A bad book? No, it's a good book you haven't fixed yet
Three reasons why you shouldn't abandon a book you're not happy with
Before I get started on this post, I just want to say thanks for all the messages on my previous one! Yes, I had a very productive time. I've still got a way to go but hopefully it shouldn't be too long before I can show you something. And the main thing is, the book and I are now getting on well…
On with the post!
Why does a writer abandon a book? Someone remarked to me on Twitter the other day that one reason might be because the book wasn't worth writing.
I thought that was an interesting point, especially as every fibre of me was disagreeing.
In my book Nail Your Novel I discuss how I started a book and rambled on for a solid 60,000 words, only to give up because I didn't know how to make it good enough. That sounds like a pretty epic failure.
But inside that muddle is a story I very much want to write. I just don't know how to do it yet. I might need to put more ideas with it, or even take some away. It's not abandoned, it's suspended. Awaiting further work.
It's all about the idea
If an idea has grabbed you enough to make you want to write about it in longform, there must be something beating away in it. When I've talked to writers who aren't happy with what they've done, it's usually for three reasons.
Is your idea big enough?
Part of the problem with my 60k monster was that I didn't test the idea rigorously enough. Now, experience has taught me to do a lot of tyre-kicking before I barricade the doors and write. I want to know:
Who the main character is
Who might oppose them
What those people are trying to do
What the setting is
How things will get worse
Why that might make a long story, not a short one
What ending will be surprising and perfectly inevitable
As is clear from the above, one bolt of inspiration will not go far enough. But many writers make the mistake of setting off inadequately armed for a full-length novel.
So if you feel your novel wasn't worth writing, is it because something is missing?
Maybe it's a theme and you haven't found the right character to bring it alive. Or the right story to explore it – which of course springs from the characters. Maybe it's an inciting incident that doesn't have the legs for an entire novel, in which case your idea is only the beginning. Maybe you haven't made the world sufficiently dense. Would a sub-plot that explores a contrary or complementary side be the answer? Maybe most of those elements are in place and what you actually need is to reorganise and rewrite the material you have.
Do you like what you've done with the novel?
Maybe your story has ticked those boxes but doesn't light your fire.
Although one stab of inspiration isn't enough to make a whole novel, most novels usually have one central idea at their core. Knowing what this is will help you make a book that is not only artistically coherent and elegant, but a book that will satisfy you.
Take a long hard look at your idea and what you've done with it. Ask yourself why you're dissatisfied. Stories can change flavour drastically on the flip of an event – and maybe yours has gone up an alley you find disappointing. So much of story-writing is gut instinct, so learn to listen to it. When you're solving a story problem you might think of as many solutions that you don't like as solutions that you do. If you hear when your gut tells you something's wrong, you're half-way to writing a book that will satisfy you.
Do you have the chops to do your idea justice?
Sometimes our ideas are too ambitious. We may need to raise our game, learn more craft, read more, in order to do them justice. That's okay; novel-writing is a long game. A lot of us who can dash off a simpler book have more challenging ones we're waiting to grow into. Leave your idea for a while, write some other books, and return when you're ready to lock horns properly.
But there's no such thing as a bad book. Only one you haven't fixed properly yet.
If you're struggling to shape an idea into a full-blown-novel, you'll find plenty of support and suggestions in Nail Your Novel – Why Writers Abandon Books and How You Can Draft, Fix and Finish With Confidence. Available in print and on Kindle.
Thank you, MelP, for the picture. In the meantime, tell me – have you any abandoned books in your writerly closet? Or suspended ones? Why did you stop work on them?
