How many times have you quit?

Zen Dragon

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So, I started what I had hoped would be my first completed work, and of course, 13K words in, and I had to stop.

Forces beyond my control took me out of writing for three days, and when I returned, the story was gone.

I have everything plotted, and yet, when I wrote my last chapter, I wrote it 2 separate times, and neither one made any sense.

My question here is how many times have you quit on a work, and what gets you back on the horse?

I feel like I wasted so much time planning and plotting and now I have something that was worthless right from the start.
 
I lost count a long time ago. BUT I try not to delete anything, as scenes or characters often find a home in another work.
 
I often take a break, and then restart things by doing a full edit. Gets things flowing again.

That said, I do have a couple of stalled pieces that I stopped around the 20K mark. I like them, and want to get back to them at some point. But I just wasn't ready for them. They needed rethinking, and I often do that: put something on the 'back burner' and get on with something else. :)
 
I've never quit for good, but I have had lengthy sabbaticals while writing my WiPs. Sometimes real life has got in the way. Sometimes it's because the writing isn't going well, or I can't work out what the next step is, or I think the whole thing is a pile of %$&£$ and I can't raise enthusiasm for it.

Getting back into writing mood varies, depending on what stopped me in the first place, but what often helps is returning to the beginning and doing an editing pass on everything written to date. That usually gets me back into the swing of things, and I can continue where I left off. Other times, if I'm stuck as to how to proceed, or I think I've painted myself into a plotting corner (I don't plot in advance so this is always a potential problem) I make lists of things that could happen, and what the results of each alternative might be, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Another method I've used is to write out of chapter sequence, ie jumping well ahead onto, say, a pivotal scene, or even the very end, and getting the mood and feel back that way.

So, first of all, don't despair -- this happens to everyone at some point. Secondly, sooner or later the writing will come back, so don't sweat it in the meantime; write something else -- perhaps without plotting it in advance -- and get stuck into another story, and make the first one jealous of the attention! And always remember that nothing is ever wasted. Even if you can't get back into this story, it's given you ideas and some experience, and you might be able to cannibalise it into another WiP at a later date.
 
I don't want to sound arrogant, but the thought if quitting never entered my mind. Was I exhausted by the difficulties and hurt by the oft time unfair criticism, sure. But it didn't kill me. Check point folks, if you truly believe in your work don't listen to anything but your own heart. Never give up. Sermon ends.
 
Zen, I was much like you. I started writing a fantasy novel with every intention of writing my first novel! Except I had no idea how to technically write, and it quickly devoured me. I stopped at about 17,000 words, and I do have that file somewhere, I should go back and read it.

I did even post the first scene in critiques, and was told I was head-hopping. I didn't even know that was a thing...but they gave me enough to work with that I learned from the whole thing.

I moved to working on short stories, and have done countless shorts now. I traded beta reading with members here, and that was so invaluable. I can't tell you how much this group has taught me about writing. When I was happier with my skills, I started a new project, 'Sleepy Grove' after I wrote a short that would eventually become Chapter One. I made it about 23,000 words, and then my file got corrupted...I lost about 5,000 words and that was enough to push me over the edge on it. I tried to rewrite the scenes but lost the lustre. Another false start down. I actually recently put this on my kindle to read over and I've been thinking about getting back into it. I feel it is a story I do have to finish.

More shorts followed, and I started a new novel. This time, I actually finished it! And I never doubted that I would finish that one.

So, I never quit, I just change projects or focus. Every word you write, is making you a better, more experienced author, so keep at it.
 
...what often helps is returning to the beginning and doing an editing pass on everything written to date. That usually gets me back into the swing of things, and I can continue where I left off.

^This

Also, if you wrote the chapter twice and you still think it's garbage, just leave it in a stinking heap and go on to the next chapter. You know in your head what you meant for it to accomplish, so just carry on as if you hit the mark. I've done this a lot, and when I come back later on revision, it is generally much easier to spot the stinky bits and make them work right... but fixating on the same chapter for too long on the first pass will kill your momentum.
 
Not a quitter, me. If trying to write something is similar to wading through treacle I know (now) that there's something I'm not happy about, the words aren't working.
I've a lot of such projects in files and folders, waiting for me to go back and re-write. They may never see daylight, but getting to the end of a story is a huge thing. if you never finish a story it only adds to the pile of self-doubt and frustrations.
 
I have never quit on a work. It has taken a long time to finish a novel, but with all of lifes various demands and pressures, that is inevitable. Therebare a coiple of works on pause, but that is because I get ideas, start them, but then have to leave them to work on the main wip. I will get back to those projects too, but
 
I had to delete my early stuff. The amount of progress I'd made between when I wrote it and when I deleted it just made it quittingly depressing to read what and how I wrote then. Having already quitted quitting, a former hobby of mine I finally got the better of, I realized the best way for me to celebrate my progress was to forget the old stuff, and move forward.


If you've got hold of a plot you feel good about, character sketches you are excited to work with, toss out anything that isn't working for you and allow the story to move you forward with it.
Take it as an opportunity to learn what your process is. Find out what tempts your muse to come over and make things easier on you. Find out what drives her away.

Nothing is a waste of time if you learn anything from it.

Forgive the writing for not accomplishing what you wanted it to the first go round, read back over it with an objective eye (like someone else wrote it) and see if you can spot where it wandered off track, start again from the first meandering, and see where that goes. Maybe some of those sidetrails needed to be there. *shrug* you really won't know till it's all done.

That's the kind of stuff that worked for me anyway. Maybe it'll work for you, maybe it won't. I put aside the story I want to write till I become a better writer, for me that works because I have a hard time going back to something that is more than just an idea sketch and rewriting it. Like going back and trying to relearn a song you already know, and have performed, but now know new techniques that would make it better... practice makes permanent not perfect, so when I learn a new skill or technique, I have to learn a new song to practice it with. Every story I write is a performance piece, which makes it hard to go back and 'revisualize' it, and more practical to just move forward with something new.

Maybe your different, maybe your the same. Write enough other stuff to figure out your process, then move forward however forward motion works best for you.
 
I quit every day, sometimes more than once in the same 24-hour period. :mad:
 
I have lost count of the amount of stories I've started and abandoned.

Now that I've a lot more skill and understanding though... some ideas I scribble for and decide I won't develop them further, but every idea I'm serious about will be finished, even if there are some lengthy pauses.
 
I've often felt like I was wasting my time and so quit for a while. But I always find my way back. The longest stretch I've gone without writing lasted about 5 years, starting when my gullibility led me into being cheated by a bad agent.
 
Quit? Too many times to count.
But I never "truely" quit, I mainly shelve my main project and work on something else like a short story.

The last big drop was around last november when I dropped 50,000 of words. Then began all over again a month later.
Thinking back it would have been a nightmare to write the rest, the story was going wild without a plot or plan.
 
I haven't quit on anything (that is to say, discarded something before completing a first draft) as far as I can remember, but did "car park" a novel after 3 years of drafting or so. I did complete 3 or 4 drafts of it, but in the end I had to leave it and move onto something else. Sometimes freeing yourself of the yoke round your neck is the most liberating thing you can do.

For me it freed me up to writing new things, new short stories, and ultimately a new novel, learning all the time. The worst thing is to fear failing so much that you don't ever pick up new projects and opportunities.
 

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