When does a novel become un-salvageable?

RainyDayNinja · Mar 17, 2010

I finished the first draft of my first novel about a year and a half ago, and started revisions a few months ago. The more I revise it, the more flaws that I see in it. And upon examination, I feel that these flaws are inherent to the story as I've conceived it, and that nothing will fix them short of a complete overhaul, almost to the point that it would be a completely different novel.

Continuing to revise it is now a chore, and I've been having trouble keeping it up. I have other ideas that I want to work on, but at the same time, I don't want to be the guy that ends up with a dozen half-finished novels lying around because I don't have the tenacity to keep working on them.

So now I'm asking you: When do you keep plugging along, and when do you throw in the towel and move on?

Eddyz Aquila · Mar 17, 2010

I can't speak from experience over here but I hope these tips will be useful to you.

You throw in the towel when you feel like it. Do you really want to stop right there and start from scratch again? Try and complete your revisions. I know it might be worthless, but if you can and are willing to, finish off the editing and polishing. Then read it again, and see how it feels.

DeleyanLee · Mar 17, 2010

I throw in the towel when I have no energy left for the story and the idea that sparked, whenever that is.

And, FWIW, it's not a half-finished novel. It is finished. You said so yourself in the first sentence of your post. Just because something is not submittable doesn't mean you didn't finish it.

Layla Nahar · Mar 17, 2010

I recommend writing a lousy 2nd draft so that you can say that it is finished.

defyalllogic · Mar 17, 2010

if it becomes a completely different novel, then you've salvaged it...

just keep the parts you like, like the people places and certain events and make super sure your plot makes sense. or keep your plot and redesign your characters.

quite the whole idea if you'd like... maybe thinking it as Novel X about X Y and Z makes you think that if things get switched up it's broken. but it's really Novel Draft. about stuff, including but not limited to, X, Y, and Z. so it might end up being about stuff and Y in the end...

it's a story. tell it. then make sure people can understand it. then sell it.

shadowwalker · Mar 17, 2010

I think I'd recommend finding a trusted friend (preferably who knows something about writing

) and have them read it, knowing it's a first draft. Sometimes what we think is hopeless isn't really - we're just too close to it and too critical of it. Depending on what your friend says, you'll either get the spark back or know there's no point beating a dead horse. And I agree - it is a finished novel, whether you revise it or not, whether you submit it or not.

Phaeal · Mar 17, 2010

Apart from some lost juvenalia, I've never thrown in the towel. I don't put novels (or short stories) in the trunk. I put them back in the bunny hutch to mingle with other vacationing WIPs and ideas until they're shiny again.

Current WIP on the desk is a novel I started work on many years ago. I kept the two-thirds done first draft and all my hundreds of pages of notes. Over the years, that novel has thoroughly rethunk itself and gotten much more compelling for me. Imagine!

So, even if you don't work on this novel now, keep it safe and revisit it from time to time. It may surprise you with its possibilities one day.

jvc · Mar 17, 2010

Well, first, as Deleyan said, you've already said you have completed the novel, so it isn't half-finished, technically, kind of, sort of, maybe.

From my personaly experience with my current WIP: I completed the first draft, started to edit (I hate editing, really I do. Not as much fun as writing the first draft

), then I decided it could do with a partial re-write. I'm currently re-writing the first few chapters, the middle of the novel will be unchanged (although edited), and then I'm taking out the last third of the novel and re-writing it as I came up with a different idea of of how to end it. I will still use the last half of the story, but incorporate it into the second novel. Not sure if that makes any sense at all.

But you keep plugging away until you don't want to do it anymore. Sometimes a break helps. Put the novel away for a few weeks, or a few months, then come back to it with fresh eyes and see what you can come up with. This can help in most cases. But, it's up to you whether you want to continue with it, or if you personally think it's unsalvagable.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 17, 2010

Honestly, most first drafts can't be salvaged. Neither can most final drafts. If they could, dealing with slush piles would be infinitely easier and faster.

But it's up to you to decide whether you've written something unsalvageable. If you're reasonably certain you have, then chalk it up to a learning experience, and start a new novel.

Bufty · Mar 17, 2010

I think you've answered your own question.

You can - and should- take pride in the fact you actually finished novel No 1. There's no shame whatsoever in acknowledging one has learned from one's first efforts at writing a novel.

