Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
Old ideas/stories to leave them go or try again?
I wrote a story a while ago (years) and always thought the idea was good, I sent it to 'Writers' Forum' for critique and found that the idea I liked they liked but the story itself needed a lot of work. I spent ages re-writing it but never was happy and gave up. I have also tried to re-write another story I've written but I am never happy with that one.
So my question is do I leave these ideas go or try again? And if I try again do I completely change the story and keep the original idea? Or change the circumtances of the events around it ?
I did buy a book on re-writing but it focuses more on novels. If I can get this right for my short stories when I finally write and finish a novel (have two nanowrimo novels) then maybe I can re-write them without this same problem.
Thanks
Comments
Personally, if your idea worked but the rest needed a lot of work, then maybe that other bit wasn't right for that idea. Time away from a story is helpful in gaining perspective.
But only you know which will be right for you.
Have another look at what the critique suggested (bearing in mind that opinions may differ), and see how that would change things.
It's hard to take an old idea and write something completely different based on it, because subconsciously you think you got it right first time and don't want to change it too much. Try playing with the characters or the setting, or both, the POV, the gender - there are all sorts of tricks to use. You can rewrite all the spontaneity out of a piece, which may be what you've found. In that case, put it away, and write something else entirely. It will still be there, when you are ready to try again.
As for short stories, I've got a lot of embarrassing early stuff which I've recently revisited. One or two seemed based on reasonable ideas and have een the subject of savage editing, cutting by half in some cases, and te results have been quite pleasing. Don't be scared to chop the crap out so that the good stuff will show through.
Mrs Bear makes good points to consider.
It might not be just the idea you can salvage. You might want to retain some paragraphs, sentences, phrases -- an image or metaphor (although figurative language is usually what I end up cutting most, except where it really upholds the meaning of the work, which is the only time I think it should be used and if it fits the voice, too). Or, yes, you might just use the basic idea and dress it differently.
Last year, my first short story was published. I wrote that story in 2011. I always liked the idea -- most of it -- but didn't know where it fit in the market, and knew it needed work. Put it aside, but never forgot it. Saw a publication that might take it in early 2013, took another look and saw it in a new light. I changed the narrative voice, and it seemed to work for me.
So, no, I wouldn't throw any idea away. I keep everything. I've got so many stories that, currently, I don't think are very well written. Or ones that I stopped a few paragraphs in. But you never know when it -- or part of it -- might become useful.
I don't dwell on them, though. If you're thinking about them too much -- if it's too much effort -- the story isn't working. Move on. Write other stories. Explore fresh territory in ideas and narrative style and form. Only come back to those older works if they suddenly grab you again in the future, when you least expect it.
When you say you've rewritten, have you opened the document and made a few changes, or actually written a fresh new story based on the same idea?
I like the idea of retaining paragraphs as there are some bits in these stories (two stories) that I wouldn't want to change.
I am thinking of writing new stuff and have an idea in process I'm just concerned that with all my giving up of stories I'll never have one I like or never finish the re-writing
If an idea is good, it's worth writing about and the rejected version still worth keeping for its kernel.
Never throw anything away.
Times change, fashions change - editors' wants and needs change. What didn't 'work' for an editor 5 years ago may well work for that same one now.
Never give up, persistence pays (in the end).
Last week I sold (at long bloody last!) the TENTH version of a story I first wrote when I started this lark in 2000. It was the eighth short story I'd ever written and I loved the idea and always regretted that it never had its day in the sun.
For interest (or not!) here's its track record:
it's had FOUR different titles and has been sent out to EIGHT separate markets (twice to one of them, three times to another) and as you saw, it's FOURTEEN years old
It sold to My Weekly under the title 'A Matter of Security' (not my favourite title but there it is).
Never give up, never throw anything away - and keep records of all your 'Ins and Outs' and also briefly also what the editor said, as rejection advice is among the most valuable you may ever receive
I've started re-writing both stories, ideas have come into my head so here we go
I recently found, during a loft clearance, a lot of my old notes/stories and have had a lot of fun reliving my old material. Whilst (in my opinion!) some of my old ideas were good, they were very raw and I'm now finding rewriting some of them with a wiser mind immensely enjoyable; they will be all the better for it too.
It's worth keeping hold of every scrap of material you write; you never know when you'll come back to it. We all change as we get older and I think our writing does too - what you might discount as 'not very good' now may scream at you in a few years.
When I find my old stuff I'm either saying, that was awful- but obviously I didn't have the skill to see that at the time, or that wasn't bad, I might be able to develop that...
The benefits of developing wisdom, eh?
My advice is - consider the word Pleonasm
It means the redundant use of words. It may be deliberate but is usually involuntary. A common fault in much writing. For example: ‘In this day and age’, instead of ‘now, ‘today’ or ‘nowadays’. I.E. when in short story mode keep your writing 'tight'. If you can remove a word without the sentence falling over then you don't need that word.
(I kept it brief)