This week's topic at the SFF Seven is Why do you abandon a project? What would make you (or let you) finish it?
I’m not much for abandoning projects. I don’t ever dramatically
burn pages or delete documents. Now, some have gone into the equivalent of
purgatory, languishing (possibly forever) in a file folder I may or may not be
able to find. Some projects have been organ donors, giving up vital sections so
another story may live. Those get laid to rest with reverence and celebration.
But why do I abandon projects? Usually it has to do with being
able to sell them. That’s not the be-all and end-all, as I’ve certainly self-published
some projects that were difficult to sell. But if the people who support me
aren’t enthusiastic about a project, there’s usually a good reason for it.
As for what it would take for me to finish it, the first and most
important reagent in this chemical equation is time. I’d need to be not working
on something else. But that’s an oversimplification, because “time” in this sense
is truly determined by priorities. In other words, devoting the time to
finishing that would have to be more important than working on something else.
Often that something else is more immediately marketable, so that would have to
alter.
But I can totally see a day when I’ve finished some of my current series
and one of these back-burner projects becomes relevant again.
Here’s three projects I abandoned and why – and what it would take
for me to pick it up again:
1. A narrative nonfiction book about my
college sorority
My editor
said I wasn’t ready to write it and to put it in a drawer for a year. That was
2005 or thereabouts, so 13 years ago. That one could still happen, if I get a
yen to go back to nonfiction.
2. A memoir about my grandparents and their
scandalous marriage.
This is
something I worked on for my Ucross Foundation Fellowship, a LONG time ago. I’m
not entirely sure I know why I put it down. It felt massive at the time and it
could be I didn’t have the chops to write it. Same as above.
3. A twisty shamanistic magic tale
That’s an
overly simple way of describing a complex story that would be a lengthy series,
if I can get it right. I’ve written the first book twice in one genre – and massively
revised several times – and did 100 pages in another. The first time I wrote it,
I definitely didn’t have the chops to pull it off. Maybe even the next few
times. It will get picked up again, when I feel I can do it justice.
In today’s podcast, I mention the reading Darynda Jones and I did
at the SFF Reading Series at Denver’s BookBar last night, and how we discussed
the importance of finishing writing projects. It IS critically important for
newbie writers to learn to finish a novel or story. But there’s also no shame
in realizing you don’t yet have the skills to execute it. The trick, of course
and always, is being able to tell the difference. Thus it’s always better to finish
it. At least write it and tie it off. Then, if you have to set it aside and
write something else to hone your craft, then do that.
Abandoned projects aren’t dead, just sleeping. They’ll wait for
you to be ready.