The biggest mistake is to hang on to it as 'my baby' and waste time trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Move on with renewed enthusiasm to novel No 2 and forget No 1. :Hug2:

RainyDayNinja said:
I finished the first draft of my first novel about a year and a half ago, and started revisions a few months ago. The more I revise it, the more flaws that I see in it. And upon examination, I feel that these flaws are inherent to the story as I've conceived it, and that nothing will fix them short of a complete overhaul, almost to the point that it would be a completely different novel.

Continuing to revise it is now a chore, and I've been having trouble keeping it up. I have other ideas that I want to work on, but at the same time, I don't want to be the guy that ends up with a dozen half-finished novels lying around because I don't have the tenacity to keep working on them.

So now I'm asking you: When do you keep plugging along, and when do you throw in the towel and move on?

Chris P · Mar 17, 2010

Are you locked in a cycle of analysis paralysis? Have you read a thousand people's other work on SYW and think you need to get it just right before you go any further? Would you rather have a tooth filled than post your query letter in QLH? If so, you're like me.

Post samples on SYW. Get a beta reader. Take it the next step and see how you feel then. You'll never know as long as it's just you and the MS staring at each other.

PGK · Mar 17, 2010

I think you should throw in the towel and scrap the MS only if you truly don't enjoy reading/writing/editing it at all. I too hate editing for the little things, but for major changes I rather enjoy it as it pulls me back into the story I love so much being in.

I agree though that you shouldn't just throw it away right now. Perhaps it's your intimacy with the story that is causing you to see these problems as un-fixable. Someone else's perspective might change that.

I also agree with whoever it was that said "write the first one for practice, the second for yourself, and the third for publication" but that doesn't mean the first one can't be made ready for publication eventually.

Al Ross · Mar 17, 2010

In my opinion, if the story is good/great, but the written words don't do it justice it is still salvageable. When the story is bad, there are no words that will make it any good.

lucidzfl · Mar 17, 2010

Gosh if I stopped writing when I lost the spark, I'd never finish. Writing is at least 75% work for me. But its work that at the end of, I'm almost always excited.

Ephrem Rodriguez · Mar 17, 2010

RainyDayNinja said:
I finished the first draft of my first novel about a year and a half ago, and started revisions a few months ago. The more I revise it, the more flaws that I see in it. And upon examination, I feel that these flaws are inherent to the story as I've conceived it, and that nothing will fix them short of a complete overhaul, almost to the point that it would be a completely different novel.

Continuing to revise it is now a chore, and I've been having trouble keeping it up. I have other ideas that I want to work on, but at the same time, I don't want to be the guy that ends up with a dozen half-finished novels lying around because I don't have the tenacity to keep working on them.

So now I'm asking you: When do you keep plugging along, and when do you throw in the towel and move on?

Throw it away. If you dare. Some stories deserve to die and will leave you in peace. Others are like Abel. Their blood cries out from the pit.

You will say to yourself, "Am I my story's keeper?"

Be careful. You might find yourself in exile. The road home is longer the longer you run away.

Lady Ice · Mar 17, 2010

RainyDayNinja said:
I finished the first draft of my first novel about a year and a half ago, and started revisions a few months ago. The more I revise it, the more flaws that I see in it. And upon examination, I feel that these flaws are inherent to the story as I've conceived it, and that nothing will fix them short of a complete overhaul, almost to the point that it would be a completely different novel.

Continuing to revise it is now a chore, and I've been having trouble keeping it up. I have other ideas that I want to work on, but at the same time, I don't want to be the guy that ends up with a dozen half-finished novels lying around because I don't have the tenacity to keep working on them.

So now I'm asking you: When do you keep plugging along, and when do you throw in the towel and move on?

If there's an inherent logical problem in the concept, I scrap it.

lucidzfl · Mar 17, 2010

Lady Ice said:
If there's an inherent logical problem in the concept, I scrap it.

Plot is what makes me start a book. The characters are who convince me to finish.

allenparker · Mar 17, 2010

RainyDayNinja said:
So now I'm asking you: When do you keep plugging along, and when do you throw in the towel and move on?

I am the minority here, but my suggestion is to finish the novel, no matter how much it stinks. Slug through the awful and find the good. Change the storyline. Fix the plot holes. Endeavor to make something good out of a pice pile of steaming monkey mud.

I see this differently. You are learning. And with each new skill you acquire, you find a flaw in your story. This is a good thing.

