1. eagriff

    eagriff New Member

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    How do you get past uncompleted stories?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by eagriff, Jul 17, 2013.

    Whenever I try to think of a story I always fall into the pit of the stories I've never finished. I have stories that I never finished because I didn't know the ending or for whatever reason. I thought I had moved on from these stories but whenever I try to write they come back to me opposed to new original ideas. I feel like they are haunting me. They won't let me move on to new stories. I don't know if this happens to anyone else, it might just be me because I'm a perfectionist, but any advice would be helpful, thank you.
     
  2. Justin Ladobruk

    Justin Ladobruk Active Member

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    Just firing off ideas here...

    Rewrite the unfinished story.

    In ones without an ending, write a ton of bad endings until you write a good one.

    Hold onto the unfinished stories and try to get back to them every once in a while, see if you can finish them.
     
  3. TWErvin2

    TWErvin2 Contributor Contributor

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    The only advice would be to finish the stories, especially if they're standing in the way of you moving forward with other/new stories.

    Most stories have a primary conflict. Decide how the conflict should be resloved and then write the ending to reflect that resolution. Set it aside for a short time. Work on finishing one of the other incomplete stories. Then, go back to the first, edit/revise/polish and send it off to an appropriate market/seek a publisher (or self publish if that's your preference). Then revise/edit/polish the other story and send it off. Pick another pair of stories, and repeat until you've got them cleared up such that you can move forward.

    Good luck.
     
  4. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    ditto what terry said!
     

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