Renewal of an unfinished novel series

[TheKillingAlice]

Well, if you can't finish writing it, you can at least put a bit of glitter on it, right?
I have had a bit of rough patch when it comes to writing, I actually haven't written anything consistently for about 7 years. I say 7, because that was when I last finished a story. I finally published it after endlessly polishing in 2017. Since then, I have not continued. It is a bit of a sore spot, that I haven't yet written a second volume to any of my stories, but it was never a problem, because before that, the stories I realized the first volume and then kind of hopped to the next, were only serialized in a very loose way. They belonged together in one universe, but the individual stories were finished.
This one though... it literally ended on a cliffhanger. Had a reader ask for volume two even two to four years after volume one was out. It was embarassing.
Anyway, since the story is that of the oldest I have - literally a world I have been building since I was 7 years old - it's hard for me to write it. I never feel like I can write it in a way I'm happy with it. I'm just never satisfied. So, I'm currently revising the first volume and started (in earnest) writing book two. I'm no plotter, but I always know where a story ends, where it starts off, what important things I want to happen and, of course, I would know how many volumes it has and what's in them.
So, whenever I'm stuck on the actual books, I would doodle around on the cover, the interior design, random other shit like the map - basically everything.

...well, anyway, look at the completely useless, since the books are not written covers I made! :D

Spoiler: Back then, they looked like this, and came out like that:

Spoiler: What they look like now, don't know how the print would look though:

EDIT: Ignore the lines on the new ones and try to look through them. They are just there to distinguish between front, back and spine, and of course the printing excess.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

So when did you stop daydreaming?

 

[TheKillingAlice]

So when did you stop daydreaming?

Daydreaming about what?

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Daydreaming about what?

Just daydreaming. You said you haven't written anything in 7 years. I find daydreaming to be the planning stage. All I need is time to jot down whatever I'm thinking about and sooner or later I find some story to put it in. I can spend days thinking about a chapter, then about 1 hour actually writing.

if it isn't fun to think about over and over, who would want to read it once? If you are thinking about something over and over, why not just write it down and tuck it away for later. I got enough "cutting room floor" material to make an entire 100k word novel, if I wanted. Maybe two or three.

I figure you stopped writing because it wasn't fun anymore. The only reason I can think of that is you stopped daydreaming.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

Just daydreaming. You said you haven't written anything in 7 years. I find daydreaming to be the planning stage. All I need is time to jot down whatever I'm thinking about and sooner or later I find some story to put it in. I can spend days thinking about a chapter, then about 1 hour actually writing.

if it isn't fun to think about over and over, who would want to read it once? If you are thinking about something over and over, why not just write it down and tuck it away for later. I got enough "cutting room floor" material to make an entire 100k word novel, if I wanted. Maybe two or three.

I figure you stopped writing because it wasn't fun anymore. The only reason I can think of that is you stopped daydreaming.

That's what you mean. I never stopped, in fact, I can't stop, I daydream all day long. But the problem started when I would sit there, trying to write any of it down. It never felt the same, I always thought it wasn't the way I imagined it, and the more I tried, the more I was frustrated.
I have enough random snippets of scenes and dialogue on my laptop, on my phone, in docs, in my notes, basically everywhere - enough to cover a room with them. But they never became one coherent story anymore, and the more I fretted, the less I trusted myself to write.
At some point, I just blacked out whenever I sat down to do anything. I should probably also add that my mental health was in decline back then, so that played a part in it.

Well, I always started again and again, just to stop out of frustration, hating whatever I created, until I started the Crazy Daughter story, and I suddenly didn't stop anymore. I even started revising the ones I wasn't happy with and continued them.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

That's what you mean. I never stopped, in fact, I can't stop, I daydream all day long. But the problem started when I would sit there, trying to write any of it down. It never felt the same, I always thought it wasn't the way I imagined it, and the more I tried, the more I was frustrated.
I have enough random snippets of scenes and dialogue on my laptop, on my phone, in docs, in my notes, basically everywhere - enough to cover a room with them. But they never became one coherent story anymore, and the more I fretted, the less I trusted myself to write.
At some point, I just blacked out whenever I sat down to do anything. I should probably also add that my mental health was in decline back then, so that played a part in it.

Well, I always started again and again, just to stop out of frustration, hating whatever I created, until I started the Crazy Daughter story, and I suddenly didn't stop anymore. I even started revising the ones I wasn't happy with and continued them.

Ah. I find that writing is a numbers game I have about 9 times more crap I will never use than I have actually published/sold. Most of what you write is crap. That's just statistics.

If you can get into the habit of writing EVERY DAY, regardless of quality, I assure you, that's what matters. You need to give up the idea that quality matters, look. I've read some absolute SHIT, and not just a terrible story, but the formatting and dialog sucked ass.

Then it got a manga.
Then it got an anime.

FML.

Your worst shit is still in the top 1% population-wise.
Your worst shit that you published anywhere is in the top 1% of writers.
WHY?

