Question for Writer Friends

[raefinlay]

Just suppose you had written 60K words of a 120K word novel and then realized the novel is fatally flawed. And suppose you realized it contains writing that is no longer your style and voice. Would you finish it anyway?

Comments

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

Mmm... Depends.

If you think you can fix that fatal flaw, I'd say yes. You may be able to fix the writing in the revision stage.

If there was something salvageable in it, I'd probably shelve it for a little bit and meditate on it. I did that with LR, the original of which was flawed in so many ways I don't even know where to begin. It was so flawed, but the idea still appealed to me so I threw out the 120K-word manuscript and wrote the entire novel over again, concentrating on execution. It seemed to have worked. I haven't put my head through a wall anyway.

If there was nothing salvageable, I'd still shelve it. You never know. There might be something you can use at a later time. Or one day, you'll have develop the skill set to salvage it.

Just my two centavos.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Do you still like the novel?

Do you still want it to work?

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

It depends on how fatal the flaw is, I guess, or how big. Could you salvage the characters and ideas and build a new story around them? Do you want to?

[britzkrieg.livejournal.com]

No, I wouldn't -- if I felt the flaw was truly "fatal." I'd go work on something else for a while. However, that doesn't mean I wouldn't come back to the characters or parts of the story later on and try again.

What's your "fatal flaw" here?

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

What Hannah said.

Also, novels don't teach you as much if you don't finish them. Just saying.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Thx Vern. Yep, I'm gonna shelve it and let it stew, as you suggest. Maybe I'll come back to it with fresh eyes and better revision skills.

Wow...you re-wrote a 120K novel?? That's awesome.

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

Interesting...

Having never finished one novel (working on my first) I don't know. But I do know that I seem to be learning alot as I go. I also know that trying to tie stuff tighter in my mind for the second draft has been really, really, really challenging.

And I think I'm going to learn a ton this next draft as well.

My point is that I could see myself starting several novels based on good ideas, but never finishing one because you eventually get to the point where you find yourself plagued with inconsistencies and you can't seem to make it all hang together. I'm guessing it actually happens in the life cycle of every novel (but again, I don't know). This is why this idea of 'novels don't teach you as much if you don't finish them' rings true to me. Will you know if it really was fatally flawed without pushing onward?

But ignore me. I'm just rambling...

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I would plow ahead with at least a barebones version of it. One, for the practice, and two, because you never know when or how it will become unfatally flawed. Maybe this novel won't be saved, but another door in your mind could unlock in your mind as you go, clicking open a whole new possibility for other stories or even new techniques that could improve your writing.

Or maybe you'll just come up with a skeleton of a story that you can set aside and work on later.

Basically, if you have the time, if you know where you wnat it to go, it's definitely worth doing.

And the words still count toward your first million. :-)

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

Or unbelievably stupid.

The jury's still out on that one. But I like completed LR #2 infinitely more than completed LR #1.

Like Hannah & Bear said, it all depends on how much you want it to work. I wanted LR to work. So I screwed up with LR #1; I still wanted it to work. That's why there's a LR #2 that for all purposes is the one and only LR. :)

(I rewrote it, but it's a slimmer 95K or 105K in SMF right now. My writing gets tighter and tighter with every novel I write.)

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Inconsistencies are part of the process in *every* novel. Even edited and rewritten ones.

This is one of the reasons why we have editors. Yes we do. *g* And first readers. And stuff.

And I *always* have to go back and make the first half match the last half, or sometimes do major, major structural revisions.

But, yanno, if it were easy, it wouldn't be fun.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Too much disjointed meandering. It's a story arc that deserves a trilogy, but I've been trying to cram it into 120K words or so. So I've ended up with a lack of continuity, and layers that aren't adequately explored. Each chapter is pretty tight...but together...No flow. I have 6 separate POV's so far, for example. *headdesk*

But yeah, you're right. I think I need to work on something else for a while.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

And the words still count toward your first million.

Thx for the reminder, Kev. I needed that!!

And your idea of coming up with a "skeleton" story is a good one. Hmmm...

