Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/48028
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

I am a reader more than a writer, and fantasy is my favorite genre.

I used to write short stories and poems. Some of them are published in magazines and get good reviews.

In 2018 January, I read the complete collection of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus (10 books in total ) in a single stretch, and got highly inspired.

So, I planned to write my very first novel.

By profession, I am a programmer, and I managed to spend 1-2 hours a day on my writing, and started posting it on a Facebook group as small chapters. The response I got was great. I am a discovery writer. To hook my readers in my story, it becomes necessary to make twists and mysteries often. Many chapters create a lot of questions in the reader's mind.

Almost 75% of my story is written, but I have no idea how to resolve those mysteries I created.

Due to some personal reasons, I was forced to take a break from my writing, and got completely busy in my personal and professional life. I let my readers know this, and now, almost one year later, I still get questions from my readers about the unfinished novel, and requests to complete it.

I have the desire to complete it, but I have three main issues:

1. I do not have the inspiration, now, that I had when I started writing the novel.
2. When I read my unfinished novel, I understand that it diverged a lot from what I planned to write at the beginning, and it disappoints me. I think it's mainly because my writing got highly influenced by readers' comments.
3. I don't know how to resolve the mysteries I created or how to answer the questions I made.

What should I do about this?

These are the options I'm considering:

1. Scrap everything and start something new with the same basic idea.
2. Start to rewrite the same novel, and hope it gets a normal flow till I find a climax.
3. Continue from the last word I wrote in the novel (I have no idea how to do this).
4. Do not post on social media until I complete the novel.
5. Post each chapter, communicate with readers, and continue writing.

I don't know which is the right decision, or how to make it work. Please help.

Original score: 21