As writers, we get very attached to our novel projects.

In my personal experience, by the time I’ve drafted the first 10,000 words or so of a novel, I feel like my characters are real people and they’re my friends. Any character I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with, like Ezra from Father Cruz or Captain Riggs in The Silvering, comes to life inside me.

This is why it can feel so terrible to realize you may need to table a project.

It can often feel like “giving up” on these characters you’ve created and come to love when you set aside their project, temporarily or possibly permanently.

I got stuck on this quite badly during the month of March. I wasn’t willing to admit that I wasn’t feeling that spark of passion for a few of my projects anymore. I didn’t want to feel like I was giving up on them, even though the rational part of me knew that there’s nothing saying I can’t go back to them later.

So, the days I did write in March were sporadic and high in word count, but ultimately pretty unfulfilling, because I saw the projects I was putting words into as ‘distractions’ from my other, longer drafts.

This is pretty hypocritical compared to my general attitude toward writing- my philosophy is to follow your creative impulses and write what you feel like writing. But here I was, a cog getting stuck, because I felt guilty that I wasn’t having fun with Scrolls of Malthea anymore.

What solved this for me, funny enough, was a conversation with Saige. Of course.

This is why I recommend everybody try to find a writing partner.

I sent her a few messages griping about the blockage and she just started rattling off all this stuff I needed to hear, including:

“Tell a story that’s been told 1,000 times but in your words”

“Have fun playing with something”

And then, the message that really fixed me and inspired this article:

“It’s never a waste of time, even if you scrap almost all of it. It’ll always suck, but you’ll also always be improving. Think about The Way of Kings Prime. A whole book Sanderson wrote that he scrapped in order to make it better, to do it right. Was that wasted time? Hell no!”

Damn. That right there.

I ended my pity party and vomited out 8,000 words in two days into a project I’d started briefly last year and discounted as “too stupid”. Turns out I actually had something there that I was having fun writing.

This finally allowed me to get past setting Malthea aside temporarily in favor of projects that were more engaging to me, and now I’m feeling more creative than ever before in my writing.

Something that isn’t discussed often is that most famous writers DO NOT publish the first novel they ever finish. Usually not even the second, or the third. Take Stephen King for example.

While Carrie was his first novel publication, King had already written drafts of several other novels by that time, including The Long Walk and The Gunslinger. He’s mentioned before that the original drafts of those stories were not up to the standard he wanted, and he allowed them to go to the back burner while he went on publishing other things.

But clearly, King revisited those novels after achieving success with other projects, and now we have the absolute masterpiece that is The Dark Tower series. He did what I was struggling to do- recognize that it’s just not the right time for a project, and set it aside until I can come at it with fresh eyes, honed skills, and renewed passion.

Projects I’ve Set Aside and Why

Scrolls of Malthea (Both Novels)- lack of confidence in worldbuilding, not feeling passion for writing (or reading) high fantasy at the time, lack of excitement due to advanced age of the project (started Cursed Sword two years ago)

Project Name Clown– lack of confidence in the more literary direction I felt it was going, lack of ideas for gripping plot, lack of passion for characters I’d created

Silverwing Sequel– wanted to give The Silverwing a chance to be picked up (in case heavy story/character edits were suggested by agents/editors that would create the need to rewrite major sections of a sequel), lack of faith in my first publication being adventure fantasy (market oversaturation)

*note on the above- this is why they say not to write with publication in mind. It interferes with your passion.*

Space Cowboy– struggling to find the unique voices of the characters I’ve created, difficulty finding character motivation and backstory (why do we care if Maria survives the zombie cow outbreak?)

What’s lovely about this is that NONE of these projects have disappeared forever- they’re all just waiting for my brain to feel like it’s the right time to revisit them. Even now, I’m feeling renewed passion for the Silverwing sequel brewing. I know I will go back to Malthea, probably soon, when I feel like I can get into high fantasy again.

No matter how long you feel you need to table a project, it will always be there waiting for you. Don’t let imaginary shame or guilt put you in a slump and make you feel like a bad person for “abandoning” characters.

---

Monthly Writing Goals Update

7,128 / 20,000 words

Everything’s going to be fine. Trust me.

I’m not going to dump it all here, since next week’s post is all about it, but I’ve finally found my groove again. Hint: it has something to do with space…

Also, I’m spending 5 days next week in a cabin in Montana. I am dying to see how much will come out of me during that time. No distractions, no constantly stopping in the middle of paragraphs, just me and my laptop. Well, and my husband… He’s gonna have to entertain himself.

Wish me luck! And don’t worry, the bear spray is on the way.

---

This content was written and created by a human, without the use of any artificial intelligence tools. The authors do not authorize this article’s usage in training AI tools. We proudly support the original works of creators and individuals over technology that steals and manipulates original content without consent of creators.