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The
Adoration of the Magi
Da Vinci’s unfinished altarpiece
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"Like great art, books aren’t ever finished—they’re abandoned."
This little gem arrived via email from Writer's Digest, and it made me think about all the stories I've started and let go, or finished but never revised. On the one hand, it's all good because it was practice, right? And practice makes pretty good. On the other, I know there are some great stories sitting neglected either in my file cabinet or on my computer, some of which I have not necessarily given up on. But...I have abandoned them.
Do you have any abandoned stories you hope to one day resurrect?
I already did!
ReplyDeleteThere's always a spark of a good idea in every story. It's whether we go back and find it. Sometimes the effort's not worth it.
And sometimes the spark isn't big enough to sustain a novel.
DeleteAlex makes a good point. There's always a spark of goodness in every story, but while I wouldn't go back and resurrect any abandoned ones, I might try to find the spark and apply it to a new story.
ReplyDeleteYou know I didn't want to hear that answer - and yeah, I'm thinking of Evie.
DeleteI think it depends on the story. I have one I spent a long time on. And I'm not saying I'll never go back to it.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteI have a few abandoned stories. I always plan to go back and fix them up because to leave them undone feels like neglect.
ReplyDeleteI always imagine my characters languishing, stuck forever where I left them.
DeleteOf course I have abandoned stories. This is a good reminder to mine them later for ideas.
ReplyDeleteI've done that! In fact, my current project was in part stolen from an earlier unfinished work.
Deletepoor little bookorphans....
ReplyDeleteI have at least three abandoned children. I want to get back to them but newer projects keep getting in the way.
ReplyDeleteThat's the rub, eh?
DeleteI plan to get back to each and every one of my stories that currently sit, fallow. Well, maybe not that one, but it might make it in another form into another story someday...
ReplyDeleteI want to get back to all of them but there's the little thing called time...
DeleteI have an almost complete novel in a drawer. I don't know that I will ever return to it. But I won't say Never...
ReplyDeleteI think I have at least one of those.
DeleteMy first two series have never seen the light of day. One day I'll reinvent them and get them out there. I think it's part of the creative process. Anyway, they're not yet ready for prime time.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible that works are meant to be abandoned, that writing them is part of the process that helps us get better. But I do have a few I'd dearly like to resurrect. They're pretty darn rough though!
DeleteNone of my stories are abandoned. They're all on the back burner for "one day" --you know, when time permits me to spend time with my lovelies that may otherwise never deserve to see the light of day? (That was a long sentence.)
ReplyDeleteAh, the proverbial back burner. I'm familiar with that place. When I don't know what to write I often return to some of my earlier works.
DeleteI'm with Robin. Never say never. Right now though, the idea seems hard.
ReplyDeleteIdeas are not my problem. I have too many to count! I should send you one...hmm, what sort of idea would you like?
DeleteYes, some I will never write, others I may try to write, and more still that I'll give a definite go at.
ReplyDeleteExactly right!
DeleteHi, Marcy,
ReplyDeleteYOU bet I do! As a matter of fact I just revamped a short story I had written a few years ago and entered it in a magazine contest. It's a cool N/A contemporary piece, written before N/A was born. LOL...
FANTASTIC quote BTW!
I hear you on the NA; I have an old story (complete but unrevised) that totally fits into the NA market but was written before NA was a genre. Good luck with your submission!
DeleteI have several abandoned projects that deserve to be abandoned. Sheesh! I also have one project that I'm determined to resurrect if I can just figure out a decent plot ... so I'm pondering it as I work on my current WIP.
ReplyDeleteI do, a kid's book I wrote. Came across it again today.
ReplyDelete