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Good questions, Hannah. Yes and yes. Most of the time.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

But, yanno, if it were easy, it wouldn't be fun.

Hah! True. And, yanno, if it were easy, there'd be no way of separating the women from the girls.

*grows up*

[dark-geisha.livejournal.com]

Oh! I did that with Unacknowledged Novel #4! Lots of cool scenes, but no overall coherence tying it all together!

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

I'd never ignore you. :-) Yes, it's true that I should finish something--anything--just to practice climax and closure and consistency. It's actually not the inconsistencies I'm worried about. I multi-task pretty well. *g* I guess I'm just feeling overwhelmed over having created a story that's too big for me to tell. Kevin suggested a "skeleton" version that I could go back to later. That just *might* work...

[greenlight711.livejournal.com]

I firmly believe that if you love the story, you can make it work. And even if you can't, you will definitely learn something in the process. Giving up ... you learn nothing but to give up.

I guess my answer would be to not table it (I assume you're talking about Unmagicked?) until you reached a point where there was no question in your mind (either that it will or won't work).

[iagor.livejournal.com]

Having finished four, the answer is no. Life is too short.

[janeorben.livejournal.com]

First, there is no such thing as a "fatal" flaw with an unpublished novel, because as long as it is not completed, there is hope of "saving" it. What you are really asking is if you are a skilled enough doctor to save this particular patient.

OK, metaphor getting out of control, must return to normal...

I can't relate to your concept of your voice. I don't have a consistent writing voice (Probably because at my heart I'm a nonfiction writer mascarading as a novelist-wannabe). It varies from piece to piece as is appropriate. However, I am quite aware that most writers do have distinct voices, and that having one is good for marketing. So I'll have to guess about this: if you lost the feel for the voice in this particular piece, could it mean that whatever you were dealing with through the writing of it, has been resolved for you, and therefore from this point on you would just be going through the motions?

You are only half done with the writing, eh? I'd say that if you don't have a burning drive to finish the first draft, go ahead and shelf it. It's not like you didn't learn and improve as a writer tons from writing the first 60k.

On the other hand... maybe you are just being a wussy. :-) Maybe in the writing the first 60k you discovered something within yourself that was more difficult and complex that you originally conceived. Maybe it makes you uncomfortable... Then again, I really don't know you that well.

I mentioned this possibility because after I wrote the first draft of "The Cousins of Sede", I realized that I hadn't resolved the inherent problems with mixing socially instilled humanitarian values and political power. I'm on a fourth draft, and still attempting to better resolve that "flaw" with the plot and concept. But I'm not giving up, because fully realizing the practical function of those concepts was why I started writing the damn thing to begin with.

Why did you start your book?

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

er... depends on:
1. whether this book is Unmagicked (I know it is). :)
2. whether you let your friends read a synopsis and tell you if the story is worth it.
3. whether you would consider a collaboration effort on it.
4. whether you truly believe you will finish the next book.
5. whether you have learned the lesson you were supposed to learn from it (I think every would-be novel has one and once you've learned it, you have permission to toss the novels that won't work).
6. whether writing it is a chore and the muse is gone.

I know you can learn from every book, but first novels are not always keepers. I'd say plot it out and try to overcome the fatal flaws at least in theory before you shelf it. I don't see anything wrong with tossing 60K as long as you know what's next and can keep learning. I know I keep hassling you about the synopsis, but I think at this point that's what will show you what the book is really about and let you know whether it can be salvaged.

[pjthompson]

I wouldn't give up completely. I'm currently writing a novel that was on the shelf for at least a dozen years. Fatal flaws, structural problems, just hadn't learned enough about novel writing at the time--lots of reasons it went on the shelf. But one thing I've discovered about my process after finishing three novels, is that my subconscious never quite gives up on an idea. While I'm off pursuing other things, there's an aquifer in my brain that just keeps moving it along, inch by painful inch, until it's ready to break through to the surface again. I think all of us have some version of that and you may wake up one day and know how to fix the flaws, whether you need to scrap it and rewrite completely, etc., etc. Novels are sometimes just slow-moving and vast--even if the pace of the writing is breakneck and condensed. :-)