncier than ever.

[K1P1]

.75 and numerous first chapters that didn't develop into anything. Probably a good thing I'm really a nonfiction writer.

[bearilou]

Zero so far. Hope springs eternal!

[kaitie]

One. I have another that I'd like to bring back to life one day, and two that I just wrote for play and so I don't consider them trunked so much as purpose served. But yeah, I've got one that just sucks balls basically. Though one of these days I do intend to go back and reread it. It'd probably be an amusing experience, especially considering I was something like 17 when I wrote it. ;)

[jrector]

I tossed a couple unfinished early novels, but I've never trunked one that I've finished.

[Straka]

4

2 were written in high school / college and that is obvious from the stories' construction and prose.

1 is highly politically and I'm not sure the best way to handle it. It's more hold hold, than trunked for life.

1 is trunked as is, but maybe re-visioned a few years down the road.

[Irysangel]

Eight completed novels. Three more have sold and we're shopping a fourth.

I'm going to clean up one or two of them next year in the hopes that I can do something with them, but I'm pretty sure at least five of them will continue to live in the trunk, forever and ever amen.

[Parametric]

Three complete novels. That makes everything I've written so far, except the novel I just finished this November, and I'm sure that'll make it into the trunk in time.

[SarahMacManus]

Just one - the first - and I haven't completely given up on it. At least not on the characters, their story may become very different, though.

[DeleyanLee]

Every novel I've ever written solo (about 9) and the 4 collabs. The only one that isn't trucked, but is dead anyway is the small press publication from 1999.

I've got 10 years of unfinished novels that are pretty much dead too.

I have intentions of using one of the trunked novels to perfect my rewriting skills, but whether or not it goes out after that, I won't know until it's finished. The novel I'm working on now may or may not be trunked--it doesn't matter, my goal is to finish it. Anything more is frosting roses on the cake. I have intentions to revisit one or two of the unfinished novels from this decade, but may or may not do it.

I've found that, for the most part, I've moved beyond most of my trunked novels and am no longer interested in reworking them. I've got more ideas than I have time as it is.

[DustyBooks]

Three SF novels, about five fantasy novels, two middle-grade pieces with talking animals (when I was in middle-grades myself), three WWII novels, three Napoleonic-era sea stories, one (awesomely illustrated) Austenesque, one romance novel, a litfic novella attempt from when I was 11, a collection of short stories chronicling the history of aviation in Canada, and my memoirs, from when I was 13. Most 13-year-olds should not write memoirs.
All of the above were incomplete except for one of the SF novels and the litfic novella.
Edit: except for one of the sea stories, none of them has any hope of being revived, but I don't think they were wasted. I think they were practice.

[IdiotsRUs]

None

I've got one first draft on the back burner till I've finished my series, a nano first draft which needs working on after that and a novella I'm currently polishing to send out in the new year. I sold the two I've actually finished.

/end smug mode :D Cos that's gonna come back and bite me on the arse at aome point lol

[dgrintalis]

I've permanently trunked two finished novels and probably a dozen unfinished ones.

[Adam]

One partial and one second draft. The second draft will be coming back out of the trunk soon though. :)

[Shadow_Ferret]

My trunk only had room for one.

[theantisplice]

I've trunked two, one of which I may attempt to rescue someday. Maybe.

[AlishaS]

I've got technically 3 partials in the trunk, and one that I have started and put off until I get the editing on my current MS done.

[cwfgal]

Two now, with a third likely to join them in the coming months. The third one breaks my heart...I love that novel, as does my agent. But we haven't been able to find a home for it. The first two novels will stay trunked forevermore.

Beth

[scarletpeaches]

Three finished, two incomplete.

One of the finished trunk novels is coming back out in 2010 and I'll re-write it as a novella or possibly a short novel. Aside from that, the others were unsalvageable shite.

Ooh. I tell a lie. When I was a teen I wrote another novel longhand and binned it. A novella, longhand, again, binned. And a half-written novel. Also = teh binz0rz.

So in total, five complete, three incomplete and a novella.

Crikey.:eek:

[Jess Haines]

Eight. Three unfinished.

[virtue_summer]

Four. Three I wrote in high school and one from my first year of college.

[Tan]

Only one fully written. I'm not sure I can save him. :(

[Cliff Face]

I have one fully written which is sort of in the trunk right now. Basically, I want to rewrite it, but then it's the only work anyone has ever read of mine and everyone said it was great... so I don't know. Maybe I should just edit it and send it out, instead of doing a complete rewrite.

But if that book fails to get picked up after I've sent it all round Australia and to a bunch of American agents (do agents take overseas clients?) then it'll be trunked, meaning the sequel (which is almost finished) will be trunked as well, and the saga that I had such high hopes for will die on book 2... though I may keep writing them out of blind determination.

Latest book isn't even finished yet (so close, but I'm not sure I'll make it before Xmas!) but that is the one I have the highest hopes for so far. It'll need a lot of editing though, not only for basic editing detail, but because I've noticed my writing skill increase during the writing of this book, and I need it all to shine to the best of my abilities.

