Giving Up

[Peg Herring]

When do you give up on a story?

I've worked for months on 50 pages that an agent asked for, a sample of an idea I pitched to her. (She asked what I was thinking about writing, remember?) The idea is there, the characters are there, and I've put in the time. It just isn't working.

I don't know what's wrong with it. Maybe this isn't the time for me to write this particular story. Maybe I haven't done enough research to immerse myself in the time period. Maybe in my heart there's the feeling that it will be a good book but not a step up from what I've already done. Whatever the reason, I think it's going on the shelf. In a drawer. Into a file. Somewhere that it can't haunt me.

It's hard to give up on an idea, especially when someone in the business has said, "That sounds cool. I'd like to see it." But I can't justify spending any more time beating my head against this particular wall, not right now. I have two books coming out within months, I have other projects that seem more viable in the place I inhabit right now, and I just don't want to spend the time getting the history of this era right, trying to get a book to feel right when in the end it will be just another "little" novel.

There. I think I almost believe it.

[I. J. Parker]

Well, B.R., the problem for me is that a hole in the research brings the story to an absolute halt. I cannot go on until I have the background I need. That can take weeks and handicap my energy to such an extent that I cannot get back into the strory. Not everyone works that way. I just encountered a book where the author just wanted to tell the story and didn't care about the details.

[Jack Getze]

Unless I already had an agent I liked, I would hesitate "disappointing" the agent who requested something from me. I believe writers need agents in this world. So if it's only a fifty page proposal, why not finish as best you can and at least send it off.

In the end, though, I think we have to follow our hearts, not markets or opportunities.

[B.R.Stateham]

Perhaps the problem is you haven't found the right opening scene. From the opening scene (for me, at least) the entire book unfolds--so the very first scene in the book is critical.

And as far as being absolutely accurate in getting the history right. .. well . . . it only carries so far (my apologies, I.J.) The story and characterization should come first. Historical accuracy is somewhere there on the list. Not exactly sure where, though.