Starting Over

[mythique890]

Ugh. My WiP is not where I want it to be. It's ok, but it's not... real enough, I guess. Or not genuine enough. I don't know. I'd revise, but I feel like it's been revised to death, and each time it gets flatter. It's the first time I've ever written anything novel-sized, and I think the problem is that I didn't know how to manage it once I started the revisions, in addition to my growing as a writer. So I want to start over. Same characters, same story, but better.

I know there are authors out there who throw out hundreds of pages at once. And of course I'm keeping the draft I have and I'll use parts of it, but seriously, I think I might be better off rewriting the whole thing. It's 96,000 words.

Any experience with this? Any thoughts?

 

[Xanados]

I've yet to write anything novel-sized, so my advice isn't going to be that valuable.
Start over. You learned things as you wrote it, right? Well, take that new found knowledge and re-write.

 

[Leuco]

You're going to do a lot of revision. And even when you think you're done, you're going to do some more. What you're doing, I think, is normal. If you don't like what you wrote, then you probably should start over. If the passion is gone, the story will suffer. But you can always incorporate something you did like from your old project into your new one. That could help.

Sometimes things just don't fit and you have to shelve your project for a while. Maybe a day will come when you find out what's wrong with it, and then you'll finally finish it. Sometimes you just need space and time to get a new perspective. Honest constructive criticism from other readers (which is a must) will certainly help too. But don't get discouraged. There's a story in you and it wants to come out.

 

[BeigePalladin]

I'd say rewrite it. if you don;t like what you've written, then no matter what you do with it, you'll probably feel dissatisifed.

just keep what you have as well, since there's nothing worse than rewriting something then discovering you liked the origional better...

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

I've had several stories that I couldn't imagine how I could write better words for it. It was pretty good and that is probably the best it could be. Then I set it aside and write the thing again. I have yet to have a second writing of something come out worse, but almost every time they come out better. So, I say set the entire thing aside and write something else. Seriously, give it time to age. You know the story, you have a nice first draft of it, but you are probably tired of working on it. I would be. Go write another story or two then come back and think about the story (but don't reread what you have done) and start it again.

After you get a few chapters done, get some feed back on it. Find someone to look at both and give you their opinion. I know it's hard to consider tossing out an entire novel worth of words, but you did it once, and the second time should be easier.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

Setting it aside for a while might help. By the time I've finished a novel and am revising I generally feel like smashing my computer over my head. Don't be afraid to rewrite. I have three books I abandoned, up to ten years. Then I came back and rewrote them into something I love. I did not keep most of the ideas for scenes. I did not keep any of the actual writing. I did not even look at the old manuscript. I worked off my memory of what I loved in my characters etc. and brought to life something at times very different and sparkly new.

 

[Shadoe]

Check your plot. Do all the dots connect? Last time I had that issue, my plot had a bunch of disconnects. See what that does.

 

[mythique890]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I may take a break and work on something else (I have a goal to submit something... anything for publication this year, even if it isn't accepted). I'll come back to it, though. It's a story that's been building in my head since I was a teenager, which is part of the problem, I think. I want it to be great, but I don't have the skills yet. I need to work on something I'm not so attached to, get space, learn how to write better, then come back to it.

AS for the plot, the dots are connected... I've spent the last month making sure of it (I HATE plot holes). The problem is with the pacing, the prose, and the feel of the thing. It's not enough yet.

So I guess it's a few short stories for me.

 

[Philip Overby]

Here's the lesson I learned from starting over. Don't. It gave me an excuse every time to abandon a project because it wasn't working out. Push through it. Leave those plot holes like gaping wounds so you can go back and stitch them up later. If you start working on something that's "new and shiny" it will make you go into an endless cycle of starting over or starting something new. Which in my case, leaves me with virtually no completed manuscripts.

Or in lieu of pushing through, make outlines from now on. It will give your story a guideline before you even start it. The longer works I've outlined have fared much better than the ones I've just "winged." This worked for me and I was exactly the same as you. I looked at my manuscript and wondered what the hell was going on. Sometimes it's good to just write whatever comes to mind, but that's best saved for short stories I think. You'll find that most professional writers have to outline or else their publisher won't green light their books.

Anyway, just my thoughts. Don't get into the deadly cycle of starting over every time. It happened to me. And I have fields of manuscript corpses left in my wake.