Again, if I can't find a home for it in Australia or America, then it'll be trunked. That's just a general rule to go by. But I've only ever submitted that first book to 1 agent, and I hadn't edited at that point, so I can't honestly trunk any of my books yet.

That said, I have 2 projects that had less than 3 pages written, and they've both been trunked. But I can't bring myself to delete them...

ETA: And I don't even have a physical trunk to put things in. Sigh.

[kaitie]

Two now, with a third likely to join them in the coming months. The third one breaks my heart...I love that novel, as does my agent. But we haven't been able to find a home for it. The first two novels will stay trunked forevermore.

Beth

In a few years when you become the next Stephen King the publishing companies will be beating down your door for it. :D

You know, seeing this makes me think of how much I disagree with the idea of releasing author's unpublished works after they pass away. I mean, obviously some of these trunked novels we really love and wish they could see the light of day, but I think of the one I've got that I have no intention of ever doing anything with, and to think that if I died someone might ever try to publish it would just be appalling to me. I kind of imagine most of us trunk a novel for a reason.

[Cliff Face]

Put a disclaimer at the top of the file that says, "I hate this book and think it stinks. If it's published after my death, make sure everyone knows I hate it. In fact, don't publish it, or I'll haunt your arse."

[thethinker42]

Put a disclaimer at the top of the file that says, "I hate this book and think it stinks. If it's published after my death, make sure everyone knows I hate it. In fact, don't publish it, or I'll haunt your arse."

Mine all say, "If this is published after my death, the terrorists win."

[scarletpeaches]

Mine all say, "If this is published after my death, the terrorists win."Mine all say, "RDJ shirtless. Wookie. Endor."

[2Wheels]

My car's a hatchback. Don't got no trunk to stuff nought into, thus I am forced to keep working on them ...

[Maxinquaye]

My car's a hatchback. Don't got no trunk to stuff nought into, thus I am forced to keep working on them ...

Well, since I live in Engelishland, I technically speaking have no trunk, but these envelope things tend to be big so they don't fit in my boot!

[socact]

Six trunked. All finished. I wrote them all, well, recently. Maybe there's hope for them yet, but if not, I don't really care. All I know is that once I start something, I have to finish it.

My seventh novel got me an agent. I'm the ultimate pessimist, so if that ends up in the trunk as well, then it's just the status quo for me. Unfortunately, all six of my trunked novels are adult fiction, and the seventh is YA. My agent only reps YA. Hmm. Looks like an eternity in the trunk for those bad boys.

Ah well.

[Chasing the Horizon]

I've never trunked a completed novel. I've also never seriously queried a novel, so I have no reason to trunk any of them yet. I plan to query a lot in 2010, so I might have some that get trunked next year if everyone rejects them. I have way too many ideas to screw around trying to figure out how to 'fix' a rejected book.

I have quite a few novel openings from 3k to 15k that I've completely trunked, idea, characters, and all because they sucked.

[bettielee]

One. I have hope for it though. One day... one day...

[Stellan]

I've got two fully written ones, little misbegotten darlings that they are, and about four "oh crap, this is going nowhere" attempts that petered out before The End.

They sometimes end up stripmined for material. A character or setting here and there can still be useful.

[bclement412]

I've never trunked a complete one as Blue Abyss is my first full book ever. Sad, but true

[JMBlackman]

Two, unfinished. But they're always on my mind...they are always on my mind.

[ChainsawLicker]

The only book I tried to write before this one. I was 12, made it to page 168 (all handwritten, front and back side of the lined pages) and got bored. I figure my mom's still got it stuffed somewhere at her house.

[The Grump]

Actually, I don't have any "trunk" novels. I keep learning so much from drafting each manuscript ... that I go back and revise/re-edit previous drafts. One of the biggest changes was getting rid of the prologues.

I recently pulled out the draft from 2008, revised it, and sent out a query (also revised) to agents again. (I won't mention the Writing 101 changes I made on it.)

[2Wheels]

Well, since I live in Engelishland, I technically speaking have no trunk, but these envelope things tend to be big so they don't fit in my boot!
If we're speaking the Engleesh, then technically, one could say that they are novels that have "received the honour of the boot". :D

[ChaosTitan]

For a while there, I had six in the trunk. However, this summer I dusted one off, revised it quite a bit, and submitted it to my agent. I'm waiting to hear from my editor. :)

So right now, there's five.

[AuburnAssassin]

One so far but I'll probably cannibalize it for parts at some point.

[Renee Collins]

Only one that's truly trunked for good. My first completed novel. It will always hold a special place in my heart, just a place that will never see the light of day. ;)

[nitaworm]

I trunked one. *sniffle*

[Ugawa]

three. But I'm planning to untrunk one soon.

[Stlight]

4 completed in the dumpster

3 completed vanished (Mom may have thought it better that way), 1 unfinished also vanished.

1 in trunk

1 sitting under the table waiting it turn for another editing go

1 sitting on footstool next in line when finish current query letter


So it stands.