I’ve forgotten a lot about learning new skills as a child. Riding a bike? Roller skating? Swimming? I learned how to do those things, but my memory is shaky on it. It comes back to me in flashes, though, when I see my kids mastering new skills.
It took my daughter years to even want to ride a bike. When she finally agreed to have me help her learn, she was terrified the whole time. A couple of times she asked me to put the training wheels back on her bike.
But—once she got it, she got it. And all she wanted to do all day long was ride a bike. She felt completely confident and triumphant and she wanted to practice (and show off) her new skill as much as she could.
Same with my son and ice skating. And my daughter with roller skating.
I was really the same way with writing a book. I messed around with manuscripts in my twenties. I’d get an idea, fall in love with the idea, fervently start writing the idea.
Then I’d get to the point where I lost faith in my ability to finish the book, or I’d fall out of love with the idea, or I’d get a shiny new idea that seemed a lot better.
I think there were three unfinished manuscripts.
The writing I did was still helpful to me. I got a lot of practice and a better feel for my voice.
But I didn’t feel confident. I still thought I might fall off the bike. I hadn’t been able to follow a book through to completion.
If I had finished one of those books, it would still have been a book that needed a lot of work. And one of the unfinished manuscripts would have been a real stinker of a bad book.
At least, though, I’d have had the confidence that I could finish the book. And that would have gotten me writing more and more. Writing more and more would have made my writing better, quicker.
It would have been like my kids, mastering their new skills and then skating and biking like crazy—reveling in the skill.
Is it worth it to finish a bad book? I think it is. Unless you get a shiny new idea that comes into your head almost fully-realized. I think it’s important to prove to ourselves that we can finish a book. Even if it’s not marketable, even if it’s just for ourselves. Because the second book will be better.
What do you think? Finish a bad book…or start working on a better idea? How many manuscripts do you have in your manuscript graveyard (I’ve admitted to three…) :)
I started writing a bad novel last March, worried and wondered about it, decided I didn’t care, discovered I did, and I finished it off in September. I knew it would never go anywhere, it was my first, after all. On a giant whim I sent the file to a publisher and it got accepted! It will be released next fall. So yes! Keep writing!
My WIP is a mystery and I have lots to learn, so I’ll be back here often!
Elizabeth – I’ve got several stories in my manuscript grave… I haven’t gotten rid of them yet because I still kind of like the characters and I may do something with them.
As far as finishing writing a bad book goes… I started a bad book last year. I knew I wanted to tell the characters’ stories, but the story wasn’t good. At all. That was hard to admit. But I went back after a break and did a major overhaul. I’m very glad I did, too, because I think this version is much, much better. I’m hoping to finish in the few months and then we’ll see what agents and publishers say…
Yes, finishing anything is important–I think. Good thoughts and advice.!
I agree. I’m writing a bad book right now (my first), and I intend to finish it. Then maybe the 2nd book will be a little bit better. It’s just like your biking metaphor, very good >:)
Cold As Heaven
Achieving the discipline to power through to ‘the end’ is worth it as a skill in itself. If nothing else, it’ll show you how far you’ve come (which is why I left all my Highlander fan fiction on line somewhere–and even then, I occasionally get a fan letter from someone who enjoyed one.)
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
“How many manuscripts do you have in your manuscript graveyard?”
Too many. (But they were all good practice.)
I’m finishing the one I stared last year because I have to know I can finish it. There are others in he box but They all taught me something I needed to know.
Finishing this one is a challenge to myself.
Thanks for telling on yourself.
hmmm…starting when I was about twelve I’d say I had a few. Bad? Not sure. The first one I finished all the way – enough to send out in the world – I would like to go back to. I think of the characters in it often and would like to go at the manuscript now that I know a whole lot more about writing. You see – that book taught me to write – so I owe it! But not yet. I have half a mystery but it is not an unfinished book -w…elll it is but it will be finished. I just had to put the shiny thing down and go back to the other ones until they were truly done. Are they ever truly done? So one finished all the way – needs work or garbage – don’t know. Another couple started but I don’t think I’ll spend any more time on them. A mystery half done – more than half really, a memoirish thing started and then 2 wips that are nearing the finish line. hmmm…now I’m going to get off the blogs and back to work!
