The Pain of Starting over

[paulchernoch]

I would like to hear how other writers have faced the challenge of throwing away what they have written and starting from scratch. On my current WIP, I got to the 200 page mark and realized that considering the length of my outline and the rate I was going, my book would be well over 500 pages when it was done. So I am tossing it and starting over, with a narrower focus. This is emotionally draining, discouraging, and has halted my momentum. How do you regroup? Where do you find the will and stamina to continue?

The only thing that has helped me so far is taking one long chapter that will have to be drastically shortened and posting it as a standalone article on my website, so that all that research wont be wasted.

Thoughts?

 

[suspensewriter]

A 500 page book is interesting, @paulchernoch, so why throw it away and start over? I once wrote an 800 page novel, so my advice--keep on writing!

 

[paulchernoch]

A 500 page book is interesting, @paulchernoch, so why throw it away and start over?

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I intend to make a serious go of trying to find an agent and publisher for this one. The books on Christian Discipleship that I have been reading as part of my research seem to run 250-350 pages.

It is not that I do not have enough material to fill the pages or skill to organize it.
My last book was about 205,000 words, over 600 pages long. The book before that was 430,000 words. At 6x9” trade paperback size, that book was 1,500 pages long! I ended up printing it at 8.5x11” format, making it 800 pages and looking like a phone book. Readers find it daunting to read. I find it exhausting to write. And the time needed for editing! Setting realistic expectations does not come naturally to me.

 

[lynnmosher]

Maybe stop for awhile. Take a break. Then, look over your outline and see what can go. However, don't delete any of it. Be sure you save what you take out.

 

[Kra3256]

Ive done this…not because it was too long but because after I finished the first draft I could see it just wasnt good! But I think reading through my bad first attempt and seeing so clearly what was “not good” was essential in helping me develop a new plan and outline that fixed the problems of my first attempt. So, I guess what I’m saying is that it’s painful to feel like you’ve wasted so much time, but it’s not actually wasted time because of all you’ve learned about what does and doesnt work. For me, I framed my first failed attempt as a long but necessary step in being able to see what my book needed to be.

Write out some ideas for a new outline, then a take a long break and let your mind ruminate and get inspired with new ideas for your new direction, and then just get back to it. Dont think of it as starting over, but more as being part way through a longer, richer process than you first expected!

 

[carolinamtne]

Can you cut it into two books? Sort out the "topics" into two groups?

 

[CTAwolf1]

I would like to hear how other writers have faced the challenge of throwing away what they have written and starting from scratch. On my current WIP, I got to the 200 page mark and realized that considering the length of my outline and the rate I was going, my book would be well over 500 pages when it was done. So I am tossing it and starting over, with a narrower focus. This is emotionally draining, discouraging, and has halted my momentum. How do you regroup? Where do you find the will and stamina to continue?

The only thing that has helped me so far is taking one long chapter that will have to be drastically shortened and posting it as a standalone article on my website, so that all that research wont be wasted.

Thoughts?

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Probably just give it a rest and a solution will come. I'm writing my first book. It's about being an effective witness for Christ and contains quite a bit of theology that I'm trying to condense into layman's terms. The thing is, I'm not a theologian, so the research process has been daunting. I was considering scrapping the whole thing and giving it up. Took a break for two weeks, read it again and now it seems to be working. Stepping back might help and you'll find that you don't have to scrap it.
Blessings!

