The urge to start over

I think it only matters if:

1. You have a deadline, or

2. It's just a procrastination technique.

If you've written yourself into a hole, you may well have to start over. If the tone of your beginning is not suiting the novel you may have to start over. If you're writing is progressing inl eaps and bounds and the beginning is no longer worthy of your name, etc.

I would say, if there's anyway you can stick with it, do. It might just be a very clever procrastination/self sabotage technique. If it really has to go, then start over.

Okay, step away from the keyboard. Slowly . . . before you do anything foolish.

We all get these urges. Often it's a case of "Ugh! This is awful!" syndrome. Tomorrow it might look better. Or next week. Sometimes it helps to start on something DIFFERENT for a few days. It just might look better when you come back to look at it later. Sometimes, not. But I've always felt it was better to put it away when it feels like cr*p before making the decision to start over.

Good luck, and don't be afraid to let it sit for a little bit.

I often have three projects going at the same time, so that if I get close to burnout on one I can switch to another and then go back when it feels right or fresh. This may not be accepted technique, but it works well for me and my thought process.

Don't think trash, think recycle.

About 3/4 of the way through my current novel, I thought of a completely new way to write the character that I actually loved. But I also knew that b the time I had rewritten the whole thing, I would be so sick of the story that I would never finish it.

I've had that urge recently!

When I look back at what I've written, I can see that I know more now than when I started, and thought I should shelve it and start something new. But I've decided to keep going, and when I get to THE END, go back and apply what I've learned to the rewrite.

sunandshadow said:

Does it matter whether the second project is a revision of the first, or something completely different?

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Short answer: no. Long answer: no way.

Helpful answer: There are going to be times when you feel like this, but it's just self-doubt. There are going to be times when you feel like this, but it's really time to stuff it in a drawer. But there are also going to be times when you feel like this, and you'll be right. There are projects that may seem so far gone that they are almost unsalvageable (is that a word?) and sometimes they are, but often they're not. If you care about the story, or the characters, or even if you're just stubborn, it's likely worth your while to lock your dignity away and start over with the same project, even though it will look like a completely different project by the end and nobody will believe you when you say, "Well, it used to be like this ..."

If I had scrapped my fantasy novel that had a prologue that coincided nearly word for word with a popular anime series, I wouldn't have gone back to it a couple of years later and discovered that there was something I cared about in the story, something that made me write in the first place. Now I'm in the rewrites and getting closer by the day to the finish line, when I plan to shop it around to agents so I can share the feeling of whatever it was that made me write it to people who will want to read it. You need to find that something for yourself, and run with it.

There are going to be days where you wonder if it's worth it, and there are also going to be times when you think it's never going to end, but it will. Just keep writing. Good luck!

Most of the time, in my experience, this urge is a manifestation of fear. Keep going.

If you're really, really stuck, go back to the last turning point (not the beginning) and figure out if you made a wrong turn, b/c a true writer's block (lasting several days or weeks) can be a sign of going the wrong way in a story.

If there's no serious problem with that turning point, then just keep plugging along. You might make some notes (I usually keep a file entitled "revisions" in the folder assigned to my WIP, and I put notes like "change the day when X happens," or "the hero has blue eyes, not brown," or "emphasize the theme of ___" or "change the setting for the first three chapters" or whatever), and then keep going as if those changes were already made.

Of course, some writers need to have every existing line, paragraph, scene and chapter perfect before they can write the next word, and if that's your style, then you have to go with it and forget about anyone else's style. But for most writers I've known, the urge to rewrite is a form of procrastination and fear.

JD

I agree, if you have a deadline bad idea to start over - for me, I was near to completion (around 150,000 words in) and I started completely over - I kept the draft, used some of the scenes from that one - but it was the best decision I'd ever made. The new one is SO much better...I suppose the only way you can tell whether it's a good idea or not is to start anew, and see how much you like the new one compared to the old one.

In my case, I just knew that the old one (whilst I was writing it) wasn't going in the right direction.

Good luck,

Annwyn

I was in the same boat a couple of days ago. Convinced that my entire novel, which hinged on something I wasn't very sure would fly with readers (now that I'm a good ways into it) should just be tossed and I should start on the next book in the series.

But as I kept clacking away despite feeling like I was just pouring work into a completely wasted effort, I realized something. You don't become good at things by thinking about them. If all I ever did was think about collection development, or cataloging, or maintaining a balanced collection, the library would crumble because nothing would ever get done. I become a better reference librarian each time I look at a question and think, there's no way I can answer this, but I have to try my best anyway. Because, inevitably, my brain will wrap around the question in a way it didn't before, and I'll think of a brilliant resource for the patron to use to find their answer.

Every time you think there's no way you can do what it is you're being called on to, whether it's writing a novel or balancing a check book, there's just something in the human brain that steps up and says "Frell That!"

But only if you keep plugging away at it. If you were to go, "Beh, I can't balance a checkbook!" then you will never learn how to, or improve the skill.

Sunandshadow, what you need is a busman's holiday. give yourself permission to stop and write a short story. Then go back to your novel. Give yourself permission once a week to write something else. Honestly, it can really help.

Oh--and this is important---do NOT allow yourself to write in your novel on the holiday. Only write the short story. This works for me. It makes me WANT to write on my novel because I'm not allowed to. By the next day I'm salivating to write on the novel.

I don't know if this works for everyone or just me because I'm a contrary coo.

Soccer Mom said:

I don't know if this works for everyone or just me because I'm a contrary coo.

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LOL! This is soooo me. I want to start editing every time I can't work on it. *sigh*

Yes, DO NOT start over, not yet anyhow. Take a break. Don't look at it. Read a book you've been meaning to read forever now. But don't do anything right away.

I couldn't tell you how many times during the novel that Chaos and I wrote, and during the one we're currently writing, that I just looked at the words and thought, "what the hell am I doing???" My intervention was Chaos effectively smacking me upside the head and saying, "You're a dork." (In a friendly way... )

My way, and a lot less painful way, of saying don't do anything rash. Save it, put it somewhere safe, and come back to it later.

Do not trash the beginning you've written - ever!

Start writing something else and come back to this one later. You might be surprised at how good it is.

My advice?
Do not take a break.
Slog on, oh dear one.
Slog on.
It's in the doing.
There are demons and gobblins along the yellow brick road that will entice you. Tempt you. Do not give in to their pleas. Their whines.
(ok YOUR whines.)
Don't stop. You will thank me later.
Tell your story all the way to the end and do not despair.
Then put it away in a drawer for a time and start the next book. By the time you finish THAT first draft you will be ready to pull number one out for another look.
JMHO