Because you took the time to do that. 99% of people give up.

Having filler to go through and repurpose is a very useful tool. I do it all the time. I get stuck, I go back and read my old crap. AH. Maybe that's the problem...

How often do you reread your own stories? Because I like, only write stories I enjoy, so I wind up reading them all the time. Like, I've reread Flip The Script like... 10 times. Easy.

Stop trying to be Proust. Write Basic Bitch. I write Basic Bitch. Basic Bitch is AMAZING by today's standards. If you can just write basic bitch, you can finish the story then go back later and fix it, if you care. Just get it down the way you ENJOY READING. Forget about the audience. Trust me, people think like you. They'll find your work. If you LOVE what you wrote, someone else will. But if you just write it down and don't come back to read it later... like... ever. Then maybe the problem is you aren't writing what you enjoy.

When you write, If I get to a part I got a problem with, just jot down a few notes and skip to the part I will enjoy. I typically have 18 great scenes a book.

Most books are three acts.

You need a plot that starts then finishes in Act/Act, in order of importance:
1/3
1/1
3/3
2/2
1/2
2/3

What I mean is you introduce a plot in Act 1, then it ends in Act 3, followed by Act 1 ends in Act 1.
So, for all 6 plots, I have the beginning, midpoint, end. I won't start a story until I know I have those 18 scenes written out, at least in rough draft form. It might change later, but I NEED those 18 scenes.

Every Basic Bitch GOOD book, and by good, I mean above average, has those 18 scenes. Once you have those 18 scenes, everything else is just connective tissue and fluff. If you have a hundred snippits, pick 18 and just make them fit. Make a project out of it. Make the 18 scenes, then figure out it could make sense as a CHALLENGE. I've written books like that when I was on a project and it was crunch time. It can be fun.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

Ah. I find that writing is a numbers game I have about 9 times more crap I will never use than I have actually published/sold. Most of what you write is crap. That's just statistics.

If you can get into the habit of writing EVERY DAY, regardless of quality, I assure you, that's what matters. You need to give up the idea that quality matters, look. I've read some absolute SHIT, and not just a terrible story, but the formatting and dialog sucked ass.

Then it got a manga.
Then it got an anime.

FML.

Your worst shit is still in the top 1% population-wise.
Your worst shit that you published anywhere is in the top 1% of writers.
WHY?

Because you took the time to do that. 99% of people give up.

Having filler to go through and repurpose is a very useful tool. I do it all the time. I get stuck, I go back and read my old crap. AH. Maybe that's the problem...

How often do you reread your own stories? Because I like, only write stories I enjoy, so I wind up reading them all the time. Like, I've reread Flip The Script like... 10 times. Easy.

Stop trying to be Proust. Write Basic Bitch. I write Basic Bitch. Basic Bitch is AMAZING by today's standards. If you can just write basic bitch, you can finish the story then go back later and fix it, if you care. Just get it down the way you ENJOY READING. Forget about the audience. Trust me, people think like you. They'll find your work. If you LOVE what you wrote, someone else will. But if you just write it down and don't come back to read it later... like... ever. Then maybe the problem is you aren't writing what you enjoy.

When you write, If I get to a part I got a problem with, just jot down a few notes and skip to the part I will enjoy. I typically have 18 great scenes a book.

Most books are three acts.

You need a plot that starts then finishes in Act/Act, in order of importance:
1/3
1/1
3/3
2/2
1/2
2/3

What I mean is you introduce a plot in Act 1, then it ends in Act 3, followed by Act 1 ends in Act 1.
So, for all 6 plots, I have the beginning, midpoint, end. I won't start a story until I know I have those 18 scenes written out, at least in rough draft form. It might change later, but I NEED those 18 scenes.

Every Basic Bitch GOOD book, and by good, I mean above average, has those 18 scenes. Once you have those 18 scenes, everything else is just connective tissue and fluff. If you have a hundred snippits, pick 18 and just make them fit. Make a project out of it. Make the 18 scenes, then figure out it could make sense as a CHALLENGE. I've written books like that when I was on a project and it was crunch time. It can be fun.

Haha, I get what you mean, but all of that is actually not the problem. I don't plot, but I always know my stories (if you actually looked at the reason for the post; I couldn't pre-make 7 covers if I didn't know past book 1).
I do like my own stories, I go through them in my head again and again. But when I write the same things down, it always started to feel like it's not as good. I love the story, but what I wrote feels lackluster, as if nobody would read that.
Again, I don't think this was because I actually didn't like it, but a psychological thing. Like, even now, when I read a chapter and am proud of myself (and am sad when people favorite other chapters, instead of the ones I would favorite the most xD), I read certain older stories and think they were better. But, you see, those stories were the ones I stopped writing, because I felt they were bad. It's just stupid.

To be honest, the trashing thong isn't my aim though. I wish to one day write all of the stories I have pre written text from and use all of those snippets. It's my only real life goal.