Ask the CIA: Should I Finish Writing My Novel?
I’m at the beginning of my writer’s journey, but I’ve run into a problem with motivation. Not my characters’ but my own: Should I finish writing my novel I’ve lost passion for?
I have one published novel and a couple of stories and two serials, and they are doing well. But I’m bogged down in the middle of my second novel — part of a three-book series — and I’m not in love with it. As a result, my writing has slowed down considerably, and it’s hard to get started on the day’s work.
My goal is to be making a consistent four figures a month within a few years, so my question boils down to this: Should I finish writing my novel by pushing through, or start something new? There are advantages to both, so far as I can tell.
RELUCTANT WRITER
I consulted my magic 8-ball containing the trapped spirit of Charles Dickens, and he says, “How much are you making?”
There’s no one right answer, because much of it depends on what’s going on in your head. Instead, here are a couple of observations to consider:
1. You are halfway through your three-book series. Deep enough in that the novelty of the new project has worn off, and far enough from the end so you’re not encouraged to go on. A horse returning to the home stable will pick up speed when it is in sight. The same may be happening to you.
2. Do you have a habit of abandoning projects? If so, this could be your self-defense mechanism kicking in. It’s intentions are good, to protect you from criticism and failure, but it is misguided. In fact, it is working against you. If you keep giving up on finishing, you’re learning not to finish projects.
3. By offering the first book in a series, you’ve made a promise to those readers that you’ll finish it. Literature is filled with abandoned series, leaving behind disappointed readers (*cough* G.R.R. Martin *cough*).
4. I wonder: Do you have an outline for the series or are you writing into the dark? Phrases like “bogged down” signals a flabby middle. Either the story needs tightening, or you need to rethink it.
5. Could you turn the trilogy into a duology? This gets you out of the project earlier, and at the same time leave behind a completed story?
The answers depend on how you planned this project, your work habits, and personal stuff you may be reluctant to reveal in public.
If you need bucking up, consider Agatha Christie, who ran into this trouble early in her career. She had separated from her husband, went missing for 11 days, became a national media sensation, and had a deadline to finish a book she cared nothing about (“The Mystery of the Blue Train”).
As she wrote in her autobiography:
“I was driven desperately on by the desire, indeed the necessity, to write another book and make some money. That was the moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing, and aren’t writing particularly well. I have always hated ‘The Mystery of the Blue Train,’ but I got it written, and sent off to the publishers.”
It could be, in the end, you should try and finish the book. If you want to make money at this, you can’t afford to quit just because you’re going through a rough patch. Even if you push through and discover you have a bad book on your hands, you can always revise it (you can’t edit a blank page), or abandon it, but at least you’ll do it with a finished book, not the equivalent of a junked car on cinder blocks.