Never Ending Novels
what is your solution?

Ok...I have a terrible problem and I'm wondering whether any of you have experienced the same thing, or even better, might suggest some solution for me.

I can't finish my f***ing novels. I don't know exactly what it is—I know what is supposed to happen in the end, but I JUST CAN'T bring myself to write it.

It's like a block of some sort. My procrastination is clearly pathological. What's worse is that it takes the form of getting started on a new one, before the old one is finished...haha...so it's catch 22.

Any suggestions... commiserations? (I'm a deep believer that misery, in fact, does love company)    —Remittance Girl

Interested in this topic?
Follow the Participation image and share your thoughts with us.

From Laila Whiteshah
If you have no goal for your characters to achieve, your stories will certainly never end. Remember it is a peek into someone's life that you are showing your reader, and just as in life, you can't accomplish much without defined goals. Before you write your first word, know where your people are going by outlining from where they started to where they end up, keeping in mind a theme and obstacles for focus on goal.

What you are trying to say from your heart, what matters to you, or a lesson you've learned that you want to convey is your theme. The way of a novel is to write a list of minor goals, and beside them, small to major obstacles for resolution of your main characters to accomplish the main goal. For short stories, you have one main goal and maybe a secondary related goal, and obstacles keeping the main character from achieving the goal. Then just let your main character run through it all like a rat in a maze hunting for cheese until the obstacles are resolved.

When the goal is achieved, cut the story off right there. I find when I do this, the reader is done and flipping for another page. Always leave the reader wanting more, for tomorrow you can always write another tale with the same people working toward a new goal that is sprung out of the some element resulting from the achievement of the first main goal.

From Ann Regentin
Ever try writing the end right after you write the beginning? Or even before you write the beginning? I do that with novellas as well as novels, mostly because it gives me something to aim for. It gives me a concrete goal to work toward, and although I often revise it before I'm really finished, at least it's there. When I don't have to do that, I end up wandering all over the place, which makes it almost impossible to finish. I'm dealing with that problem now with a novel that has to be drastically rewritten because I started it without much notion of where it was going. As a result, it went nowhere for about 60,000 words, and now I have to go back and give it some direction. Pain in the rear.

My best friend solves this problem by writing a detailed outline before she starts. She's a lot more organized than I am, obviously, but it works for her. Another possibility is that you may have some unresolved issues related to what it means to you to be writer. A lot of us do, me included. Every stage of this has meant untangling some kind of weird, mental web. I keep a journal, which gives me a place to vent, and it helps. Anyway, whatever you try, don't call yourself names, no "I always...." or "I never....", and let go of any value judgments associated with finishing or not finishing novels. Then it just becomes a problem and those can generally be resolved one way or another.

And remember that it might take a few tries before you figure out what's going on.

From Teresa
I've really been enjoying reading everyone's thoughts. I'm starting on a novel too, and I've felt blocked at times about it, more so than with a short story. It helps immensely to have someone you send chapters to, or even someone you can bounce ideas off. I'm psyched to see the Novel Solution™ proposed by Adrienne and Bob!

Hey, rg, for what it's worth, here are some things that help me with procrastination and/or writer's block. First of all, I try to see what exactly is bothering me—maybe I'm just exhausted (we all have our 'day jobs,' family, etc.), or feeling plain old self-doubt, or maybe there is something wrong with the story that I can sense in an instinctive way but haven't yet worked out in my head.

Then again, rg, maybe you're drawn to short stories because that's just what works best for you—the best vehicle for your gift. Like Alice Munro.

From James Sands
Don't know if it'll help but I'll tell you what I do. I outline the last chapters in detail and then expand those detail into the rough. Then I work on the rough, put in the characters words and Feeling. Then I go back and smooth it. It worked for me on the one novel I finished and I intend to do the same on the next one. I hope that helps.

From Deanna Lee
Once I got serious about submitting work I found I had a hard time completing anything. Because once it was done I would have to start submitting the dang thing somewhere.

In theory, as long as nothing was finished I was safe from rejection. Just my 2 pennies.

From Philip
Sorry, but the only way you're going to solve this problem is by being hard on yourself. You've got to sit down and say "Right, I'm gonna finish this bastard!" And finish it. As they say in the adverts just do it! After all, as a writer, the only boss you've got is you. It's time to put your foot down! Give yourself a deadline and if you miss it, you'll have to do without something you really want.

