Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong October 8, 2013 - 9:55am

So, you have a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You've run through several drafts. You've workshopped it. At one point, you felt pretty strongly about it, but that feeling seems to have gone. You still believe in its potential, but you're not sure it's quite there yet. Worse, since you've fallen out of love with it, you fear you're doing it more harm than good by continuing to work on it.

What do you do?

I have a folder of busted stories. Inside are mostly stories I got to a certain point and either fell out of love with or realized they weren't going to work. This one I'm working on right now isn't one of those. It's ready to go, but I know it's not as good as it can be. So I'm struggling with deciding whether to send it out or hold onto it.

Have you run into this? What did you do? Did you shop it around anyway, or did you hold onto it in the off chance that your interest would be reignited in the future?

Tyler Runde's picture
Tyler Runde from Teutopolis, IL. is reading Unnatural Creatures October 8, 2013 - 10:49am

Send it out.

I've run into this situation plenty of times and tried to force myself to feel the same strong feelings for it that I once did and I've never succeeded even once. And if those feelings aren't there I think you're correct in assuming that you'll do more harm than good if you try to continue working on it.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated October 8, 2013 - 11:03am

Add misery. 

ReneeAPickup's picture
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ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig October 8, 2013 - 11:17am

Sometimes, falling out of love with a busted story is the only thing that allows me to tear it apart the way it needs to make it work. Have you workshopped it? Perhaps having other eyes on it will reignite some of the passion while also giving you ideas on how to reapproach it... On the other hand, if you really think it's ready to go-- send it out. Sometimes the revision process makes you hate a story, that doesn't make the story bad, it just means you've beat it into shape.

Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong October 8, 2013 - 12:10pm

Yeah, I've workshopped it. I was thinking about sending it through again, but if I'm not willing to keep pounding away at it and am ready to move on to other things, I think that might be somewhat wasteful.

I want to get more work (well, any work) out there, and I think it's a pretty good story, so I'm leaning toward shopping it around.

In this case, I knew the story would be pretty challenging for me. I feel like I accomplished my goals pretty well but maybe not as well as I'd hoped. That isn't to say I think it's an ambitious story, just something different for me.

Sound's picture
Sound from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt October 8, 2013 - 3:09pm

Well, it seems like you have a complete story there. If you stopped somewhere in the middle I'd say just let it sit for a bit and come back to it, but it seems like you're just not as happy as you could be. I think it's really rare that you'll ever be completely happy with a story. There'll always be things you wish were better. Even if you do finish something and think man, this is the best thing ever, chances are you'll come back to it a week after it's been published somewhere and you'll find things you would've changed.  

So my advice is to send it out to a few places. If they pass on it (hopefully they'll give you some personal feedback), then consider revising, maybe.

Tim Johnson's picture
Tim Johnson from Rockville, MD is reading Notes From a Necrophobe by T.C. Armstrong October 8, 2013 - 5:26pm

Good call, Sound. I mean, I wouldn't be embarrassed if it was out there. I'd probably be pretty proud of it. Maybe shopping it around is just the gauge I need.

MattF's picture
MattF from Tokyo is reading Borges' Collected Fictions October 9, 2013 - 1:07am

Seem to be in the minority, but I can't really imagine sending out a story that is not as good as I can possibly make it (unless you're writing for a paycheck and need to put bread on the table, I suppose). I think it'd be unfair to the readers, unfair to the story, and I'd be suspicious of my motivations.

Dave's picture
Dave from a city near you is reading constantly October 9, 2013 - 3:31am

None of my stories have ever been as good as I thought I could make them.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. Or something like that.

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers October 9, 2013 - 4:12am

Sometimes, falling out of love with a busted story is the only thing that allows me to tear it apart the way it needs to make it work.

Like Renee said, this is so true. I have a two year old story that's been shot down quite a few times, yet everyone, including me, just loves it. For about 6 months now I've suspected there was something wrong with it, and just the other day I realized that it was a continuity issue that will be extremely difficult to fix without a major rewrite. Now everytime I think about it, I hate it, I hate that I've woven this issue so tightly into the narrative that I'm probably never going to tinker with it in fear that I might ruin it even more. And it's not something that sticks out, it's just a 'wrongness' that makes it feel a little off, and it's something only I discovered, no other beta-reader has ever pointed it out, but if I told them, they'd be like...'Yep, that's it, but you're gonna fuck it up if you try to fix it'. So it's screwed, which is sad because it's one of my favorite little babies that just needs a good home. 

Flaminia Ferina's picture
Flaminia Ferina from Umbria is reading stuff October 9, 2013 - 7:50am

I know the feeling. I'm bringing all my stories to that point (the not-as-good-as-they-can-be point). In the meantime, I write new ones.

So I'm laying out a starvation plan that will sooner or later force me into sending said stories in the out. What can possibly go wrong?

Even Aldous Huxley was not very happy with Brave New World's dystopia, but by the time he made up for it through Island's eutopia he had also become so much in communication with the universe that the final result was very likely worth that previous dissatisfaction. And btw, everybody now remembers Brave New World, not Island.