 

[Lonestar648]

I have made several attempts over the years at all types of writing. Many times putting aside WIP. For a while I took up writing technical manuals which were surprisingly successful in the market for which they were written. This forced me to improve my organization of thoughts, be more efficient, and learn to write for the reader and not for me. I believe God led me to this point. Again, I started to write but I just couldn't find the right feel. Then I was struck down hard medically. Through that I gave God every problem I had with writing. Once home and off the mind numbing drugs, I had this very strong inspiration to send short messages to my family. Through regular prayer I started more regular messages. After a while a few friends asked to receive the messages. Then Covid hit me, relegating me to a bed or nearby chair for 5 months. During that time I was seriously inspired to write. Over a month and lots of prayers, I developed what I thought was God's plan. Do discovery to find a good Bible Verse for each day, never repeating a Bible Verse, after noting my thoughts on the verse, researching what other opinions were and why they differed. With this knowledge, I first prayed for God words he wanted me to write. What seemed impossible, the words just flowed like water out of the faucet. The message was concise and not long so more people would read it. I started approximately 4 1/2 years ago and have never missed a day sending out a new message, nor have I repeated a verse. I call them "God's Daily Messages" because when I reread them a week later for final edit, I can't believe what was written, that I wrote that message. My secret is opening myself up to allow God to use me and work through me. Giving up all control to God, allowing him to direct my writing. Of course lots and lots of prayer.

 

[paulchernoch]

Five years ago, as I was beginning one book, someone here at CW recommended mind-mapping to help with structuring my thoughts and finding patterns and relationships. That exercise was critical in showing me the way forward. So I dusted off my mind-mapping app to revamp my book outline for this new book. I was able to find places for the new ideas that are clogging my brain and rearrange the material in a more logical order. I have nine component discipleship models and a tenth master model that incorporates them all into a single structure. There are many levels of abstraction to manage. My poor brain is working overtime to try to wrestle it all into a semblance of order. I think I am close now. If you are wondering how there could possibly be so many aspects to discipleship, these are the flavors of model I am talking about:

- Foundational (The order of salvation, your new identity in Christ)
- Tactical (short term, pursuing regular spiritual harvests, growing in Spiritual gifts)
- Relational (communication with God and the church, spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, charity)
- Aspirational (goals, heavenly treasures)
- Strategic (long term, across all stages of life)
- Integrational (showing connections between the many models, as well as fully integrating into the body of Christ in ministry)
- Pinnacle (perseverance, the final victory after a long campaign of trial and suffering)

Each type of model goes with one of the seven spirits of wisdom from Isaiah 11:2, which forms the overall structure of the book.

 

[Lonestar648]

Five years ago, as I was beginning one book, someone here at CW recommended mind-mapping to help with structuring my thoughts and finding patterns and relationships. That exercise was critical in showing me the way forward. So I dusted off my mind-mapping app to revamp my book outline for this new book. I was able to find places for the new ideas that are clogging my brain and rearrange the material in a more logical order. I have nine component discipleship models and a tenth master model that incorporates them all into a single structure. There are many levels of abstraction to manage. My poor brain is working overtime to try to wrestle it all into a semblance of order. I think I am close now. If you are wondering how there could possibly be so many aspects to discipleship, these are the flavors of model I am talking about:

- Foundational (The order of salvation, your new identity in Christ)
- Tactical (short term, pursuing regular spiritual harvests, growing in Spiritual gifts)
- Relational (communication with God and the church, spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, charity)
- Aspirational (goals, heavenly treasures)
- Strategic (long term, across all stages of life)
- Integrational (showing connections between the many models, as well as fully integrating into the body of Christ in ministry)
- Pinnacle (perseverance, the final victory after a long campaign of trial and suffering)

Each type of model goes with one of the seven spirits of wisdom from Isaiah 11:2, which forms the overall structure of the book.

Click to shrink...

Each one of those seven could be a small book of its own. Eventually sold as a set. Something my children are suggesting for the Daily Messages.

 

[paulchernoch]

Each one of those seven could be a small book of its own

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How astute! My first Christian nonfiction was about heavenly treasures. My next book helped me find the tactical harvest model. The book after that led me to discover the strategic growth model. My most recent book helped me find a couple others, including the integrational law and Lady Wisdom’s house models. My work on my website last year helped me find another, the foundational salvation model. So I have sort of been doing that, though at the time I wrote those books I didn’t know that was what I was doing. I found all the pieces separately and now must stitch them together.

