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Have you ever loved a trunked novel with so much potential but you just couldn't go back to it?

AndreaX

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I'm in this weird situation.

I have this novel that's been trunked. I love it to pieces and I know it's got tons of potential. And at the same time, I just don't want to go back with it. I'm kind of over it - I'm over thee characters and the storyline. Even though I always imagined that the story and characters have potential too, I just don't want to write them anymore. I haven't written them in almost 10 years and I just cringe when I go back to it.

I thought about re-writing it for a different age group, but I just don't want to revisit the story. At the same time I know it's a shame because there's a lot of potential.

I was thinking of creating a new story one day and I've been stuck on it for a long time because sometimes just doesn't seem to click. Then I took one crucial element from the trunked novel and added it to the world and it was like everything came together. The idea felt alive again. The issue is the more I go on the more I realize that there's more and more bits and pieces I'm breaking from that trunked novel.

It's working out because it's like the perfect marriage. But at the same time, what if I in the future would want to go back to that trunked novel to do something with it - try to re-write it into a different format like graphic novel or sceenplay or something? I wouldn't be able to because the ideas between my new story and the old one would be too similar. I'm also scared my agent will question why my new story I'm submitting to him seems so similar to that novel we shopped years ago and trunked?

Thoughts?
 

Putputt

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What were the reasons that the original MS didn't get picked up? Market reasons? Characters? Plot? I think the reason would affect how your agent would see it.

If I were you, I would write a pitch of the new novel for your agent and tell him this is what you're currently working on, and there are elements which you've taken from your old MS, but the new MS is vastly different because Reasons.

And personally, I would let go of any hope of resurrecting the old MS, but I'm pretty heartless when it comes to my old MSs. "Send them out and move on to the next one" is my personal work ethic. :D I think it depends on how attached you are to it and also how well your WIP turns out. You may end up loving it far more than the old one.
 

sideshowdarb

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Oh, oh yes.

I have one that has been around in one shape or another for a long time. It has a lot of potential and I will probably revisit it at some point, or at least elements of it. The reason it never worked was because I just wasn't a strong enough writer to capitalize on the ideas.

I wouldn't be able to because the ideas between my new story and the old one would be too similar.

I have run into this also, and my solution - future books no one has read spoilers! - is that these separate books exist in the same shared universe.
 

BethS

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I was thinking of creating a new story one day and I've been stuck on it for a long time because sometimes just doesn't seem to click. Then I took one crucial element from the trunked novel and added it to the world and it was like everything came together. The idea felt alive again.

There's your answer. Take the best and leave the rest.
 

StaircaseInTheDark

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I have nothing to say about what your agent may think, but it sounds like you gave up on this old idea a long time ago. If you can salvage some elements of it to make a new story work then I would say do it. Doing something which would mean completely shutting the door on ever publishing a specific novel can be daunting, but some stories just don't work out, no matter how attached you are to them. I wouldn't pass up making this new novel work on the off chance things might change with the old one. And you'll always have the older story for yourself, even if it's never published.
 
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Taylor Harbin

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There's your answer. Take the best and leave the rest.

+3 this. I wrote a 180,000 word fantasy only to realize that if I focused the whole on a group of side-characters, the ones who have the most to lose in the conflict, every problem I encountered would be solved. So, I shall rewrite the entire thing some day.
 

blackcat777

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I have a fun old one that I might "reboot." Overall the plot was solid, but the execution was amateur--characters ate a lot of breakfast, looked out the window, I dropped random miniature plot threads for no reason, etc.