Writers Losing Their Stories in the Draft
12 posts in the last 60 days, all from r/writers.
“I joined just to post this one question (for now). First, I just want to say that, like many of you, I’ve read and reread my chapter drafts over and over, to the point where I’m getting tired of reading them. I’m about 95% happy with what I’ve written so far, and I’m really…”
“I’ve been hacking away for years at my novel on and off and decided to try and finish it. However, I’ve noticed my opening chapters are far worse (ie garbage) compared to later ones. The issue is, it feels like each successive chapter is a patch, trying to improve the previous…”
“I've been planning staring writing this ya fantasy book. My problem is that I don't have so many things ( some side charactes names, how charactes gonna first meet ect.) My idea is just writing some random scenes and than going back and front from these scenes. I haven't writing…”
Multiple writers are struggling with finishing their work. Some feel their drafts have deteriorated, others can't seem to move past certain chapters or scenes, and one is questioning whether to start over entirely. The core issue is a loss of momentum and direction during the writing process.
SOURCES (60)
“I joined just to post this one question (for now). First, I just want to say that, like many of you, I’ve read and reread my chapter drafts over and over, to the point where I’m getting tired of reading them. I’m about 95% happy…”
“I’ve been hacking away for years at my novel on and off and decided to try and finish it. However, I’ve noticed my opening chapters are far worse (ie garbage) compared to later ones. The issue is, it feels like each successive chapter is a patch, trying to improve the previous one, and the tone feels very forced and teen fiction (which, to be fair, I was, when I started). I’m about 50,000 words in, but have been actively avoiding writing any more recently as it doesn’t sound like me. Do I keep t”
“Hi writers it's me again! I’m working on the Library part of Draft Garden now, and I have another question for you. How do you actually keep track of all the little decisions you make while writing a story? Not just the big character sheets or worldbuilding documents. I mean all the smaller stuff that starts piling up while you write. Why a character did something. A detail you decided three chapters ago. Timeline stuff. Rules about the world. Something you changed and don’t want to accident”
“This comes up from time to time in fanfiction spaces, which I primarily move in, but I'm wondering about "regular" authors' side. Opinions are interestingly divided, some yeet their fics to FFnet/AO3/what have you, while others (including me) often reread because hey, it contains the exact things and characters we like. Except smut, I write it and then pretend it doesn't exist because it's cringe and unhot. The downside is always finding that one stray typo or plot hole”
“I've been planning staring writing this ya fantasy book. My problem is that I don't have so many things ( some side charactes names, how charactes gonna first meet ect.) My idea is just writing some random scenes and than going back and front from these scenes. I haven't writing anything than half of first chapter. And that is probably gonna change fully. submitted by /u/Consistent_Ad6323 [link] [comments]”
“My story has reached about a third of what I expect to be in the end (first draft) and I already realized that one of my character arcs has issues. Even though this is a first draft I decided to adjust it to match my basic expectations. This basically means I am rewriting 80% of all her chapters. I am doing this so early because I have to match a parallel storyline (alternating chapters) of another protagonist so that they meet at a specific event somewhere around chapter 23-25. And it all didn&”
“To be clear, I have ideas on what I want to do. Idk if they’ll make sense or not. That’s my problem. From my characters to the power system, idk if any of it makes sense. Like ik theme, symbolism and stuff like that is important but idk if I’m doing any of it right submitted by /u/Dense-Statement-332 [link] [comments]”
“Hello 👋 I have been writing my own manga adaptation, but i'm struggling on managing all the pages and chapters. I tried getting it all paged up, but now that I have probably over thirty chapters, i'm getting lost. Do you use any apps or websites, to help with page and chapter management? I have tried using *forbidden word* but its just too much text now, and I screwed up by writing in different tabs, and text files. Thank you for your time and knowledge 🫶 submitted by /u/Sa”
“I've had a LOT of ideas which ive written close to 100k words on, then dropped. My favorite idea im not currently working on, which has a few contenders in my idea lineup for which world id put this in, goes like this. Let me know what yall think: So, in the mind of a madman, it all makes sense. Someone thats crazy usually doesnt think theyre crazy. One could argue that "if we knew everything they knew, we'd see things the same way." As in, insanity could be ARGUED to be perspe”
