So, yeah. I finished a first draft of a novel I spent a lot of time with. I edited along the way the best I could, but there is going to be so much revision still needed. I'm a little sick of this story. Is it a bad thing if I just write another one instead? I have finished two novels, but neither of them were or are near publishing standards. Am I just procrastinating doing the hard work that comes with revision or am I still just trying to tell the right story? I know some of you must have experienced similar feelings or maybe you're grappling with this issue yourself. How many unedited novels are hiding on your hard drive? And when does something like this start to be a problem?
September, Watching Selena, Lost, Crimson Waters, Unnamed, In the Pit, Pecking Order, Rot, Stay Put, Moonlight my Advantage, The Dolls of Veras Crag, Switch Hitcher, House of Cadre, Skulldaddy, The Bird Folk. That's my list. The only ones I finished were September, Pecking Order, Unnamed. The ones I came super close to finishing - Crimson Waters, In the Pit, Watching Selena, Switch-Hitcher. The rest fell apart after a couple of chapters. The Unnamed book features the most edits. I was so disgusted with my last draft of it in I pov I can't even return to it. I might turn it into a novella. The disappointment for me is by not finishing and not having all those edits under my belt it makes editing my current novel that much harder. For all my so-called experience, I don't have that much with the finished work. Also I feel like an artist with an attic full of canvases featuring unformed unfinished layers. It's a bit ridiculous.
Wait till you've got plenty of distance on them ...to where you've forgotten the process you went through to write them. You need that distance in order to see them in their real light, to recognise what works and what doesn't. I can't begin to say how much 'distance' helps. It really does. They are no longer your darlings because you've forgotten how you birthed them. Instead, you will look at them as if you were a perfect stranger to them. And then your 'editor' gene can take over. If you're feeling reluctance to start, you haven't had enough distance yet. By all means, write something else.
I feel like I spent all last year writing these two books that are now sitting as "first/second" drafts. I think my personal issue was I over complicated my stories. Instead of having a simple plot that branches off and develops, I would start with a complex plot that I had trouble refining and balancing. Definitely felt overwhelming to edit and that is where I essentially abandoned both.
New novel. New plan. I am going to write exactly one page every day. No more. No less. This means I will finish it in less than a year. It's also not my main focus and by keeping it to a page a day is more than doable. I'm pantsing it, but I do love the beginning. I just don't want to spend forever on these books, especially if it's going to take me a few tries to get it right. And who can't write a page a day. I guess this is sort of a little experiment too.
Let us know how this goes. I find that I get on a roll and don't want to stop . . . or I have a terrible time starting at all. But maybe a page a day de-stresses the process? I heard an interview on NPR with an author -- I tuned in late and don't even know who it was. But she was saying writing was difficult for her because it was so hard for her to get into it. But once she was in, it was so hard to get out of it. This totally resonated. I think that's why my progress feels so slow. I'm either totally immersed or I'm not. And when I'm immersed I don't feel like I'm very good company. My head's still in the book no matter what else I'm trying to do.