On the other hand you want to avoid the problem of rushing endings, as with King's Salem's Lot, or Eco's The Name of the Rose. In both novels it seemed to me that the authors took a look at their work and said "If I carry on the way I'm going this bastard's gonna be a thousand pages long! I better get it finished."

From Lisabet Sarai
I've got a suggested solution, but you might not like it... sell the damn thing to a publisher so that you'll have a deadline!

I'm only half kidding here.

I know you've said that you don't write primarily to be published. From what I've read of your work, though, you are depriving many potential readers if you don't put your novels in print.

On the other hand, if you're writing just for yourself and to share your work online, maybe it doesn't matter whether you finish or not. Or maybe you should invite your readers to offer their own endings.

From Lindsay York Levack
You might try setting yourself a goal to get one ending finished within a certain time-frame. Say, finish one novel in a month. You might also want to declare your goal here, giving yourself some public accountability. Over in another writing forum I belong to, one writer asks everyone who's willing to submit their goals for the month. She checks in with everyone on the 15th, and asks for confessions at the end of the month. Personally, I find it great. I was just meandering, writing here and there, but now I set myself a goal, and since I know I'll have to 'fess up, I really work to achieve it.

Go easy on yourself. Don't expect your ending to be perfect. Just make it your goal to finish it. You can always edit it later.

From Ciera Resler
I can't offer advice, only commiseration. It's like falling in love with your characters. After a couple of chapters, familiarity takes over and you take them for granted. You know how the story ends, so there is no surprise. It's just another grind. Most writers can't get their books published and I know I'm no better than most of them so it's likely my book will never see the light of day no matter how many hours I work at it.

Then sometimes I have a nice little manic upswing and I think, you never know how good you are until you finish or someone asks me how it's going, so I open the file and dabble with it. But what really makes me mad at myself is when I goof off online I realize I could have been wasting that time on the novel.

From Madeleine Oh
Ciera Resler wrote: "Most writers can't get their books published and I know I'm no better than most of them so it's likely my book will never see the light of day no matter how many hours I work at it."

Harsh but true BUT if you don't finish it and don't send it out your chances are absolutely zilch. Persisting really ups your chances.

The very best writing advice I ever received was from a multi-published author. She said, (and I paraphrase) that if you keep on writing, keep improving your craft, and keep on sending out work, that ultimately you will sell.. but quitting guarantees you never will.

I do know this: Anytime you send out work be it to an agent or editor the odds are it will be rejected...and this applies to the published as much as the unpublished.. If you're lucky you get a 'good' rejection with feedback, most times it's a form rejection. But a rejection doesn't mean it's unsaleable... just that that particular agent/editor has no use for it.

I've sold books and short stories after multiple rejections and I know many others who have too. the 'secret' if you can call it that is to persist.

And right now erotica and erotic romance are "hot' just about every NY publisher and most of the small publishers are looking for it. It's a good time to try to sell...So everyone - get those books finished and query agents and editors. The current boom will slack off in time but right now is a good time to try selling.

From Ishmael Goat
I just want to thank everyone who is participating in this long thread because I am going to keep it all and use it a sort of textbook.

The early posts made me realize that the main problems in my "I Choose Life" were incompleteness. So, I have been lurking this string as a combination break and instructional session as the 1000 word mileposts passed on my journey further into the lives of Sister Aye, Sister Tee, Doctor Oh and young Frank.

I have never written a novel before, but I wrote several long plays—one way too long to be a play. That piece probably should have been a novel in the first place.

Based on that experience I do have two insights that I am sharing on the basis that maybe it would be useful to someone. Both of these were not rules that I originally put on myself, but rather observations about how I was working that I turned into rules because they worked for me.

I would always end typing before having finalized my vision. Whenever I stopped working, I had about 200 words to 1000 envisioned so clearly that it was just a matter of typing them out. That is where I would start the next day. The result was that I was never blocked. Those several pages would roll out on automatic while my mind had nothing better to do than contemplate what the logical next step would be. When I finished this early typing assignment, my mind would always be looking ahead and I could finish that day's work as I had the previous. Like I say, no block.

