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I have been down this road so much, i see me foot prints forming paths coming and going in both directions now...
if you have kept up with my journey, you know it has consisted of rewrite after rewrite. and change after change and disappointment after disappointment...
i think it would be more productive just to start completely over from scratch and rewrite the whole story, rather than try and make it all fit seamlessly now...
it is just a daunting idea to start back and ground zero when i have an 79 thousand word manuscript setting in front of me.... my growth as a story tell is much more advanced than when i first started, and most of the beginning chapters have to be heavily edited to match...
so my real question is this... have you ever just through something out and started from scratch, did you regret it, was it worth it? would you do it again?
thx for any advice. you voice gives me strangth....
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I have absolutely thrown things out. I restarted a novel three times. The first time I wrote 16 chapters before I lost my way, then I wrote 12 chapters from a different point of view, and finally I wrote the current copy of it (still unrevised) after changing the main character, her relationships to pretty much everyone, and pretty much everything that happens in the novel. The only thing that remained constant through it all was Charley, the ghost in the house where she lived. His story remained, and it was compelling enough to keep me writing (or rewriting) the novel.
ReplyDeleteRemember, even if you toss something, it isn't wasted. Every word you write builds your skill, hones your understanding of the effects of the written word. If you really want to toss it and start over, just put it in a folder on your computer--or save it to CDROM if you must--and then write anew. Listen to your instincts, and know that the reason your first chapters are not at the level of the later ones is that you are becoming a better writer every single day.