Projects That Just Won’t Die
Posted by annastan on November 13th, 2009. Filed under: Craft, Writing Rants.One day, long ago, a vague idea of an isolated place popped into my head. I let this place grow and expand in my mind, and eventually I began to figure out what its story was. After a while, some people began to pop up there and their stories became intertwined with the setting’s. So I started writing and writing and writing. I showed what I had to my writing group along the way and they cheered me on. Then I rewrote and rewrote and rewrote, knowing that the story of this place was in me, I just had to find the right way to tell it.
Fast forward nearly four years, and many drafts later, and I’m still struggling to tell the story of that place and those people. In fact, just the other day I started another revision after a few months of letting it sit. Some problems I think I know how to solve, but others are still a bit of a mystery to me. And yet I keep coming back to this story, over and over, because I’m not ready to give up on it.
At this point you could say the manuscript and I have a love/hate relationship. No matter how much it abuses me or how stubborn it gets, I still keep coming back to it and trying to find a way to shape it into what I want it to be. Talk about unconditional love. Is this something all writers experience? A project that just won’t die? A story that has to be told, no matter how long it takes?
November 13th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I’ve got more than one of those manuscripts. Is it because we won’t give up on it—or because the story isn’t ready? I know, after all these years you’d think it would gel.
Still, if a story has to be told, you go along for the ride no matter how long it takes. Right? Hmmm…
The other question is when do you let it go (doesn’t that sound better than give up?) Does it need a rest? Or do you need to let it unfold where IT wants to instead of finding a way to shape it into what you want it to be? I had a story like that. It wanted to be one story and I wanted it to be another. I didn’t want to go where the story/protagonist was going. I let it go. When I’m ready to accept this character and her story, and the story she needs to tell, I’ll go back to it.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Yes! I’m working right now on my project that just won’t die. I think it’s almost metaphysical. There is a reason why your story won’t die. It has to be told.
At least that’s what I think.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Andrea, interesting point about trying to make the story something it doesn’t want to be. I’m not sure if that’s been my problem, but I’ve retold this character’s story so many times that I’m starting to suspect it might be. Maybe this time through I’ll focus more on listening to her and maybe (finally!)I’ll figure out what her story needs to be.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Karen, I completely agree! There are some projects that I’ve put away and been happy to never go back to again. But this one just keep elbowing me in the ribs, demanding that I figure it out. So I guess until I can’t stand it anymore, I’ll just keep plugging away.
Good luck with yours!
November 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
This is exactly what I needed to read today. I also have a love/hate relationship with a story idea that just won’t go away. I’d put it far on the back burner and wasn’t sure I’d ever figure it out and last night I realized I was trying to tell too many stories. I’d planned it as a 2 main character POV story with interweaving plot lines. As I was journaling last night in an attempt to figure out which of the other projects (a memoir in progress, 2 other stories that I’m “playing with”) I should focus on it occurred to me that if I didn’t have that 2nd POV character I had a story, a story I could be very very happy with. So that’s what I’m doing.
I think the stories that DON’T lose their power over us are the ones we can keep in our lives for the long run. At some point they’ll tell us their secrets. What’s sadder to me are the stories that we get that initial rush of excitement for and then fall flat – sometimes even after we’ve written a first draft. Those are the ones we kick to the curb – because we can and because they stay there.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Lara, I love what you said about stories “telling us their secrets.” That’s exactly how it feels – some stories just require more patience than others for us to know what they’re really about. The ones that reveal their secrets too easily are often the ones we put aside. Good luck with your story!
November 15th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Yes, I still work on Zombie MS that will not stay dead. But…I also work on new stories as well. Don’t feel you must have an “exclusive” relationship with a project. Keep in touch with your old flame, but nurture new WIPs as well.