There are a few storylines that I have abandoned over the years, one most recently that went on for quite some time. I’d like to say that there is a bunch of reader interest for me to finish, but that wouldn’t be true. I have had one person say that I should finish the story just to get to an ending. He’s talking about completing the story based on principle; to finish what you start.
I tend to agree with this sentiment, both in writing and other aspects of life. You finish for the sake of finishing, and you really don’t need any other reason. I’m held back here because I don’t like the story, where it’s gone or where it’s going. You don’t really control all the turns in a story, as they help develop themselves. And I’ve really gone too long to salvage what I started; so finishing would be an academic exercise. Perhaps I shouldn’t have shared it at all until I knew how it would end.
The truth is that this story has held me back from doing any writing at all. I don’t really want to start something new and admit to failure on the last one. Then again, I don’t have much interest in working on my current project either. If there was justice in a short and simple conclusion I’d definitely take it, but there are too many significant developments that need to be fleshed out. I doubt there is more shame in simple abandonment than in giving up while writing.
This situation has gotten me to think about the writing process, or at least how I tend to write. There are a myriad of methods that people use, feel free to check your local library if you’re curious. And people like to share their methods, some talented and others more like me. I can’t claim to have studied them all, because I really only understand four different ways to write. The first is the easiest, some people are inspired and the stories flow through them and all they try to do is get out of the way. Then there is a puzzle method, where you have the pieces and just need to find out how to put them together. Writing a mystery novel is probably just as mysterious as reading one. Some people treat their stories as sculptures, where the whole world of the story is set and you just have to chip away at the right pieces until the only thing left is what you want to say. And finally there are people who write with academic structure, putting together a story based on a formula.
I imagine most people use all of these variations to a degree, along with others that I don’t understand well enough to speak of here. Inspiration without structure can be anachronistic and incomprehensible. Academic structure without inspiration is a textbook. I’m probably mostly a mixture of the second two, I write by putting together a puzzle and chipping away until I have what I want. I don’t always have all the pieces (and I don’t try to,) and never know exactly where and why to chip away.
The problem I come across is that sometimes (usually) I chip away at the wrong parts, or I take away too much. Once that happens something is broken, whether a character, scene, or entire plotline. When it’s gone it’s gone, there’s not anything I can really do about it. I don’t mind losing a story when I simply can’t find all the pieces or figure out where they go because you can leave it alone and hope to figure it out later. But when you chip away and break something, then the story is ruined. I often wonder whether writing is worth it at all because no matter how well you do much is lost in the process of putting it down on paper.
I’m obviously not telling anybody how they should write, or what kind of method they should employ. I am at best sporadic and unsuccessful, because things come in waves and never turn out how they are supposed to. I really do wish that I was full of inspiration and just had to put the pen to paper. Some of those writers feel guilty because they can’t take credit for their stories, as they are simply the messengers. But I’m not one of those people, nor will I ever be. Gifts of that sort are not broadly given, and I think they come at a great cost.
In the end I’m still not sure if I’ll go back to past stories or not, or whether I should. Maybe I’ll finish for the sake of finishing, or I may just let them sit and simmer. There is time enough for idle hobbles. I just wish that I had a different way to approach writing, because I’d like to be good. But this is the way that I can write, and sometimes it means that I can’t. But you just have to go your own way and hope for the best, there’s not much else to do.
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