Dead Stories

Dead stories absolutely can live again. You may end up coming to the realization that they weren't as good as you thought, or that a lot of things you wanted aren't right because you aren't the same person you were. So change it. Start at the beginning and rewrite it a whole new way to fit the whole new you.

When I was in high school, I spent my entire junior and senior year working on a story. I'd built a detailed world around it, started to write it, scrapped it my senior year and restarted again. Then I went to college and let it all fall aside. Six years later, I was a college graduate, married, working with computers, and above all, not writing. I missed it, and I still loved that story I'd worked so hard on in high school. So when I decided to write again, I pulled it back out and started over. I used the old notes and the second version as guidelines, but a lot still changed just because I wasn't the same person. I think because of my own growth, I ended up with a better story. The best it could be? No way, I've put it aside again while I work on other stories and grow as a writer, but it's alive again. Yours can live too.

Good luck, and welcome to the water cooler!

I have a short story that is gathering digital dust. When I wrote it three years ago, I really believed it was a great story.

When I read it today I almost puked. It was a disaster.

I've grown since then so I have a different perspective. I'm in the mode of rewriting the whole story again, scrapping the five drafts I had written of it and starting anew. It will still retain the structure, but it will have a different pace and different language.

You can always breathe new life to your "dead" stories by rewriting them if you wish.

Hi
It's the best way to revise.
I'm not sure why , but rereading forgotten stuff always reveals things you did not see at at time of writing, and not always negative things . The most disappointing aspect I see in my old writing , is the obvious lack of originality . I Just put back in the mixer , and have another go.

My general rule is to finish everything I start as soon as possible. But I've had three serious battles with my health, which were two comas and a pair of back to back heart attacks. All struck suddenly, without warning, and left me with unfinished stories.

The first time was the worst, at least where time was concerned. It took six montsh to get back on my feet, and more important, before my mind worked at a normal level again.

Those unfinished stories did feel foreign, like someone else started them, but I found a solution that may or may not work for you, but that worked very well for me.

I threw them all out, deleted every last thing that showed they ever existed. Ever heard the phrase "Gone, but not forgotten"?

The partial stories were gone, but not the ideas, not why I wanted to write them. I waited a few weeks, waited until the idea for one naturally popped into my head again, and when this happened, I write the story from scratch. This time it was me writing it, the me that had gone through the six months of trauma, and I eventually finished every story.

Magnificent post, James. Thank you for it.

caw

I'm currently attempting it with an old outline for a story from a year ago. It really just sort of depends on how far back you go.

I never toss anything out. I always try to finish my stories, but sometimes I do not. Those I don't, just get tucked away. Recently I've been revising and finishing some of those old ones. (The oldest date from about 20 years ago.) Of those I've finished, I've sold several.

So it's worth it to me to never throw anything out.

jaksen said:

I never toss anything out. I always try to finish my stories, but sometimes I do not. Those I don't, just get tucked away. Recently I've been revising and finishing some of those old ones. (The oldest date from about 20 years ago.) Of those I've finished, I've sold several.

So it's worth it to me to never throw anything out.

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You should try it just once. As I said, throwing something out doesn't mean it's gone and won't be finished. It's still there, still tucked away in the swamp at the bottom level of your mind.

When you pull it out of the muck, it's often better because it's had time to simmer in the cauldron, and it's the present you writing it.

For me, throwing something away is often the best way to save it.