Finish My Book or Start A New One?

Akuma · Jan 23, 2007

I'm only 17, almost 18 (cigarettes and smut yay), and I can't say I've ever actually finished a novel. It's always 'write a huge chunk until I think of something better, something that will totally rule and there's no way I can drop it'.

Although it does make good practice, I would like to finish something. I think my tendency to grab at the next shiny thing comes with familiarity with my MC and all the characters in general.
When I start something new, it's driven with a passion for the character, to see where he will go and who he will become.

But after a while, it seems as if I become too familiar with the character. Although I might enjoy new aspects of a character, isn't consistency important?

I would like to take a break from the story, but when I do I find myself thinking about it. And when I sit down to write, I can't think of anything or conjure any inspiration.

I worry that I lack what it takes to be a writer. If I can run out of dedication so easily, despite my love for it, can I really do it? Trudging on doesn't seem right--this is mine and I should have fun.

Is this a case of 'familiarity breeds contempt', or am I just not seeing something here?

Hell, maybe writing is like relationships and I'm just terrified of intimacy.

IrishScribbler · Jan 23, 2007

Perhaps you're meant to write short fiction?

virtue_summer · Jan 23, 2007

Have you tried short stories? I was having this problem in college and that's what I did and it let me feel good about still completing projects until I felt able to go back and focus on another novel.

Sean D. Schaffer · Jan 23, 2007

I don't think it's 'familiarity breeds contempt', so much as it is that you're experimenting with your characters. Maybe you should try to consider this work you're doing as practice. Everyone needs practice in writing. I say write what you love.

Also, what you could do is try for a short short story before you work on a novel. I wrote a lot of those when I was about your age, and they helped jumpstart my imagination when I eventually decided I wanted to write novels.

Whatever you do, I think if you have a love for your characters and the situations you put them in, as well as a love for the written word and for the Craft of Writing, then you have what it takes to be a writer. It just takes time, practice, perseverance, and patience. I'd say keep going. Everyone has doubts; you just have to set the doubts aside and prove them wrong.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

The Lady · Jan 23, 2007

Maybe you're hitting the wall and you do need to trudge through it till you get to the other side.
Maybe just finish one thing, even if it is a trudge to see what you learn from that.
Or do as I saw Orson Scott Card advise, take whatever new idea is pounding at you, and insist it has to get incorporated into the existing work. I've tried it and I've been amazed how well it works out.

Anyway, best of luck with it.

icerose · Jan 23, 2007

Well you have a few options.

1. You can outline a novel and write it. (or just write it but an outline can force you to keep going)

2. You can write short stories.

3. You can give up writing.

Not all writing is fun. Sometimes it's downright painful. There are hard times and good times and bad times and great times during the writing process. They call it the mid book slump for a reason.

No one can write for you, no one can force you into it.

So either you do it, or you don't do it.

Good luck on your decision.

Sara

Akuma · Jan 23, 2007

icerose said:
3. You can give up writing.

No.

Don't mean to shoot you down, but that simply is not and never will be an option for me.

icerose · Jan 23, 2007

Akuma said:
No.

Don't mean to shoot you down, but that simply is not and never will be an option for me.

Good. Now that you know that, your choices are considerably narrowed.

swvaughn · Jan 23, 2007

Consistency is important, but your MC has to change in some way through the course of the story. That's what will keep you from getting bored with him. Yes, he should remain in character, but only so when the time comes for him to act out of character, it's just jaw-dropping awesome.

Play with him. Stick him in a tree and throw rocks at him. Throw some curveballs his way, and see how he reacts. And if all else fails, give yourself permission to write absolute drivel until something cool happens, and then go back and edit the hell out of the drivel part.

But stick with it. It feels SO good to complete a novel.

swvaughn · Jan 23, 2007

BTW, I love your name. I have a character named Akuma. He's not boring. I bet you aren't either.

icerose · Jan 23, 2007

Also remember that at least half of writing is re-writing. I know Uncle Jim gives you permission to write a bad first draft.

Marlys · Jan 23, 2007

Same thing happened when I was your age...in my case, it turned out I really wasn't ready to write a novel. The great thing about being young, though, is that you get over it.

I never gave up writing, but I didn't finish a novel until I was 39. Other things got in the way: school, work, family. There just comes a time (and it could come earlier for you than it did for me--or later) when you realize that if you want to get a book published, you have to write it. That sounds simplistic, but the drive has to be there, and it sounds like it isn't yet for you.

In the meantime, keep writing: short stories, essays, poems, practice pieces. And read, constantly. Then, when the novel you have to write grabs you, you'll already have many of the skills in place you need to produce it.

Best of luck!

icerose · Jan 23, 2007

I must have been lucky because I was able to finish one at that age. At any rate, know yourself, your limits, your dreams, your expectations and yada yada and apply what works best for yourself.

Chasing the Horizon · Jan 23, 2007

I use to have the same problem as you, Akuma, although I never got more than 15,000 words in before I got bored and went on to something else. I finished a few short stories and a lot of poetry, but that was it.

Then last year I had this idea for these three characters (no details beyond that at the beginning, just names and basic traits). It was originally supposed to be a Pirates Of The Caribbean fanfic novella (+/- 40,000 words).

Well, I started developing the characters more thoroughly and then I started drafting the outline and it just took off. I dropped all the fanfic elements, and expanded it into a novel, which became a trilogy.

I have been working with these same characters since August of 2006 and have written over 200,000 words about them (counting outlines and notes). I am more interested by them now than I was in the beginning. They never stop surprising and amazing me.

When you have the right characters and the right idea, then you won't want to quit. Unfortunately, there's no way to magically come up with perfect characters that will never bore you. It just kinda happens by accident. But I'm not much older than you (19), so you might not have to wait long.

Gabriel · Jan 23, 2007

I used to have the same problem, I would have more ideas as I wrote something and be forced to write ten stories all at once. No, I stopped, wrote down ideas in note book then put them away. If you have trouble, start on short stories and work your way up. Or write in chapters, that should keep you going if done right.

James D. Macdonald · Jan 24, 2007

Pick a book.

Finish it. Slog through any way you can.

Then pick another, and finish it.

If you never finish a book, you'll never learn how to write endings.

You're allowing the Dread Mid-Book to stop you.

Raphee · Jan 24, 2007

Familiarity does breed contempt. It's a lesson i am learning. I hate some of my characters and absolutely love others. I hate my WIP and then think it needs some more work.
i think some folks will love it but so what ; the vast majority shall hate it. At times I hate it.
I have no idea if my writing is good or bad. I just wish I knew.
perhaps I will when i start doing submissions. That's the only way to find out. Right.

NeuroFizz · Jan 24, 2007

Sorry to be blunt, but you have developed a mighty bad writing habit. The solution is discipline. Finish a damn book.

Jamesaritchie · Jan 24, 2007

Akuma said:
No.

Don't mean to shoot you down, but that simply is not and never will be an option for me.

Quitting is the option you've already chosen. You haven't written anything until you finish something. You can't even practice good beginnings until you've written an ending. The opening depends on the ending, and the ending depends on the opening.

I don't think familiarity breeds contempt has anything to do with it. You're choosing to quit. If you want to be a writer you have to choose to finish. It's as simple as this.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 24, 2007

When I started out I wrote mostly short stories. The idea of writing anything longer was a dream to me. I marveled at anyone who could string that many words together.

Every attempt at a novel failed after about four chapters. I either ran out of steam or ran into a wall within the story. I never thought I'd actually finish a novel.

So I kept reading. Kept writing. Submitted short stories. Until one day it just came to me, an idea. Could this be the one? I started writing it, and kept on writing and writing and writing and before I knew it I had knocked out almost 200,000 words and completed my first novel. (Needs lots of work, but it's done!)

Now I'm finishing up edits on my second novel and will be shopping it around soon.

So don't panic, don't worry, don't stress. Just keep reading novels. And keep writing. One day you'll have that "Ah-ha!" moment and before you know it, you'll have a completed novel under your wings.

CaroGirl · Jan 24, 2007

I agree with those who have said that you haven't written anything until you've finished something. Getting bored is a poor excuse. Not finishing is the same as quitting.

Write short stories if you have to, but you must finish what you start or don't bother starting. Some find that outlining helps get them out of a slump.

Good luck.

Akuma · Jan 24, 2007

All right, thank you for your suggestions everyone. I'll do my best to work on my faults and not to let this stop me. I've decided not to let me stop me.

Now if you excuse me, I have some ass kicking to do.

Jamesaritchie · Jan 24, 2007

sore

Akuma said:
I have some ass kicking to do.

I think most sucessful writers have a perpetually sore ass from repeated self-kicking.

Yuallica · Jan 24, 2007

I had a similar problem when I was first writing novel length things; for me the block was at around 6000-7000 words in, and it was boredom with the plot, not characters. Don't know if it will help you, but the way I got through it was, write until you're nearly at the point where you start to lose interest, then think of something to make the next bit more interesting (if it doesn't fit you can always edit it out later) and write like crazy!

If that fails, just try and push through and keep writing, even if it ends up being a shorter novel than you were aiming for. The first one I finished shouldn't really be called more than a novella, but I finished it, and found it easier to carry on with other projects once I'd actually finished something.

Good luck on completing something, and keep trying!

spike · Jan 25, 2007

If you want to use a cliche to describe what you are doing, try THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER. Those new ideas are so sexy when compared to the old one you're writing. But you have to finish what you start, even if you don't feel like it. By the end of my last mss, I wanted to have the MC take a gun and kill all of her friends. Not such a good idea in a book for 8-12 year olds!

This is why it is recommended that you put the finished mss away for at least a month or two, so you have some distance. I think it is so you stop hating your characters.

The way I deal with New Idea-itis is by making notes about the idea, then going back to work on my WIP. One day a week I allow myself to take out my new idea notebook and play with one of the stories.

It keeps me on track.

BTW, this weekend I'm attending a workshop called "Muddle in the Middle" sponsored by my writing group. So your not the only one who has trouble with this!

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