Abandoned W.I.P.s

[Dan Jones]

Literally deleted the manuscript and the backups..!

That sounds like a real horror story right there!

 

[HareBrain]

I can't go back to any of the things I've abandoned because I've deleted them all. Roughly two completed novels, two completed novellas and a handful of beginnings. I just didn't see the point in keeping them if I didn't like them. But I'm now trying to follow the example of others here and holding onto things in case they can be reworked somehow.

I wonder if your first policy is actually more useful in the longer run. I've spent years reworking novels I thought could be pummelled into shape. I think that might have been a lot of time wasted. Yes, I've learned a lot in the process, but now that I'm writing a series that is getting somewhere, I can see that those earlier ones are probably doomed and that no sensible amount of reworking will get them to a state I'm satisfied with.

 

[crystal haven]

I've deleted things in the past and then regretted it, not for the story, but the ideas, or even scenes, I could have used somewhere else. Wrting can be used again in a different situation with a bit of tweaking. I try to keep most of it now. But story ideas do not come easily to me, so I protect the ones that do. I can't write with it set out first, I wish I could.

 

[Toby Frost]

Two, to speak of. They're fantasy-noir stories set in a sort of alternative 1500 or so. I think they're not bad at all, but when I wrote them they seemed incredibly original because there wasn't much around like that then. Now, that sort of thing is very common, and if I were to publish them, they'd look like a lot of other things (computer games included!). So I think they would need some pretty hefty reworking, if they were to see the light of day. In that sense, I've put them to one side, but I've certainly not abandoned them in the sense of thinking that they weren't any good.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Deleting is for wimps!
Burning is where it's at.

 

[Toby Frost]

Deleting is for wimps!
Burning is where it's at.

Said Ray Bradbury one morning.

 

[CWScott]

I've got a post apocalyptic novel I started and abandoned a couple years ago, but will definitely return too. It is based on an old wip I wrote about 25 years ago. I've also got a short blurb and partial outline for another. I wrote a novel when I was in high school and have always wanted to rework it, but I can't see myself doing that for another few years.

 

[juelz4sure]

I've deleted things in the past and then regretted it, not for the story, but the ideas, or even scenes, I could have used somewhere else. Wrting can be used again in a different situation with a bit of tweaking. I try to keep most of it now. But story ideas do not come easily to me, so I protect the ones that do. I can't write with it set out first, I wish I could.

There are some scenes that I absolutely love in my last abandoned WiP, but they are so intertwined in that story I don't see how I could reuse it which sucks.

 

[crystal haven]

You may find that in the future there are bits you can take out of it. Reshaped, rewritten, but the scene idea used again.

 

[TWErvin2]

I've walked a way from one novel, that I started, but never finished. It's not that it doesn't have a good premise and story, it's just that I don't have the time. Other novels take priority.

I think if it doesn't feel right, move on and work on something else to maintain productivity. You can always come back to it when it does feel right, or you've worked through the problems or concerns with the stalled novel. It can simmer in the back of your mind for a few months or years, and maybe something will piece it all together.

 

[Juliana]

You may find that in the future there are bits you can take out of it. Reshaped, rewritten, but the scene idea used again.

Yes! I've done this so many times...

 

[The Bluestocking]

I have one fantasy WiP finished, which I won't go back too, but I will strip it's carcass like a literary vulture and use some of the tasty ideas and magic systems in a new story.

We are kindred spirits, Vaz!

I have quite a number of false starts and scraps of scenes, as well as a couple of WIPs of over 20K words written.

One of the WIPs is put on ice until I reach a stage where I can write and develop it much more powerfully than I can now. For the remaining unfinished WIP, the false starts, and scraps of scenes, I'm incorporating parts of them into my current WIP which is my first proper WIP that is chugging along nicely.

No need to chuck them out because they are part of the evolution of my storyworld and characters and so hold a number of ideas, minor characters, and worldbuilding bits that can be added to my current and future WIPs/stories.

 

[MemoryTale]

I have one fantasy WiP finished, which I won't go back too, but I will strip it's carcass like a literary vulture and use some of the tasty ideas and magic systems in a new story.

I did that to a crappy sci-fi book I had, and it turned out something I'm relatively happy with.

I've never truly scrapped a story though. I've got a fantasy WIP I stopped working on because I realised I was making every rookie mistake under the sun (the first chapter even introduces all the characters in little vignettes that have little to do with the main plot!), buuuut I like the central idea so much I may revisit it now I'm older and... Older.

 

[TWErvin2]

Live Vaz indicated, I did once use an idea from a short story I'd started, and the main gist into a two chapter sequence within one of my novels. Worked out well. But that's the only time I've managed it. I just don't have too many started pieces lying idle.

 

[Luiglin]

Completed one this year that I've since sat on as I've no funds for beta readers or editors - currently at 94k words.

Sent it out to two agencies on a whim. Got one nice rejection and ignored by the second. Started a prequel for the same characters - 16k words in.

Started another starring the Dark Lord and Minion - 33k words in.

Planned out two others and written segments for both but nothing firm. First a story I've had in my head for 30+ years. Second a series of interlinked short stories.

 

[Gonk the Insane]

I only have one novel that I abandoned. I'd written about 85-90% of it, but was taken by the idea I had for the next project which began to take over my mind. I don't like leaving something unfinished, so might one day finish it, but this was from several years ago just before I began to take writing a little more seriously (i.e. putting some effort into learning how to write). If I finished it now, I suspect there'd be a big difference in style between the new part and the original, and it wouldn't be fit for publication without a massive overhaul, so it will probably stay incomplete until such time as I finish it just to stop it bugging me.

I wonder if your first policy is actually more useful in the longer run.

Delete or keep? That's an interesting point @Wruter raised. I know with my own work there's quite a difference in terms of quality between the early years (when I wrote purely for fun and self-therapy) and the more recent stuff where I've learned a bit about writing. My first 6 novels will never be fit for publication, and I'm okay with that because they were valuable learning experiences and fun to do.
I have, however, kept them - mostly for sentimental value. They're archived and there, so if I ever feel like a reminder as to whether I've learned anything I can just browse one of them and groan out load for as long as I read the manuscript. They would be a terrible, terrible thing to release upon the world, yet I'm still proud of them.

 

[Chris Before]

I just have a couple questions for authors and would be authirs.How many W.I.P.s have you walked away from, why and do you plan to pick those W.I.P.s up again in the future or are they just kind of dead?

I have one that I've kind if abandoned because my lap top crashed and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it back, even if I do it just doesn't feel the same as it did. I don't know though...

I rarely return to an unfinished work, there is usually a reason it is incomplete- from liking the idea but not the execution, to moving on to new themes. However there are probably themes that run in different guises, subconsciously or consciously. I have recently completed a novel which, although very different, echoes themes of more than a decade ago. However, this was a conscious effort as i liked the premise but wished to present it from a different perspective.

I suppose that raises the question, how original is original?

 

[Theophania Elliott]

I suppose that raises the question, how original is original?

Not very. People keep trying to count how many real plots there are - seven is the number that springs to mind, although I've got a book that says thirty-six. Every story is just a variation on a theme.

However, it's not what you've got, it's what you do with it that counts - as the actress said to the bishop...

 

[anthorn]

I have one. Several actually, but the one sticking in my mind is the FFX ripoff. Basically you have the daughter of a Spirit Singer setting off on a journey to defeat the Desolation. She only succeeds because of help from others. The Desolation is basically a walking afterlife.