“So I'm a chronic rewriter (lol). I've been doing the same story for 10 years and stuck on the write-rewrite loop. This is my 3rd draft and it was completely different from the first draft (the logic, characterization, wb, etc). And I have determined to finish this draft. So I'm trying this method of "vomit draft" in which I just write and NOT revise anything until a certain point (or probably until my draft is done). The thing is, this method makes me realize how much I ove”
“I deleted a scene from my book recently, and somehow I kept thinking about it afterward. Not because it was particularly good. Honestly, it probably needed to go. But that version of the story had something the new version doesn’t. A different mood. A different feeling. Maybe even a little more chaos. It got me wondering whether writers sometimes get too attached to the versions of their stories that no longer exist. Have you ever deleted a character, scene, chapter, ending, or even an entire id”
“Hey fellow writers, I'm currently working on a trilogy, including my first ever book!! I have 5 main characters including the villain, 2 of which are going to die, as well as 3 side characters to help fuel the story. Is this too much? submitted by /u/beausw0rld [link] [comments]”
“What are possible justifications for discontinuing an incomplete novel? Was stopping ever worth it? submitted by /u/Bright_Lake_5527 [link] [comments]”
“Hi! I have been stuck finishing my 1st draft. I'm currently writing a longfic. Writing the 1st draft has been the most difficult part for me. How do I finish it? How can write 1st drafts faster? Also any other 1st/0 draft tips would be appreciated! submitted by /u/Default_19 [link] [comments]”
“I'm writing a story about how an idealistic prince becomes a tyrannical mad emperor who doomed his nation. The story goes back into the past as it is focusing on how the prince became a monster of a monarch. The only gripe is that I am wondering if a prologue is needed for this story. I wanted the prologue to be the aftermath of the country's fall and the death of everyone, but I'm not so sure. The reason why I am unsure is because I just want to start chapter one and see from there.”
“Hello, writers! Do you have any advice for when you're completely stuck on a chapter and just can't seem to finish it? At the same time, you find yourself rereading previous chapters because those are the ones that excite you the most, so you end up staying there instead of working on the current chapter. Then you suddenly realize, "Wait... this is actually trash," and now you feel the need to go back and re-edit everything before you can continue writing the current chapter. H”
“Question: When you need or want to rewrite whole scenes, characters, acts, or more from scratch, how do you actually divorce yourself of your preconceived vision so that “from scratch” is from a blank canvas again?  Context : Stories start broad and unmolded and become narrow and specific as you write the script. In order for you to actually get to a first draft you have to make decisions and imagine everything that you’re writing. I am assuming that every line a screenwriter writes they are a”
“I am currently on my sixth draft of my story, chapter fourteen. However, I found my old drafts and wanted to jot down notes from the draft for when I get to draft seven. My drafts are just me rewriting the story and adding things from memory. Now, that I have the old drafts, I want to make a list of things that I need to change or remove or wonder why I didn't focus on that for draft seven. I can still work on draft 6 and still do this note-taking. However, I have to take down notes for draf”
“I always have ideas in my head for OCs, stories, and stuff—mostly the most important parts, like my character's origin, their ending, and things like that. Since I can't draw, I want to try writing instead. There are way too many ideas bouncing around in my head (haha, it's actually giving me a headache!), but I don't know where to begin, what app I should use, or if it's okay to get help from Artificial inteligence. I've never written a story before, and I almost never r”
“Experienced authors often recommend putting your finished draft in a drawer for weeks to months, to read it with fresh eyes. I finished my 59k first draft. I've closed Scrivner. It's been five days now and I'm eager to get back to it. What is your practice around starting the next draft? submitted by /u/PadreMontoya [link] [comments]”
“Hi, I’m currently in my outlining phase now just curious how others outline their chapters? Do you outline every single chapter before you start? or Only a few chapters at a time? What works best for you? I enjoy hearing others routine and just wanted to hear others creative process :) submitted by /u/EnvironmentalBoat772 [link] [comments]”
“What I am writing now is a little tricky, and I need some help. To make it easier: MC A and MC B So at this point of the story, MC A has lost part of their memories after they came back to life. They have an idea of who they are and is a functioning person. But they don't remember anything from before. MC B is their love interest, and they call MC A by their established name. Other people are still allowed to call MC A by this name. But MC A doesn't want MC B to call them by it anymore.”