Another thing I would do would be to use a journal or personal letters to fill in when I couldn't do creative writing. In other words, I would give myself a goal of 1000 words per day, and if I couldn't create then it would be 1000 words in my journal, or so many personal letters. Sometimes I would look back at old journal entries and see a week or two between entries, or weeks of one line entries and I would recognise the spoor of my creative efforts by what was missing.

I hope this is useful. Good luck to everyone on their creative efforts.

From Kathleen Bradean
I feel your pain. For years I was in that same position. Part of the problem was that I wrote stories with no ending in mind. About eight years ago I sat down and wrote a huge, terrible novel that I finished. I had a great next story I was chomping at the bit to start, but I wouldn't allow myself to work on it until I dragged the other one over the finish line. I knew it was crap while I wrote it but I trudged on. I looked at it as a self discipline exercise.

I finished it, it was awful, but I didn't care. The next story I started with the confidence that I could finish my work. I got bored in the middle, decided that the problem was the story, went back a few chapters until I found the divergence point between good path and bad path, killed those bad chapters, and once again waded through to the end. Story still sucked, but finishing was now part of the habit.

Do you like your characters and their world too much to leave them? Think sequel, but only after you've finished the first one. Do you lose interest in the story? Rethink your plot or skip over the dull stuff and move on to the next best scene.

You know how it ends, but maybe diagramming out the steps to get there can kick start your imagination. (That doesn't work for me, but many writers swear by it.)

Is it best as a short story or novella? Did you have a couple scenes in mind that were hot and fun, but everything else was dull? There's no reason why you can't write a series of short stories with the same characters so that you only do the hot scenes.

From Helen E. H. Madden
I often have the same problem, not just with writing but with any project I undertake. Well, maybe I can now say I used to have this problem. A few years ago I quit my day job because I hated working in an office, doing 80 hours of work and getting paid for only 40, plus getting little or no respect on top of that. I decided to do my own work - writing, graphics, 3D artwork, and animation. Problem was, I couldn't finish anything I started. I would get halfway or 2/3 the way through a piece of artwork, animated cartoon, or other project, and then drop it to go work on some other project.

I never had this problem when I worked for someone else. I had deadlines I had to meet otherwise I'd get fired. But I couldn't get fired anymore, so I didn't have that motivation to worry about. Of course, I also discovered that I just seemed to get bored or frustrated before I'd actually finish what I was doing. What was really frustrating was that I had all this time to work, and wasn't accomplishing anything. This all sort of stopped after my daughter was born. Suddenly, I no longer had all day long to dawdle around and get nothing done. Now I have very limited work hours, but have produced more finished work this year than I did in the four years previous years.

I supposed I just value my work hours more. I also think that having a daughter has made me realize I want to be someone she can be proud of when she grows up, and I don't think just sitting around with my thumb up my ass is going to achieve that particular goal. I've by no means licked the problem entirely. I still have problems getting certain tasks done - I need to work on submitting my finished writing to publishers so I can get paid for what I've accomplished - but I'm doing a lot better.

One thing I did was type up a list of writing goals and deadlines. I started with something easy, like publishing four stories in non-paying markets this year. When I accomplished that goal, I came up with another one. Publishing four stories in paying markets and/or complete one novel for e-publication. I have high hopes of finishing Demon By Day before December of this year, and have enough stories written right now that I can start submitting them to paying markets. I just need to set aside some time just for marketing stories to make that happen, but I am working on that right now. Having a written document stating what I want to do helped me set priorities and keep track of other interesting projects that I want to work on LATER ON AFTER I HAVE FINISHED THE CURRENT PROJECT! I put all that last in caps because with the problem we both seem to be experiencing, it's necessary to remind oneself that you can always move onto another project, but only after you finish the current one.

My best advice is to ask yourself what it is you really want to do with your life and your writing. If you want to be published, you have to finish writing something first. If you want to be famous, you have to finish writing your novel and get it published. If you want to be a nobody (a harsh term, but it may spur you to action), then don't finish anything. If you do decide to finish something, sit down with your novel and break down what's left to be done in small, easy to accomplish steps. Novels get done a little at a time, I'm discovering. It may seem like it will take forever to finish a project, but if you make a commitment to finish it now, this time next year you'll be able to look back and realize you did what you set out to do.

Okay, that's my two cents. I have to get back to work now!

  E-mail this page

Copyright © 1996 and on, Erotica Readers Association, Inc.
All Rights Reserved World Wide. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or
medium without express written permission is prohibited.