Now, here are the results of continuing.

1. You finish the novel, learn a bunch, make a great story and sell it to a publisher for some well deserved dough.

2. You finish the novel, gain a boatload of good solid writing experience, and the novel ends up in a file marked, Never Open Again. But from the experience, you come away with the skills to write a much better novel, a skill set that includes learning to spot problems and fix them, and the confidence to overcome your adversity.

I don't see a down side, except for a little typing fatigue.

a_sharp · Mar 17, 2010

Rainy,

This was exactly my experience with my first novel. Over the course of two and a half years I rewrote it three times, front to back. The two primary characters remained in place, but their motives changed, the plot shifted emphasis, supporting characters exchanged roles, even the premise got revised, so that the fourth "edition" bore little resemblance to the original other than time and setting (it was a historical thriller).

How do I feel about the experience? I'm glad I rewrote (edited? revised?) because with each new version I became a better writer and learned more about assembling plot elements, building tension, taking advantage of conflict opportunities, deepening characterization.

The best part about the rewrites was that I was on familiar ground. I knew my characters, my research was already done, so that I could immerse myself in that world and write a better story.

In my case, I was still excited and enthusiastic about the story, the setting, my two main characters and their discovery of love. That carried me through the rewrites. But I will not do that again because I'm writing more fluidly now, with conscious intent.

If you still care about the original idea but want to do it differently, go ahead. If not, shelve it for possible resurrection later and go on to your next project. Whichever choice you make, just keep on writing.

Phaeal · Mar 17, 2010

As a sharp said:

How do I feel about the experience? I'm glad I rewrote (edited? revised?) because with each new version I became a better writer and learned more about assembling plot elements, building tension, taking advantage of conflict opportunities, deepening characterization.

Yup. You haven't learned to write until you've learned to rewrite.

Stunted · Mar 17, 2010

I quit when:

a) The problems are inherent in the story

b) I don't like the story anymore

c) I've been at it for a while

DeadlyAccurate · Mar 17, 2010

I dropped one 85,000 words in when I realized I simply didn't have a plot. The two main characters got salvaged. Nothing else made it out.

If you truly feel it's unsalvageable, move on to a new book. Maybe with time you'll gain a new perspective on it, find some way to fix it, or just chalk it up to a learning experience.

Jack Newcastle · Mar 17, 2010

lucidzfl said:
Plot is what makes me start a book. The characters are who convince me to finish.

Same here. I spent a few years learning to write as I wrote my novel. At about 80,000 words into it, I realized the plot and the protagonist's volition weren't at all working. I thought of scrapping the entire project but felt as though I were abandoning the characters. Letting it sit for about eight months, I only made notes about what sort of plot I could work up for these characters. Finally, it all came together in November of '08 and I ended up scrapping about 65,000 words only to write an additional 105,000 in one year.

My point is that I had created characters I liked, and I felt guilty about leaving them in limbo. If you feel yours are strong enough, give it a go with another situation. Simply put, perhaps you only haven't given them the right vehicle. It doesn't mean you can't cook up another.

Kind regards,

Jack

scarletpeaches · Mar 17, 2010

*waits for blacbird to post "When I write it."*

McCaw

Linda Adams · Mar 17, 2010

RainyDayNinja said:
So now I'm asking you: When do you keep plugging along, and when do you throw in the towel and move on?

Having actually tossed a book and given up another ...

I tossed the book because it was very obvious that if I didn't I would never finish any book. It was my first book, and I ran into a tremendous amount of problems with it. I couldn't identify what the problems were, so I figured I'd revise to find them. Bad move. I'd get stuck in the same spot, go back and revise again while I tried to figure it out, and still couldn't get past the problem. I was not able to even get a completed first draft, and I kept pushing at it because of the mantra of "finish the book." A cowriter comes along and offers to do a book with me, and I realized at that point if I wanted to be published, I had to give up the first book. I couldn't quite do that, so I merely set it aside with the option of returning to it after the second one was done. Once that one was done, the first book was permanently shelved--it wasn't even a hard choice. But do bear in mind that I worked on that book for far longer than you have on yours, and I revised it needlessly to the point where it actually carried baggage.

The one I gave up was the one with the cowriter. That fell apart at submission time for a variety of reasons, and I had to walk away from the book. That one was hard--but it was helped by the fact I did have a solo project in the works already.

When does a novel become un-salvageable?

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