I can't really say I relate, because I'm a keep-polishing-things-that-don't-need-polishing-until-the-very-last-possible-minute sort of person, and have serious difficulties finishing anything if I'm not on an external deadline.
But my solution to a stalled WIP is usually to move on to another WIP (or to start a new one... please don't ask how many WIPs I have), which means I have plenty of experience in coming back to an old WIP.
If it's a really old WIP, it's usually a mix of internal cringe and "wow, that bit is actually quite good - did I really write it?". And I'm not going to lie, sometimes the cringe factor overcomes the "wow-that's-great" factor, and the WIP becomes a case of rewrite or abandonment. It's perfectly all right to abandon a story halfway through (or any other point); if it won't work, who better to know it than yourself?
But most often, staying away from a work for a while only makes it feel fresh when I come back to it; at the very least it makes it easier to ditch the parts that don't work, because I'm somehow less involved with them if I haven't reworked them to death for the past two weeks. (I also have a "Random Shit File" that's literally called that, where I keep a copy of all the bits and pieces I'm not quite sure I want to delete just in case I want to put them back in. I usually don't, but knowing they will be available helps to make the cut when needed.)
Otherwise, just quietly commiserating here *looks at the 7 WIPs she's written stuff for since New Year; none of them is finished*
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2019-03-03 06:03 pm (UTC)I can't really say I relate, because I'm a keep-polishing-things-that-don't-need-polishing-until-the-very-last-possible-minute sort of person, and have serious difficulties finishing anything if I'm not on an external deadline.
But my solution to a stalled WIP is usually to move on to another WIP (or to start a new one... please don't ask how many WIPs I have), which means I have plenty of experience in coming back to an old WIP.
If it's a really old WIP, it's usually a mix of internal cringe and "wow, that bit is actually quite good - did I really write it?". And I'm not going to lie, sometimes the cringe factor overcomes the "wow-that's-great" factor, and the WIP becomes a case of rewrite or abandonment. It's perfectly all right to abandon a story halfway through (or any other point); if it won't work, who better to know it than yourself?
But most often, staying away from a work for a while only makes it feel fresh when I come back to it; at the very least it makes it easier to ditch the parts that don't work, because I'm somehow less involved with them if I haven't reworked them to death for the past two weeks. (I also have a "Random Shit File" that's literally called that, where I keep a copy of all the bits and pieces I'm not quite sure I want to delete just in case I want to put them back in. I usually don't, but knowing they will be available helps to make the cut when needed.)
Otherwise, just quietly commiserating here *looks at the 7 WIPs she's written stuff for since New Year; none of them is finished*