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Q&A How do I finish my projects?

I have no idea if I understood you right. I hope I have. If I haven't, I apologize. English is my second language as well :). I was -or I hope I was, that is- the same as you. I start with an idea...

posted 7y ago by A.T. Catmus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:26:18Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31701
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar A.T. Catmus‭ · 2019-12-08T07:26:18Z (almost 5 years ago)
I have no idea if I understood you right. I hope I have. If I haven't, I apologize. English is my second language as well :).

I was -or I hope I was, that is- the same as you. I start with an idea and halfway through, get a new one stuck in my head and have to stop with my first idea to start the second. Because it would bug me if I didn't write it.

Then I sat down and thought quietly why I never finished any of those ideas. And for me, the answer was- I got bored of the first idea. Then I started to notice why it bored me. I had too much info dump, I kept repeating stuff, I had characters not doing anything just sitting and talking, etc.

So, I made myself focus on one project. It wasn't easy, but I ended a story. Around 35,000 words. Short, true, but at least had a beginning, a middle and an end. And with that story I realized what I was doing wrong and from then on, I tried to stop making the same mistakes.

So, after all this nonsense chattering, my points are:

Don't let other ideas get in the way. Write them on a notebook, just a short description, but don't start any of them. Close the notebook and don't look at them again. Finish the novel you're writing first.

Don't think that the work you've done so far is useless, because it's not. Look at it and learn from it. Find the reason why you're not finishing it.

So, this is me and how I am/used to be the same. Don't know if it's helpful to you or not.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-11-27T13:20:04Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 6