At what point do you give up writing that book?

[Andrew]

I stop writing when it stops being fun. But then I reserve the right to go back to it later...

[David]

Don't bother about getting it right, get it written, then go back later and make it right.

[Andrew]

I've played many starring roles in amateur dramatics...

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Andrew wrote: "I've played many starring roles in amateur dramatics..."

Would you write a book about it?

[David]

Sounds like she hasn't found her story yet.

[G J (Gaff to my friends)]

If I counted the number of words I'd deleted from my first manuscript, I'm certain I'd have had enough to fill another book. If you believe in a story then nothing will stop you from finishing it. If you find it a bit meh, then there's something wrong and you need to fix it. Don't give up on it though, or I'd bet my bottom dollar you'll see a similar story in print under someone else's name in the future and kick yourself!

[Jim]

Fusty wrote: "Andrew wrote: "I've played many starring roles in amateur dramatics..."
Hope you perform better than my creation."

But the fact the character cannot get her act together might itself make her interesting.

[Jim]

Actually I think you're telling a third story. It's the story of a journalist and how she copes with the stuff that she has to deal with.
Has she got to the stage where one or two more corpses isn't an issue because she's hardened to it, but then finds she's got so hardened that the fact a child is found safe and well after a major hunt is just a story that fell flat? Indeed does she find herself thinking that it would have been a better story to write up if the child had died?
If she's realised this what does she think about herself? How does it impact on family and friends?
Is she going to do anything about it?

We once got a friend of mine a T shirt after he'd commented that he had to do an article on the various suppliers of arms to the Yugoslav conflict. He was tracking stuff down through photos in the media as well as what was reported.
He complained that he suspected one Tank was a Rumanian rebuild, but because one side or the other had massacred a group of prisoners in front of it he couldn't tell the number of road wheels it had (because the rebuild had more.)
The T shirt we got him had 'sod morality, count the wheels.'

[Will]

Jacquelynn - there are any number of ways of looking at it.

A story can work really well if it contrasts two stories or two characters. A writer can sometimes give emphasis or depth of character by blending two contrasting themes.

You have to write the story that you want to write. By all means think about how readers will receive it. But it has to be your story, no matter how unusual or innovative. If you believe in it, there is a good chance that your reader will too.

It's a common newbie mistake to want to cram everything into their first novel. They have so many ideas that they want to put onto the page and they don't know if there will be a second book. The result can be a messy novel with too many ideas.

Just about any writing idea could be made to work or could be executed badly. The internet is full of writers asking "would X and Y work?" or "should I give up on my novel and start again?" or "can I write a novel with sixteen different points of view, all first person, in the present tense, set in sixteenth century Japan, with aliens and vampires? Oh, and it's a love story. Well, erotica, I suppose. With samurai swords."

And when a writer asks a question like that they will get a dozen sometimes conflicting bits of advice. Each person who answers will respond from their own perspective and not really answer the question. Some will say 'yes' and some will say 'no' and the person who posed the question will usually be no further forward.

Will your story idea work? It might or it might not. It's all down to execution and whether you can make it work.

[Andrew]

Gingerlily - Mistress Lantern wrote: "Andrew wrote: "I've played many starring roles in amateur dramatics..."

Would you write a book about it?"

Sooner or later ;)

I've already touched on it in my story Pantocrime! in Sanity Clause is Coming :)

[Jim]

I had amateur operatics in Swords for a Dead Lady, and amateur musicians featured in The Flames of the City.

I am cultured. Like pearls or bacteria

[Kath]

It's intriguing to me, Jacqui, and as you know, I've enjoyed other work of yours. I think publishers get hung up on genres and worry about which shelf the bookseller will display it on. I feel that a good story is a good story whatever the genre and it doesn't worry me if two or more genres are featured in a book, or even if you're hard pushed to define a genre at all, so long as the story is credible and I believe in the characters. Go for it!

[Alicia]

My answer seems to be: you give up when you publish it.

Stubborn I am, I'm told. Fifteen years. Just did it. Feels good.

And it helped immensely that during these last fifteen years, publishing got turned on its head, and I didn't have to give up after years of querying agents because "it doesn't fit our present needs."

Which is what you get when you write an uncategorizable book.