Question for more experienced writers...

[Celia Cyanide]

I guess anyone can answer this, because it's kind of a goofy question. If you're laughing at me for this, I don't blame you, but I am rather superstitious. I used to fast for a day before I went to a concert. One day, I forgot to fast before a Nine Inch Nails show. Trent Reznor's dog died, the show was cancelled, and I couldn't get my money back. It took me ten years to get to a point where I could eat every day before I went to see a band play. Anyway...enough about me in high school...

When was in college, I wrote a novel. At least I thought it was a novel. It looked like a novel. It had enough pages to be a novel. But when I took it out again recently I found out that it was really a short story in bad need of trimming.

I've often heard that many writers publish their second novel first, and so I'm really excited for story #2. The thing is, the first one has a few pages of dialog I really like that would be completely appropriate for two characters in the novel I'm working on now.

My question is...is it considered "bad luck" to pull an except from your first, unpublished novel, that didn't turn out so well, into your second novel, that you're sure is going to go places? Don't tell me not to listen to bad omens, as I haven't decided yet whether or not the answer to this question will dictate my decision. But if I'm doing something that is considered "bad luck," I would like to know. Now. So that when I'm getting rejection slips, I don't hear someone say, "When you wrote this, you forgot the first one even existed, didn't you? It's bad luck to incorporate the old one into the new one!"

I hope some of you published writers can answer this for me, and as for the rest of you...I hope it doesn't make you laugh too much. :)

[ecouteuse]

No, it will not be considered bad luck to use anything from a previous work that you deem will work in the book. If you worry about this on the level of writing, the business part of the writing world will drive you mad... always wonderful if what you ate for breakfast the day you got one agent's answer was good / bad luck, etc.

Make every decision about your writing be about the writing itself. If a conversation you overhear is useful and suddenly illuminates a character... it's all fodder. If something you worked on previously ends up resonating now, then it's just your subconscious showing you that it was working on this story, or this character, long before you realized.

Lastly, it's your story. Have fun with it and don't worry about luck. Strive for excellence, strive to make the characters consistent within themselves (which can mean that they surprise you, because characters, like people, are made of contradictions), and strive to tell an interesting story. That's enough to worry about. ;)

[Fishmonkey]

Never heard about that one. And I constantly cannibalize old stories that went into the trunk for bits I like. Didn't seem to affect anything.

[brokenfingers]

The more experienced writers here may have a better grip on the matter than I, but I'm pretty sure that it won't affect your work IF you transcribe it during a full moon AND do it by the light of an apple-scented candle.

[Jamesaritchie]

In all honesty, I don't really believe in luck. Good or bad luck is no more than the odds proving that anything that's possible will happen sooner or later. And around here, we say a person is "Stupidstitious." Kinda lightens those moments when you wonder whether or not you really were born under the wrong star.

But, no, it isn't bad luck to borrow from an old work. Though I would advise you do so only after feeding a stray cat, finding a penny that's heads up, and checking with your local astrologer.

[My-Immortal]

But, no, it isn't bad luck to borrow from an old work. Though I would advise you do so only after feeding a stray cat, finding a penny that's heads up, and checking with your local astrologer.

Have you ever kicked a penny that was tails up in order to flip it over onto its head so you could pick it up? Is that considered making your own good luck? :)

Is a nickle heads up five times more good luck than a penny? A dime ten times?

I found a twenty dollar bill once laying in the street heads up. That was a nice day though besides finding the twenty I don't recall a bounty of good luck afterwards...

Okay - back to writing (or sleep)...

[Jamesaritchie]

Have you ever kicked a penny that was tails up in order to flip it over onto its head so you could pick it up? Is that considered making your own good luck? :)

Is a nickle heads up five times more good luck than a penny? A dime ten times?

I found a twenty dollar bill once laying in the street heads up. That was a nice day though besides finding the twenty I don't recall a bounty of good luck afterwards...

Okay - back to writing (or sleep)...

I once found sixty bucks scattered across a parking lot. I snatched it up so fast I have no idea whether it was heads up or tails up.

I always figured finding money WAS the luck, no matter what followed. So, yes, I would say finding a dime heads up is ten times luckier than finding a penny heads up, but I'll take either, heads or tails up.

On the subject of picking up money, I read somewhere that if Bill Gates sees a hundred dollar bill on the ground while on the way to work, he would actually lose money if he bent down to pick it up because his time is worth more that he would make in the process. Must be nice.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't say I don't believe in luck. I've had a few experiences that are hard to explain any other way. In my beginning days as a writer, we were dead broke for a time. During one of these times, I had a couple of short stories to mail, but didn't even have enough money for stamps. So I took a walk to think things over, seriously wondering about the wisdom of writing, and during that walk, far away from houses or mail routes, the wind slapped something against my leg. When I looked down I saw it was a partial book of stamps, and just the number I needed to submit those stories. They sold, and that really started my journey as a writer.

To me, this was just. . .weird. Something beyond odds. Almost like fate was taking a hand.

[Celia Cyanide]

No, it will not be considered bad luck to use anything from a previous work that you deem will work in the book. If you worry about this on the level of writing, the business part of the writing world will drive you mad... always wonderful if what you ate for breakfast the day you got one agent's answer was good / bad luck, etc.

;)

Oh, that's easy for you to say! You didn't kill Trent Reznor's dog! :)

And no, I'm not basing my decisions as a writer on whether it's good or bad luck to put something in my story. I just like to know beforehand.

I decided to put it in. But I edited it to delete the 13th word. :)

James, that is an amazing story. Thanks for sharing it.

[Birol]

My question is...is it considered "bad luck" to pull an except from your first, unpublished novel, that didn't turn out so well, into your second novel, that you're sure is going to go places? Don't tell me not to listen to bad omens, as I haven't decided yet whether or not the answer to this question will dictate my decision. But if I'm doing something that is considered "bad luck," I would like to know. Now. So that when I'm getting rejection slips, I don't hear someone say, "When you wrote this, you forgot the first one even existed, didn't you? It's bad luck to incorporate the old one into the new one!"

By reincorporating the words, it means you didn't send them into oblivion or consign them to purgatory, but gave them new life.

[aruna]

I
Anyway, I probably shouldn't say I don't believe in luck. I've had a few experiences that are hard to explain any other way. In my beginning days as a writer, we were dead broke for a time. During one of these times, I had a couple of short stories to mail, but didn't even have enough money for stamps. So I took a walk to think things over, seriously wondering about the wisdom of writing, and during that walk, far away from houses or mail routes, the wind slapped something against my leg. When I looked down I saw it was a partial book of stamps, and just the number I needed to submit those stories. They sold, and that really started my journey as a writer.

.

This sort of thing happens to me frequently, al the time, in fact. It started when I was 19; when something is necessary, it turns up out of the blue. It's not luck; it's bigger than that.

[Cathy C]

I do this all the time. I have lots of cannibalized chapters and scenes that wind up being used in later books. If I have to go back to the original plot at some point, it's seldom the same book. A few passed years almost DEMAND edits anyway . . . I just do it sooner than later! :roll: