Sorry to give up, but I'm trunking my completed novel.

Marissa D said:

It might be better to let it lie fallow for now, and come back to it after you've got a few more books under your belt so that you can apply what you've learned from writing them... just sayin'.

Marissa, who did that with the utter stinker that was her very first book.

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+1,000,000 to this.

Based on my experience and that of many of my associates, putting a work away, especially a first novel, can be one of the best decisions for moving forward and making progress, even though it can be so very hard to do.

Trunking a novel is letting go and freeing yourself, not giving up on it. The trunked novel isn't going any place. That new idea and project you are excited about? My advice would be to dive into it! As Marissa said, what you learn from your new projects will give you more seasoned eyes for your trunked project.

In the end, it's your decision, of course, and it's one you won't/shouldn't make until you are ready, but I thought I'd throw this out there because . . . been there, done that.

All the best,
Riv

You spent 2 years on one novel? Wow.

Mutant Llama said:

You spent 2 years on one novel? Wow.

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That's not a particularly long spell. Some books are not as quick to write as other books - and also life can get in the way.

starrystorm said:

The sad thing is, it wasn't even my first novel. I've trunked an epic fantasy and this weird diary thing I tried to write in 9th grade. It's just that I never seem to write something critique-able or something I still like.

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Mannny who have been writing for a while, published or not, have multiple trunked/on hold manuscripts. If you learned anything from the epic fantasy that you were able to apply to the ms you are considering trunking, it wasn't a waste. The key is to keep writing. Let go and move on, even if temporarily. That's really the only way to hit your stride rather than running in place, IMO.

If you choose to continue working on the same ms, consider at least giving it a break for a bit. Dabble with your new project or write a short story. Let yourself get a bit of distance before tackling it again. You can do this!

All the best,
Riv

Mutant Llama said:

You spent 2 years on one novel? Wow.

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My first published novel took me 3 years from first draft to sale. The one I'm finishing up now has taken me 2 years so far, and I haven't sold it yet.

There are plenty of timeframes within the range of normal for finishing a novel, and it really depends on the writer, and often the circumstances of the rest of their life.

-Riv- said:

Mannny who have been writing for a while, published or not, have multiple trunked/on hold manuscripts. If you learned anything from the epic fantasy that you were able to apply to the ms you are considering trunking, it wasn't a waste. The key is to keep writing. Let go and move on, even if temporarily. That's really the only way to hit your stride rather than running in place, IMO.

If you choose to continue working on the same ms, consider at least giving it a break for a bit. Dabble with your new project or write a short story. Let yourself get a bit of distance before tackling it again. You can do this!

All the best,
Riv

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This. I finished my fantasy earlier this year and still can’t stick to editing for more than a day or two. Short stories are a great way to exercise the brain and don’t require the same time commitment. Working on nonfiction relaxes me, since I don’t have to make stuff up.

Mutant Llama said:

You spent 2 years on one novel? Wow.

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It’s not a race, and not everyone has the same amount of free time. And sometimes the book doesn’t come together right away, or even in the fifth draft. I spent years tinkering away at my first YA urban fantasy. My current WIP, another YA UF, I started on April 14 this year. I’m about to finish it in the next few days, so about 115k in 70 days or so, with no planned major rewrites, just editing. You can just never know how it’s going to go. If you’ve been lucky enough to hit gold with all of your projects right away, then you’re one of the rare fortunate few.

Mutant Llama said:

You spent 2 years on one novel? Wow.

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How long did it take you?

When I was in high school, I started work on a project that ended up consuming my life for 8 years. I wasn't going to be an author of multiple books, just this one. I'd write it and wipe my hands free of this whole writing nonsense and move on. Anyway, after I polished the book, I got beta readers. But, each and every one of them slogged through the book. It was so disheartening. It took all of them months and months to finish reading it because it was so terrible. I knew I wasn't the most terrific writer at that time, but I worked hard. I thought, with all my years of work on it, that it'd show.

I tried to write a query, even posted one on QLH, and it was a terrible query. I realized that the book was missing major components that make a story, and I didn't know how to fix it. I pushed on anyway, hoping my fears and my beta readers were wrong. I started researching literary agents, but in the week before I started querying, I got a real calming feeling and decided to trunk it. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made, but I came out better for it. And honestly, after I did, this enormous weight came off my shoulders.

At that time, I thought I was done writing.

Then, a couple weeks later, an idea dawned on me. I wrote a chapter just to see, and I was stunned how much I enjoyed it. The story was different. Fun. I call it my "healing" book. The book was not great, but I had a ton of fun writing it, and I learned so much. Even if some of my previous work isn't great, I'm still proud of it. Those books are blood, sweat, and tears in a Word document.

Sometimes trunking hurts, but it can also lead to bigger and better things. My advice is to never think that you "wasted" your time. You are probably a better writer now, than you were two years ago. And, good writers are the ones who reflect upon their own work, realize their flaws, and learn from them. Use this as an opportunity to grow.

Just my two cents.

It's not the job of your betas to give you the plot, it's your job to provide it. And you are never as great at anything as you think you are, I've learned this several times. You'll always find someone that doesn't like what you've done. And as for your plot changing, don't worry about that, my story has changed four times and if nothing like the original concept. It's perfectly normal.

Uploading your plot line maybe helpful but it would be better to upload the full manuscript first. You may lack confidence now and uploading your idea will either fill you with confidence, because people will like it, or knock it better they wont or will find fault in it, then you become insecure - this happened to me recently on another forum. I wasn't asking for feedback just mentioned something I was doing to get around a problem in my story, but of course, someone decided to give it to me. Then others decided to get involved and either defend or bash me until a mod closed the thread.

The trouble with asking people close to you is they don't want to hurt your feelings, or love you so much they think everything you do it good.

Just keep at it and don't rush because you have plenty of time. x

I'd go with what multiple betas are saying.
So if ONE beta didn't like it, then you can feel free to ignore them (unless you have a reason for trusting their opinion more than anyone else's).
If multiple betas enjoyed it, but struggled with a certain element (a character, pacing, etc.) then you can just look into changing that element.
You can also trunk a novel for a time and then take it out of the trunk when you feel you're ready to address whatever went wrong.
I'm sure you'll find your author friend's advice valuable and I'm hopeful you'll find a good direction for next steps.

starrystorm said:

But as soon as I get better Internet connection, I'm going to send it. Probably in five days or so. I'm asking her to do a line-by-line and she said that's fine.

I'm nervous. I feel like if my book is truly bad, then I'll be wasting her time. But I'm not the kind of person who gives up, and certainly not on something I still love.

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(As a lot of folks noted, trunking a novel does not equate to giving up.)

Just a FWIW. Asking for a LBL of an entire manuscript is asking a lot (even though she says she'll do it) and not needed if your key goal is to find out if the overall story is working or not.

In light of her generous offer to donate time, consider requesting LBL of a chapter only and broader stroke comments on the rest (unless something is glaring on the sentence level and needs comment). A few thousand words is typically enough to highlight sentence-level issues that may recur throughout a piece, and you can use those comments to clean up the rest of the manuscript. (That's what I would do in your situation. YMMV.)

All the best,
Riv

Haven't finished a novel yet, but I've trunked plenty of short stories. In a few cases, I've come back to them years later and found a way to make them work. I wouldn't consider any of it wasted effort; it's all part of one's development as a writer.

Hope you're doing better than when you wrote this post. That's a terrible feeling and I'm sorry you went through it. I just wanted to pop in and give you the good news. You started a new project. That means you DIDN'T give up. It also means you've got what it really takes to be a writer. Hang in there. You'll do just fine.