One Hundred Fantasy Clichés That Really Need To Rest In Peace

#92: Not Finishing What You Have Started

  When it comes to writing, my worst trait by far is procrastination.  Whenever I have an idea for a story that could be potentially great, nine times out of ten I end up only writing a chapter or two before completely abandoning the project.  The reasons for this vary from a lack of faith in the material I am writing (which is why Loins of Society probably will not be out for at least another year or two), not writing for so long that I lose motivation in the project (the notorious reviews I half completed on The Ridonculous Race), and seemingly coming up with a "superior" idea out of the blue.  It is so bad that at one point I did not even want to finish this editorial when I published the first ten parts with positive reception being the reason I got reattached to the project and resumed it after a couple of months.  Thankfully, I can say this issue has gotten a bit better with using a notebook to highlight my ideas out before publishing the final project.  It may even be the reason I release my first official story, something that we will all have to see for ourselves in the future.  Still, it is an issue that is still going to take a lot of help to resolve and I admit it is my biggest downfall as a writer.

  Why am I admitting this on an editorial completely dedicated to calling out the worst fantasy clichés?  The reason is because this issue is one that I am not alone in sharing.  Many writers suffer from a similar variant of the problem I suffer from, always unintentionally.  They will release exciting stories to the masses, such as a game-changing vampire plot line that incorporates both the old and the new best aspects of that type of story.  Then for a similar reason like mine, the story will be delayed for months on end or worse completely abandoned.  What most people call this is production hell.  To me, it is simply not finishing what you have started.  Due to the massive amount of instances this situation has occurred, it can be called a cliché equal to the examples mentioned previously.

  Doing this is always going to result in disappoint by anyone who was devoted to the story being created.  This additionally causes the author themselves feeling immense guilt over not completing the project, even if the motivation for writing the rest is not there.  I cannot tell you how many times I felt guilty whenever someone commented that I should end my production hell with The Ridonculous Race reviews.  Freezing any type of story creates pain not only to the audience, but to the writer as well.  Neither side wants the fun to end.  It is evidence that the best stories succeed because of the bond created from the audience and the writer, even if neither party personally knows one another.  Not finishing what you have started soils this bond.

  So if you are trapped in this situation, how can you get out of it?  The answer is not so simple.  It really depends on the person and the type of story being written.  The most common solutions though are finding a way to motivate yourself or constantly reminding yourself of the importance this project could potentially have.  One such way is the example I mentioned using earlier myself; getting some type of notebook to highlight the potential ideas you have for the story.  Any type of notebook, cheap or expensive, will do and the content does not have to be organized at all.  Heck, you can do this even on a lab top!  The goal of this route is to reinforce the ideas of your story and bring back the motivation you have towards that particular story.  Famous writers such as Mark Twain have used this route to create masterpieces such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  To most, writing down your ideas in a notebook usually is the most effective means to finishing what you have started.  However, it is not the only way to fix the problem.

  Another way to reverse this issue is to have a friend read what you have written so far and get their opinion on the story.  If the friend gives you any type of positive reception towards the story, it can motivate you to continue the project once again.  For J.K. Rowling, the rest of the Harry Potter series after book one was made possible because someone noticed her potential as a writer and motivated her to try getting the story published.  She did not just get from rags to riches all by herself.  Motivation was needed to achieve this venture.  The only negative this route has potentially is if you are a person prone to self-doubt.  Besides procrastination, self-doubt is another reason I tend to not finish my writing.  Seeing someone like my material helps, but then I think about how I could completely screw up the story afterwards.  That is why the notebook method personally works better for me.

  Finally, there is the route of having a complete outsider read the material, which is a slightly more effective cousin to the second route.  This path leads to more writers finding the motivation or confidence to complete the story by seeing a potential audience love the material they were presented with.  This route was what saved this editorial when I almost completely abandoned it, after seeing the positive reception people were giving it.  To have a complete stranger read your material and find enjoyment in it really makes you feel a lot more confident.  You stop giving yourself the roadblocks that prevented you from writing previously and the project finally continues.  Like the last tool though, this can fail if you really have low confidence or the motivation to continue never returns.

  All the tools mentioned can fail depending on the situation behind the indefinite delay of finishing a story.  However, that does not mean you shouldn't at least try these routes or attempt something completely different to re-motivate you.  In the right environment, your situation does not have to be hopeless.  Just trying to bring the creative juices back into your system can simply just be enough to bring a story back to life.  All you need to do really is attempt to revive the story.  That can be enough.