 

[H. E. Willis]

@paulchernoch, are you still planning to throw out your current draft? Whatever you do, don't! If you can keep going, finish it. If you're tired, take a rest. If you finish the book, you could decide what to do after that. Like @Lonestar648 suggested, you could break it into several books to make it less daunting for the reader.

 

[paulchernoch]

are you still planning to throw out your current draft?

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Of the things I have written in the partial draft, one of the largest sections is a summary of the work of others and their deficiencies, omissions or where they had ideas that I overlooked and have adopted. I have decided to fold those critiques into the rest of the book where relevant, otherwise it slows down forward momentum.

A second piece - the longest at seventy-five pages - is about the salvation pattern. It is important, but I have to drastically shorten it.

A third piece is an account of how the Lord delivered me from many trials by the Harvest Pattern, before I even knew it existed. That is fifty-six pages long. It is important to show that these ideas helped me personally in large ways. The problems include depression, loneliness, mourning, guilt, fear of death and nightmares. This material is essential to establish my credibility, but I am undecided whether to put it early or late in the book. Where I put it determines how much groundwork has been laid already and how I must rewrite it to make sense. Another way to do it would be to spread my personal anecdotes out, but that would undermine some of what I hope to accomplish there.

I am trying to balance rigor and logic with enough personal application to humanize the material. Not easy.

 

[Johne]

I would like to hear how other writers have faced the challenge of throwing away what they have written and starting from scratch. On my current WIP, I got to the 200 page mark and realized that considering the length of my outline and the rate I was going, my book would be well over 500 pages when it was done. So I am tossing it and starting over, with a narrower focus.

Click to shrink...

Hey, Paul,
After many years of writing, I finally shared my 189k word draft for THE BLUE GOLEM with Beta readers on New Year's Eve, 2022. After six weeks I was forced to conclude that the draft wasn't working. I realized that I'd written two completely separate genres and that one of them didn't work for the main premise.

So on March 1st, 2023, I set all that aside and started a page 1 rewrite focused on just one genre, telling the story of a golem detective (Thriller). Since then, the writing has gone very well and the weekly feedback I get from my editing group has been very strong (unlike the prior draft).

I wish I would have pulled the plug years earlier when I was right where you are now.

One thing to keep in mind is the sunk cost fallacy. I thought that quitting halfway through would result in me wasting those earlier years. Instead, I wasted still more years when I knew better.

I think the real question is, 'what do you think is wrong with your novel?"

For me, it became clear after the fact when I'd tried to combine two disparate genres.

If you can figure out what's wrong with your novel, maybe you can decide if the right decision is to make edits and proceed or cut your losses and start fresh.

For me, the page one rewrite was the right move, but every situation is unique.

I'm praying as you make your decision.

(As long as we're here, I'm nearly done with this rewritten draft and my editing group can't wait for people to be able to read the novel. That's welcome news. I'm excited for people to be able to read it, too. I've worked on this thing for 10 years now.)

 

[paulchernoch]

I'm praying as you make your decision.

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Thank you. Prayer answered. The Lord made the decision for me! I mentioned the seventy-five page chapter on the steps of salvation that I concluded I needed to abridge as it was not the focus of my book; sanctification is. In researching that chapter I had found that the Ordo Salutis - the nine key steps of salvation - govern the structure of three Bible passages. Those three are Psalm 19, the Beatitudes (which begin Sermon on the Mount), and a reprise of the pattern in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

So how did the Lord direct me? He dragged me all over Scripture and showed me that same salvation pattern in seven more places! Now I see it in the Ten Commandments, three separate times in Job (in the speeches of Job, Elihu and God, respectively), Proverbs 1-9, the first nine letters of Paul (Romans to 2 Thessalonians) and John 17. When the Lord swiftly pours insight into your mind in a focused and relevant way, it is not wise to ignore it. So I will still throw away that single 75 page chapter, but will have to replace it with a section of nine chapters, one per each of the nine steps, making reference to each of those ten instances where the plan is found.

