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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36516
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In 2015 I wrote the first two thirds of a novel (as part of NaNoWriMo). I stopped at that point because I had written the 50,000 words required for the 'competition' but the story is not yet complete. I have an outline in my head of how it pans out - so that's not an issue.

One problem is that the novel was (is) set in my home town of York in 2015 and time, as it does, has moved on since. Half a year after breaking off, I could have started the final third of the novel in a 'six months later' fashion, but I think that 'three years later' might be stretching it.

Another problem is that because I have the end of the novel in my head, I have less motivation to finish it. Because it feels like I've finished it already (in my head) this kind of serves as a damper to my creativity.

Lastly - the world seems to have moved on and the issues in my novel don't seem as relevant to a readership and they once were. Plus - the issues are around the karmic/rebirth aspects of child-abuse and I'm not sure how palatable they would be to any audience anyway.

Generally - is it a bad idea to try to finish a novel after a long break or would it be more productive to just start a new project from scratch? And, if it's not too broad a question, how might one go about restarting such an old project?

**PS** I noticed this question: [How to restart a novel(la)?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/4782/how-to-restart-a-novella) but the answers talk about how to _extend_ a novella into a novel rather than how to restart.

Original score: 13