Restarting a Novel
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)? but the answers talk about how to extend a novella into a novel rather than how to restart.
It sounds like you've got just enough motivation to want to do it (or you wouldn't have come here!), but not quite enoug …
6y ago
> 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 …
6y ago
I'm in a similar situation to you. I wrote the first 50,000 words of a novel during a NaNoWriMo (I can't remember which …
6y ago
This may be opinion based. My advice is to at least finish it - and here's why. If you allow yourself to not finish, you …
6y ago
I am a discovery writer (and find the term "pantster" as pejorative as "plodder" instead of "plotter."). All writers mus …
6y ago
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5 answers
It sounds like you've got just enough motivation to want to do it (or you wouldn't have come here!), but not quite enough to be enthusiastic about it.
I never try and be creative when I'm not feeling it. The results are always sub-par and in the worst cases can turn me off a project altogether when simply waiting until I'm in the right mood might produce a better end product.
You're doing this for yourself, just be clear that you actually care enough to want it.
If it's a story you want to tell, but the dressing feels dated or no longer relevant, ask yourself how you can tell the story in a more contemporary fashion, then write that story :)
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I'm in a similar situation to you. I wrote the first 50,000 words of a novel during a NaNoWriMo (I can't remember which at the moment) and then finished it up during a Camp NaNoWriMo. If you are looking to finish an old story you started during a NaNoWriMo, I would highly recommend doing a Camp NaNoWriMo. There is one in April and July. You can set your own goal in words or hours. It's what I did, and it worked out quite nicely.
I would definitely recommend finishing your story. Unless, the story is complete crap. My second book was written during NaNoWrimo, and it was horrible and unfinished. The premise was dumb, the characters were boring, and nothing worked. I never finished it and have no plans to.
I think for that story it would have been better to completely restart. No amount of editing or finishing the story could have saved the reader from that disaster.
If you are passionate about a story, but are lacking motivation, I would suggest taking a break. I find this helpful as I try to edit my book. Take a few weeks off from working on your book. When you com back, look at it with fresh eyes and decide whether or not the book deserves to be continued, restarted, or scrapped all together.
There are no easy, definitive answers to this question and it is something you must struggle with on your own.
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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?
I have heard this called the Steven King method, based on the potentially apocryphal story of King leaving a manuscript in his desk for a year, only to revisit and rewrite it with fresh eyes. The general idea is that given the time one will be more objective about the story.
This method normally applies to finished works, but I no reason it shouldn't be similarly effective on partially/mostly finished works.
As for starting over with a new idea, one would be as productive as one is with a new work; unless you think your work is a lost cause, re-writing has the benefit of the previous effort that went into it. This benefit should always be positive in productivity, almost by definition.
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This may be opinion based. My advice is to at least finish it - and here's why. If you allow yourself to not finish, you are setting a precedent for yourself. You are patterning to you that you don't need to finish. Likewise, if you finish it, even if poorly, you are disciplining yourself to finishing the project.
Finish it. Commit to three weeks of writing, and finish it.
And, you may want to think in terms of numerous revisions awaiting you, on whatever project you do finish. Three years is not unusual at all for a new author to start writing, edit, find an agent, find a publisher, and have the book to the masses. The 'it's been three years' argument doesn't hold, to me, for that reason. Unless you are writing within a blog format or similar, which is immediately out there to the world, you might expect some length of time between writing and publishing. Self publishing is quicker, and maybe that's what you plan. It comes with other issues.
Tweak the story, make it less time dependent, update it. Obviously you know your story and I don't, but from what you've provided, those are my thoughts.
Good luck.
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I am a discovery writer (and find the term "pantster" as pejorative as "plodder" instead of "plotter."). All writers must go through a phase of discovering their story, whether it is inventing a detailed plot or inventing the plot as one writes so it fits the characters, culture, and world as they are getting introduced.
That said, I have abandoned stories, because I just did not like the premise anymore.
I wouldn't participate in NaNoWriMo, I don't rush my writing that much, and I will revise and will not finish a scene until I feel like it works with the story and the characters. The idea of "get it all out" is silly to me: I am building a house of cards, if I am not careful at every step, the stability grows worse with every level and it will all collapse.
So this particular story: I would either abandon, or start over from scratch. Read what you have, if you think there is a story you want to write in there, keep what you have for a scavenging reference and re-begin the story from scratch.
As for "out of date", you can use what you have to figure out how you did that: It is an error. IMO nothing I write will be out of date in just 3 years, or just 10. No novel should be so dependent upon any current events or some precise level of technology that it isn't worth reading next year. That is a recipe for failure, it may take more than a year to get it published.
So figure out how to avoid that. Sure, none of us oldies saw the switch coming from land-line phones to cellular, or the rise of the Internet back in the early 80's. Or the acceptance and arrival of same-sex marriage. Technology, medicine, and politics evolve and get dated. But ... three years? You got something in your style needs fixin', bro!
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