This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Don’t panic! I’m not talking about when to give up writing all together (now, that’s a personal decision if ever there was one), I’m talking about when to give up on a particular project.
The usual answer is this: Never. Never give up! Hate your book? Keep on writing. Totally stuck? Keep on writing. Bored to tears? Keep on writing.
And that advice is sound. Nine times out of ten, the solution really does lie in ‘keeping on’. In fact, I have two post-it notes on my desk at the moment. One says ‘Write Crap’ and the other ‘Keep On Swimming’.
Writing a book is hard and there are many, many writing sessions that just plain suck. That’s okay. That’s normal.
However, there are times when a project just isn’t going to work. Maybe the idea isn’t meant to be a novel. Maybe you don’t care about the central concept as you thought you did. Maybe the characters are refusing to play ball and everything is coming out flat and lifeless.
We grow and develop and (hopefully) improve as writers through practice and experience so it’s also pefectly possible that you’re not ready to write a particular idea and that it needs more time ‘cooking’ in your subconscious.
Anybody who has been writing for a while has a file folder full of half-finished manuscripts, beginnings that didn’t go anywhere and semi-formed ideas, so it’s obvious that not every single thing you begin will become a finished novel. But when do you know when it’s okay to abandon a project (because it really isn’t working) and when to carry on through (because it’s a totally normal stumbling block on the path to completed novel nirvana)?
In short, it’s really difficult. It’s partly instinct (which you will develop with experience) and it’s partly a giant guess.
I think it’s worth trying the writerly tricks to get yourself re-ignited on the piece – free-writing, writing from a different POV, adding something new and exciting to the plot, taking a couple of days off, writing about the story – and then, if nothing works, give yourself permission to stop.
If you find that you’re happy to let go of the story and that after a few weeks off it isn’t tapping on the door and asking to be continued, then it was probably the right decision. D
It can be hard to trust your gut feeling, but try not to stress too much. It’s just a story. Plus, as long as you have all your documents saved, then nothing is lost forever.