“I have this bad habit of coming up with book Ideas by starting with backstories for my Backlog of D&D character's I'll never get to play (I'm a Forever DM). this means that all of my worldbuilding starts in a basic D&D world, and transitioning from that or making ot more interesting is difficult. So I want to try something new and start with a trope or very simple plot outline and base a character and the world off of that. So, I put to you: What are some Tropes or simple plo”
“Who else has trouble with this? I initially outlined this story years ago, and one character I created had the express purpose of being the catalyst for something that drives my MC's arc. Not only MC's development as a person, but his very survival is at stake. This character is a pillar of the community and beloved by many of the other characters and also by my MC and I always knew (and intended ) for his death to be tragic but I also knew it would be necessary. I've written him in”
“at what point would you say is a good time to take a concept and notes to a first chapter? i've been world building, writing histories, back stories, workshopping characters and understanding their psyche for weeks. but i'm almost too scared to put it to page now from my notebook! EDIT: following on from that - recommend to start at the beginning or a particular scene thats more defined? i dont have a set plot rn just a framework. submitted by /u/astarionsapologist [link] ”
“Hey all, I have a question about your process when you’re drafting your book for the first time. The book I’m working on right now is my 4th, and it’s the most difficult one: the plotting and characterisation need to be really tight and well done. What’s more, it’s adult fantasy, which means it’s a mammoth that I will have to extensively cut down during revision. I’m not even halfway through and am at almost 90K words. My question is, how do you deal with overwhelm at this stage? I feel like the”
“Hi everyone, For context, I am an artist who got into creative writing recently to flesh out the story for my characters. This isn't anything too serious, and is more for personal enjoyment. I am writing a story about a maid who finds out her boss runs an underground cult. She accidentally witnesses something, and the boss finds out. At this point, this is the only job the MC could get to support herself and her brother. There is a whole other character who is a private investigator that I a”
“No. I need to focus or I'd get nothing done. On occasion, I will do some plotting of book 2 in the series when I can't stomach line level edits. If I go further, I won't finish the first one.”
“I'm working on the first draft of a novel but take the odd couple days off for short stories. When I finish the draft I'll probably start a new project just to take my mind off the first one, to make editing easier. I don't think I could write two novels and also work at the same time.”
“I try to only focus on one at a time for my own sanity and to make actual progress. I just finished a novel and am grinding through editing and revision while I wait for beta readers to catch up. I'm gathering notes and research for the next novel I want to write. I was recently convinced to go back to my fun writing project that was in indefinite hiatus because my beta readers caught wind that I had a different, more comedic project on the sidelines and now I feel inspired to work on that a”
“It might work for you, but if I found myself doing this it would too hard to keep each story straight. Starting a book is the easy part, so if I kept jumping into new starts there’s a good chance I’m doing that as an avoidance mechanism. The middle portion of a story is the hard part for me, so starting something new would just be procrastination.”
“I work on two at once. I work on one while the other is with readers or my editors. This time around, I have a couple novelettes I’m trying to squeeze in when I need breaks.”
“If I may ask, how do you know that you have the plot and lore and story fleshed out without having written it down? Genuine question because my brain can not comprehend this. Do you have a separate document to outline and/or figure those things out separate to your writing for example (this is kinda how I do it but the more chapters I write into the novel, I am discovering so much... im an outline, but the process of writing each chapter is like guided discovery writing lol) Im just curious how”
“Yes. Honestly, I have the plot and lore and story all fleshed out. But sitting down and actually writing is hard for me because I get easily distracted. Sometimes I hyperfixate and finish 5 chapters in an hour”
“You have to decide if this is your unique process or if you are getting in your own way. For me, working on more than one novel at a time would be too confusing but then again, I edit as I write which you'll often see as a "NEVER DO THAT" in a list of writing rules. But it works for me. Do you feel good about the progress you're making? Or do you often feel like you'll never finish anything? Be honest with yourself”
“Have you ever finished a book? I think if you’re finishing books you’re fine but if you haven’t finished one yet, you might want to focus on finishing one”
“There is no good or bad here; nor is there a right or wrong way. A lot of genre writers have books in various stages of production, one with beta readers, another one in final proof reading, one being written, etc. I think the main caveat to this method is the danger of not finishing anything because there’s always a new, interesting idea out there.”
“If an idea comes while I’m working on one title, I’ll take notes and then promise myself that I’ll work on this as soon as I finish this draft. Kind of like dessert after you eat your vegetables. That way I get a full draft first.”
