Abandoning a Manuscript

I'm a firm believer in Heinlein's Rules. Follow them, and you'll succeed. Don't follow them, and you'll probably fail. I never abandon anything.

I think those impossible first novels are the ones where you really learn to write well, if you push through. If you don't push through, it's unlikely the next novel will be any easier to write.

I suspect your problem was planning for a year. Instead of sitting down and writing, you planned and planned and planned, and now you're in trouble because you realize the plan isn't working. As Helmuth von Moltke write, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

Planning isn't a bad thing, but over planning can kill, and you have to learn when to throw away the plan and just go with the story.

So write the parts you know are coming, the later and even the end. Skip over parts if need be; you can always fill in the blanks later ... or you may decide that the story starts somewhere else.

And if some other story comes into your head, write that too. We're not chained to the first thing we ever wrote til it's linearly finished, ya know. (Says the person who writes in isolated scenes in multiple WIPs, so thinks this is normal.)

Oddly, this is topic that I haven't ever given much thought. When I look back at my history as a writer, I have traditionally abandoned lots of stories and finished lots of stories. Rarely if ever do I deliberately abandon something. Usually abandonment occurs when I get stuck on a project or lose passion for it, choosing to move on momentarily so that I'm still writing, even when the going gets tough. I think this would be a problem if I never finished anything, but I complete a suitable amount of work so I'm perfectly comfortable with my own method.

I started a manuscript, but one night my computer decided to blow up on me (I hadn't remembered to back up my WIP). Now, I can't even remember what the thing was about. My computer probably did me a favor.

I'm a university student. I've struggled with classes,heavy assignments,exams etc etc etc to complete the first draft of my MS(Mathematics and writing do not go hand in hand). It is overwhelming,yes,and you would want to give up the work in hand and run after something else but that is not recommended. Sudden flashes of ideas are more appealing than the story. I would recommend keeping the work for a fresh start but not abandoning it.

I abandoned an extended version of my (nonfiction) M.A. thesis, a study of 20th century U.S.-Southeast Asian relations. I started the project simply because the professors on my thesis committee urged me to do it, and predicted that it would get published. After a couple years working on it, I realized that it was time for me to call it quits. No regrets.

I also abandoned several fiction projects: Novel, novella, short stories, screenplay -- you name it, I gave it a shot. I gave 'em up because I concluded that I have a truly terrifying lack of talent in the fiction department.

If you're not feeling enthusiasm for a project, you can always put it aside and start another. The new project may very well give you ideas for the old one. As a sort of compromise between the frustration of not having completed the first project, and the frustration of not feeling excited by it, could you promise to complete the SECOND project, no matter what?