Tip: Finish Things

Seems like a no-brainer, right? You would be amazed, astounded, at the number of new and emerging writers who do not finish what they start. Yet finishing your projects is what separates the pros from the hobbyists (not that there's anything wrong with being a hobbyist - it's just that I want this blog to be helpful to people whose dream is to get published). Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline and The Wolves in the Walls, among many other books, talks about this in his blog, too, in his FAQ.

Many of us begin, say, a novel, or a screenplay, get a third through it, go back, tinker with the first part, read it over, tinker with it again, repeat. Then we get what seems to be a better idea and abandon the project altogether. Stop that! Slow and steady wins the race, guys. It's hard to keep momentum when the first flush of a creative idea is over and you're dealing with the day-to-day writing, a few pages a day, every day. I know. I really do know. But do it anyway. Push yourself through. If you know you have to write a chapter in which someone gets from New York to Paris, and you're uninspired, write it. Just write it. I don't care if it's crappy and unpoetic and has nothing but short, declarative sentences: "She got on the plane. She went to Paris." You can fix it later! Or skip ahead to another part and fill that one in later. Just finish the whole thing. Then you can start another one.

It is finished plays, novels, and screenplays that get consideration for beginners. Even if you are already published, unless you already have a very successful track record, or a big name, or an idea that's so clearly commercially viable houses are bidding all over the place for it, in fiction you still often have to finish the whole novel or story collection before a publishing house will buy it. In nonfiction that's less true, but you still typically have to finish your first project.

And beyond all this, there's amazing psychological benefit to finishing something. It gives you a sense of accomplishment, legitimacy, achievement, and confidence. You build a portfolio of work. When you don't finish your projects, they hang over your head, eating away at your self-esteem. When you finish them, if someone says, "I can't take this one on, but I love your style, do you have anything else?" you can say, "Why, yes. Yes, I do."

This is one of the reasons I teach flash fiction - because people can finish it fairly easily. Then you get all these psychological benefits, and can move on to longer things, if you wish.

But whatever you write, try to finish it! Your writing life will change for the better, I promise.