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When to Abandon Your Manuscript 8/2/2010 9:31:15 PM
After devoting months, even years to perfecting your story, what happens when it fall flat? In many ways, writing a novel can be like building a ship. All the planning and hard work is devoted to creating a seaworthy vessel with hopes of taking the passengers (your readers) on a grand adventure. But what happens when you hit the doldrums and the winds are not filling the sails, causing your ship to drift aimlessly? Or suppose the story is so full of holes, this ‘ship’ is doomed to sink, if kept on its present course?
I believe the goal of any writer is to make this adventure a pleasurable (entertaining) cruise from start to finish. Of course, this is minus the boredom, seasickness and the threat of a mutiny!
As a responsible writer, you want your readers to be immersed in your imagined world. You want them to fall in love with well-rounded characters so much so that they will sit through each page, reading every word because they want to know how it will end. And when it comes right down to it, life is too short to waste it reading crappy books, so I feel there is a certain responsibility to present the best possible work you’re capable of creating.
But what happens when that novel you’ve worked so hard to complete just doesn’t meet your expectations? What happens when, even after repeated rewrites, in your heart, you know the story still falls flat? What is a writer to do? You’ve tried to steer the ship out of these doldrums, but it goes nowhere. And even now, as the ship begins taking in water, it’s still hard to abandon ship.
First of all, consider yourself lucky that you recognize there are problems with the manuscript to begin with! It’s bad enough when a writer is under the illusion that their work is a literary masterpiece because their mother or best friend says it’s wonderful, but it’s even worse when this ‘masterpiece’ is unleashed on the public. The last thing you’d want to do is to subject your works to an eager audience only to be flogged on book review websites for allowing a substandard story to be set loose unto the masses, especially when they are paying their hard earned money for it.
Knowing that a book reviewer or a reader who doesn’t know you from a hole in the ground will be much less forgiving than your mother or friend, both of whom will bend the truth to spare your feelings, it is your duty as an author to ensure the quality of your works before exposing it to the public. And believe me, if you already have doubts as to the quality, there will be those who will be all too happy to point out the flaws and may not be so diplomatic about it once you put it out there.
This is the harsh reality of surviving in this business and for this reason, it requires a bit of a thick skin. The author must be willing to take a hard, impartial look at the manuscript and be prepared to accept constructive criticism.
Even if you are pleased with the manuscript, the biggest favor you can do for yourself is to hand it over to a professional editor for an unbiased opinion. Failing that, because the price of a professional editor is something many writers cannot afford, a writing critique group can provide important feedback. Whether it’s a story arc that flat lines, characters behaving out of character, POVs that bounce all over the place to confuse the reader, etc. an effective critique group can point out these weaknesses.
Armed with this knowledge, it is up to you, as the writer, to take this information and improve on your works. It is when you know these shortcomings and your many attempts to revise, edit and rewrite still leaves you with the sense that the story is still lackluster, it may be time to abandon this sinking ship. If there are elements that are just not working, it is like trying to fix a cowlick with spit and hair gel. You can work it, make your hair lie flat, but the end result is a hairdo that looks overworked and stiff – nothing natural about it at all!
No, this is not admitting defeat. If you quit writing altogether, it is, but in this case it is merely an opportunity to start fresh. Instead of getting bogged down on why the story just didn’t work, time can be better spent on a new project that is infused with new ideas and fascinating characters. And remember, the only way to improve on your writing is to continue working at it.
So pushing that manuscript into the bottom drawer of your desk might feel much like hauling your ship into dry dock, but there’s nothing to say that once you get those creative juices flowing again, that old ship can’t be reworked. Separation from the project could be just the thing to float this ship and take to the high seas once more under a new perspective and some fresh inspiration.