I am sure that this rewrite will run to over a hundred pages of material. I am failing at shortening the book. I am succeeding at gaining more insight.

 

[JasonJ]

I intend to make a serious go of trying to find an agent and publisher for this one. The books on Christian Discipleship that I have been reading as part of my research seem to run 250-350 pages.

It is not that I do not have enough material to fill the pages or skill to organize it.
My last book was about 205,000 words, over 600 pages long. The book before that was 430,000 words. At 6x9” trade paperback size, that book was 1,500 pages long! I ended up printing it at 8.5x11” format, making it 800 pages and looking like a phone book. Readers find it daunting to read. I find it exhausting to write. And the time needed for editing! Setting realistic expectations does not come naturally to me.

Click to shrink...

have you read "True Discipleship" by William Macdonald? I noticed your thread and saw you were reading those types of books for research. If you have not read this book, I highly recomend it. I picked it up at half price books for 2$, best 2$ i may have ever spent! Its really good! Good Luck!

 

[paulchernoch]

have you read "True Discipleship" by William Macdonald?

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I have not. I will look it up. Thanks for the tip.

As an update, after throwing away my first AND second attempts, I am content with my third attempt at writing this book. I changed the working title to “The Redeemed Shall Walk: An Engineer Models Christian Discipleship”, a reference to a passage in Isaiah about the Way of Holiness. I am up to 116 pages now. I finished the background, the critique of the discipleship models of seven books by other authors where I identify omissions and incoherence. I also introduced the Seven Spirits of Wisdom and how they have shaped world history, church history, and the discipleship of individual Christians. Now I am describing the core discipleship model which has seven facets, one for each of the seven spirits. After that I will write at least one chapter per facet and the submodel that goes with that facet.

The exercise of throwing out what I had written finally proved itself worthwhile. Deep inside I knew I was missing something important but didn’t know what. I finally found it: the justification for why structuring discipleship after the Seven Spirits is more than just a rhetorical device. I found it in Ecclesiastes 11 & 12. As the seven spirits enter a life, that person flourishes. I could not find a place in the Bible that shows that happening. The Old Testament is hard to interpret in places because it often uses negative theology. That is how I found my justification. The last two chapters of Ecclesiastes show the seven spirits leave a person, one by one, and the devastating effect that it has as he or she faces mental and physical decline and death. Just as our understanding of how the human body works advances by studying physical pathology, so my understanding of how the human spirit works is advancing by studying spiritual pathology. Now that I have a firmer foundation, I can confidently move forward with writing the book.

 

[JasonJ]

I, have not reminded myself of these precious gifts from above in some time, and thank you my dear brother for reminding me of the importance of being deligent to study every book in His Word!. I found great insight, divine wisdom indeed, from the last two verses from this book. Solomon was great in wisdom, and when we stand before our Lord he will be among those who the book of revelation call the "great and the small". But it says "
'Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.'

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidd | New International Version

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidd

www.bible.com

There is no easier way to describe how we are expected to live as people of God, this is a ruder for us, a semaphore if you will, a guide for us to use, so we are certain not only that we are aligning our priorities with Him and His Kingdom as his disciples, but also that our deeds and our intentions will not be burned to a crisp at the great white throne seat of judgement! Christian hear these words, our secret thoughts and motives will be exposed, we must be sure that our hearts are aligned to his because what we put in becomes what we are there is no escaping his formula for life. What we sow is what we reap end of discussion. Amen!

 

[Riffat]

The more i know, I learn how ignorant I am - I think its true - keep learning either by observing, reading or writing or watching - its a life long process and do not consider it waste of time - as our faliures even become a brick to reach at top - Have a life journey guided by word of God - this should be our ultmate moto