What should I do if halfway through a story, I am not anymore convinced with the plot and the storyline ?
It happens fairly often, that when I get an idea, it seems really good. I start writing it, and midway or towards the end, or sometimes after completing the whole thing, I completely lose trust in the idea.
- Should I publish or complete something that I don't believe in anymore ?
- And if yes, how do I go about completing the story?
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It sounds like you are starting with an incomplete story idea and discovering, half way through writing, that your idea is incomplete.
For some writers, it would seem, it is quite normal to start with an incomplete idea and for them to discover the rest of the idea as the story develops. (The tale grew in the telling, in Tolkien's phrase.)
If you are not one of those writers for whom the tale grows in the telling, then it would seem that you need to focus on two things:
Recognizing when a story idea is incomplete
Developing a story idea to completion before you begin writing
There are lots of models you can use to assess if a story idea is complete, and to develop your story idea to completion. (I would suggest looking at McKee (Story) and Vogler (The Writers Journey) to start with.)
I tend to look at story ideas in terms of desire.
- What is the protagonist's desire?
- What things in the protagonist's character or circumstances stand in the way of their achieving that desire.
- What will they have to give up to achieve their desire? What is the great moral turning point that makes them either make the sacrifice to attain their desire or give up their desire.
- What specific incidents will set the protagonist on the quest for their desire, and what incidents will force them to face the great moral turning point.
Those strike me as the necessary elements of a complete story idea. If you have those, the impetus of the story should be enough to carry you through to the end of the story. If you don't it is likely to flag at some point, as you have experienced.
If you can complete your story idea, you will probably find the impetus to continue. If you can't, continuing is not likely to reveal the complete idea to you (though it is always possible that it will).
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I know you have already accepted Mark's answer, but here is an idea, from a writer that starts with rather vague story plans:
While you are in love with your idea, write down what you love about it. Why is this such a great idea? What scenes are you imagining? What funny or astounding or terrifying moments will this idea deliver? What kinds of problems does this make the characters face? Will people die? Will love be lost or gained? What is going to excite characters inside this idea, to make them move and take action? Is it money, or power, or terror, or a weeping-at-night desire to save the poor shovel-head turtle from extinction?
Before you start writing an actual scene, or thinking about a hero, write yourself a touchstone: As many pages as you can muster on why this idea grabbed your imagination. Write this to be the cheerleader for your future self.
If in some weeks or months you grow to doubt yourself, read it again. See where you went wrong. Maybe the cheerleader can convince you to back up a bit and fix the story.
If you get bored with the writing, it may be because your characters are making obvious, predictable and safe choices. They are boring to read about!
The story is not advancing, or advancing too slowly. You need to find where that started and find some dynamite to throw. Something that forces them off that boring path.
Stephen King had this problem with The Stand, he was stuck for weeks and thought he'd lose the novel 3/4 of the way through. To fix it he literally threw dynamite in there, he wove in a back-story of sabotage that blew up and killed half his characters and sent the rest reeling on a completely different path. Reading about that sabotage (without knowing it was an expertly done add-in) created a sense of dread leading up to the explosion, it kept seeming the saboteurs would get caught, but they kept (quite logically) escaping and it looked like they were going to get away with it. Which they did.
There is a thin path to walk that keeps your characters in character while sustaining the suspense of what is coming, and their journey to it compelling. It is easy to take a step off that path, and wander for a few days or weeks. If you get bored, that is what happened: go find the last bit you enjoyed writing, and try to change the game so you don't wind up in the same place.
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Although this may be a real issue, in which case Mark's advice is excellent, it could also be psychological. I have learned that I always think my writing is amazing while I'm working on a project (particularly in the earlier stages) and that I always think it's terrible right after I complete it. The most obvious conclusion is that neither self-assessment of my work is trustworthy.
If you have a similar pattern, these things might help:
1) Committing to finishing (or to publishing), no matter what.
2) Finding a trusted reader, who can be objective about the work.
3) Setting aside the work for a while so that you can return to it with fresh eyes.
4) Knowing yourself well enough to compensate for your set reactions. For me, the false early confidence is useful, because it keeps me excited to work; the inevitable later disillusionment is just something I've learned I need to be prepared to power through.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30104. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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