I started a bad book in my teens. Never finished. But I kept it. And I’m glad I did, because when I finally decided I wanted to complete a full novel, I went back to that first one. And it became my first published book.
Of course, I rewrote the whole thing…
I’ve finished at least three. Don’t know where they are now, but they’re somewhere. I learn with every book. I also learn that those first ones were not good.
I definitely think it’s worth finishing a bad novel. I finished three when I was a kid and it helped me develop as a writer and taught me how to finish, which is a huge part of the process!
Absolutely! Finish that sucker!
As a matter of fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that beginners set out with the intention of writing a bad book as an exercise in learning to finish a book. (If you give yourself permission to be bad, you shut up that internal editor that prevents you from ever finishing anything.)
Hi Elizabeth – I have one book sitting on the dusty corner of my computer files. I suspect it will stay there because it is a completly different genre than what I most enjoy writing (fiction set in WWI and WWII) and every time I went back to it, my heart wasn’t in it. Since I have come to the writing game late (after a 30 year career in business), I feel that I only have time for what I really want to write.
Travelin’Oma–Congratulations on your upcoming release! That’s quite a success story. :)
Cold As Heaven–I’m sure your book two will end up being a lot better…know mine was!
January 8, 2011 6:44 AM
Margot–Sometimes a total rewrite makes for a terrific book!
Mary–Good point about writing and learning. I know I learned a lot from the unfinished ones that I wrote. And now you’re learning how to finish…very cool!
Teresa–Thanks!
Jan–You’re spending a lot of time writing, though, so you’re doing really well. Is something ever really done? I doubt it! I feel like the books that I’ve got on the shelves are still things that I’d like to add sections to.
Alex–Ha! But that’s what made it so good. :)
Helen–Learning what’s good and what’s bad is also a huge lesson!
Heather–Learning how to finish is huge!
Terry–It’s great that you left it up for readers to enjoy. And you learned a lot, obviously, by writing it.
Mary–I think you’ve got a good point. If time is a factor, write what you most love. And finish it with reachable goals.
Alan–Exactly. And, if they’re like mine, they probably don’t ever need to see the light of day. :)
I think you should finish what you started. Even if it’s bad. I currently have two under my bed and I learned a lot!
The Daring Novelist–I like that as a method of taking the pressure off–to *plan* on writing something that won’t be good, with the goal of simply taking a book from beginning to end.
E. Arroyo–We can learn a lot from our bad books, too!
I say finish what you started, and if you get that shiny new idea, jot it down in your new ideas notebook.
I did once start a media-tie-in-novel that I eventually locked away in a closet never to be seen again. I realized I didn’t want to work out of someone else’s world, I wanted to create my own :)
Mary Poppins–I think you set it aside for all the right reasons. And a Shiny New Idea notebook is a great idea. :)
I have a frightening amount of unfinished books, mostly YA fiction. Most are just spur of the moment things, hardly even books, they’re only about 5-10 pages. One is about 75% complete, but it was a novel without an audience, so I don’t know if I have a reason to finish it. Although it was fun to write.
Gabriel–At least it was fun to write! Why not finish it and see how it all ends up?
If you don’t finish it you don’t complete learning from the first book. You haven’t learned how to finish a book or everything that goes into it.
Write it, rewrite it, finish and repeat with book 2,3,4,5,
I also have three (but I haven’t buried them yet). Yes, they’re bad, but there’s something about each one that makes me want to rewrite it…someday.
I have a whole bunch of story ideas. But no unfinished manuscripts- I never had the courage to start. But when I did start, I finished, and now I know I can do it.
Someday, when I get a little time to breathe, I am going to start writing again.
Thanks for a great post.