“I have a huge list of 'started' stories that i will get back to someday, but currently am actively working on 4 (3 regular that I cycle weekly, and one that just took my fancy and sucked me in). I'm not sure if this is really a good idea tbh, but right now it's the equilibrium I've reached. it's only a hobby for me, so I can afford to Do it Wrong, which is just as well, really.”
“My guy, we all have ideas coming out the wazoo. Go ahead and write 8 novels if you wish. But remember, those 8 novels will be written with the same experience of your current one. There’s a reason why a lot of people finish a story first. It teaches you new things. If you publish, you find out what lacks, so you can then adapt. But if you write 8 novels and publish them all at once, you will have written them with your current skill. While I won’t presume your ability as a writer, even big autho”
“Are you one of those people without ADHD or AuDHD? I know they exist, but I'm not sure how you recognise them. (If you have ADHD, this is a window into the chaos that's in your head constantly. But add another 12 dimensions like "work" and "family" and "paying taxes" and "mowing the lawn" and a hundred hobbies.)”
“It's not that bad. 3 of the books are a trilogy with similar concepts. One is currently benched because it's way too complicated and long to be a single novel. Another is a short horror story based on nursery rhymes. 2 of them are the same romance story but each book is told through a different perspective. And the last one is literally just a book about bullshit”
“Jesus what a fucking nightmare you have just unleashed into my brain. 8 novels at once, I would absolutely stroke out. Kinda gotta nail down one idea and just iterate it into existence, and then go to the next one. At most I'll make notes of the next book while writing the first one of good ideas come to me. But trying to balance so many at once seems like a good way to scale creep your books out of existence.”
“Multiple projects generally means they take longer and may never be finished. If you're happy with that, or you do somehow manage to complete them fast enough for your own satisfaction, then it's not an issue. For most people, it's a bad idea.”
“Not OP and I have not yet written a book, I am working on my first three now, but this is the system I currently have that I got from advice on here and tiktok; - I have character sheets for all my characters with their information like their outside looks, their character/mannerisms, their way of speaking, and some phrases they always say. Here I also add the important character relationships (‘mother’, ‘best friend’, ‘boyfriends sister’ etc) - I have a timeline for important things that happen”
“Oo could you explain your systems? I currently have a complete lack of one, so maybe I could at least learn a thing or two from you 😂”
“I think what works for one person doesn’t work for another. A lot of people say they could never use my organizing systems. Okay, they work for me. Do what works for you. You’ll find if it causes confusion and correct for it. Currently I’m kind of working on three books at once, but they are all related.”
“It’s never for nothing. It’s practice even if you do scrap it. Learn and start again. My advice. Finish it then edit the shit out of it till you’re happy. I once had a character that died chapter 3. By chapter 12 I realised it was a mistake and continued on writing like he never died. Then after went back and edited chapters 3 - 12.”
“when i reread my draft and it suddenly get worse. i'll keep plotting and drafting to copy and paste into it”
“I had it with my first draft. I trashed 80% of it. And rewrote the rest so many times until they were completely different. Do not start over. What I did was to migrate everything to Obsidian and started rewriting and trashing.”
“See, that's why I'm "outlining" in bullet points instead of prose. It's still discovery writing, just not in prose. You find all the structural and thematic errors and whatnot, but there is near zero cost to starting over from scratch.”
“Same for me. Did 34k. Hot trash. Started over, even changing POV. Now I'm very happy with it. I steal some pieces from the first, but starting fresh was freeing.”
“Both routes have their pro's and con's. But it sounds like your case might benefit more from an outline of what you want to achieve and convey, rather than starting over blind.”
“I once heard a popular writer say that the first couple drafts is like a small busy elf or goblin wrote it. But once it’s done, you have the framework to reshape with fresh eyes. Just change what you don’t like, keep what you can, remember what makes it good, remember why you started to begin with. Patience is a virtue.”
“I would pause and brainstorm to figure out what’s not working, and what you would need to change to make it actually work in the big picture. Then, what I would personally do, is go through and leave comments on all the things that I need to change and edit, then keep writing as if I’d already made those changes. I don’t think it’s valuable to write stuff that you know is going in the completely wrong direction, but it can be helpful to keep the forward momentum and practice finishing things ins”
“I threw out my complete manuscript and started over TWICE. I don't know if it's good advice, but I'm glad I did.”
“It's a standard 3-Act novel, sliced in smaller bits for easier consumption. A perfectly decent starter narrative framework for someone who has nothing at all. I don't know a better FREE book online to recommend. Do you have a better FREE one?”