DON'T start a new book! Finish the old one!

Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

So you did Nanowrimo! Huzzah!! Or maybe you didn’t, but it’s the end of the year you have a first draft of a book or script. Huzzah!

That’s epic— and I hope you have duly celebrated. For me, the first draft is far and away the hardest part and the next stage is where the fun starts. But not everyone feels that way. Yet.

This time of year I hear this kind of thing a LOT:

• “I have three-quarters of a first draft and I couldn’t care less about finishing it.”

• “I have a first draft and I hate everything about it. How do I know if I should just throw it out and start something else?”

• “I made it through the first draft but I’m in despair over how much more work it’s going to need.”

And so on— you get the picture. This year is no exception.

And let’s face it: the New Year is upon us, and the temptation to start completely fresh is huge. But hear me now. That does not apply to writing books. Or scripts.

So instead of having this conversation a bunch more times one-on-one with a bunch of people, I feel a strong need to say this to everyone, AGAIN:

If you're in the middle of a book, or if you have a first draft that is rougher than you think is fixable, you DO NOT WANT to stop to run after a shiny new idea.

That is a great way to not ever get published.

I am pretty sure that what most aspiring authors need to be doing for the New Year—or the end of the year or wherever you are in the year—is to finish an old book.

Photo by David Iskander on Unsplash

In the workshops I teach in person and online, I always start with this exercise.

Write out:

     1.  The genre and subgenre/s of your WIP (Work in Progress)

     2.  The premise of your book - the story in one or two sentences.  

     3.  A Master List of ten films (a few books, but at least five films) in your genre that are somewhat similar to your book structurally.    

Just that bit of information on my audience or students helps me focus the session or class so that everyone gets the most out of our time together. And you know what I find over and over?

Very few people can tell me about their ONE book.

Because most of the participants have five, six, seven, even eight (I’m dying here…) book or story projects going at once.

Photo by Laura Kapfer on Unsplash

Oh. My. God.

Over the years I have been continually astonished at how many people in my workshops have multiple projects in various stages of completion. Now, as a professional writer, I often have to work on multiple projects, but that’s the job, and I’ve had decades of experience doing it. If you work on multiple projects and are making a living at it, you know how to do it!

I’m talking about unpublished writers. It's not astonishing at all that most of these people remain unpublished. Because -

Published authors are writers who suck it up and FINISH their books. 

They COMMIT. They deal with the reality of what they have written instead of the fantasy of what they thought they were writing. They develop the Teflon skin that allows them to put their work out there to be criticized—and yes, rejected. Lots of rejection.

Some of these unfinished projects will never be good enough to be published. The unfortunate truth of writing is that you won't know that until you finish. But you have to become a writer who finishes what you start, even if you then have to throw a whole completed project away once in a while. That is part of the process of becoming a professional writer. You must figure out how to FINISH every book you write.

So here’s the takeaway:

DON’T start a new book. FINISH the old one.

Part of the writing process is picking the right premise to begin with, which yes, we'll get into soon. But another critical part of that process is ramming your head into a concrete wall (metaphorically speaking) until you're battered and bloody

BUT - you finally figure out how to make that particular book work. Some books are just harder than others, but you must demonstrate to the Universe that you are willing to do whatever it takes to make ANY book work. It's a trust thing. Just like in any relationship—

Your books must trust you to fully commit to them.

So if you’re wrestling with the question of whether to shelve a book or keep going, I hope you’ll consider making that commitment, first.

And because I know a lot of you are rewriting, I’ll do more posting on rewriting, going forward (including talking about some exceptions to all of the above!).

If you’re a paid subscriber, you should have gotten an email invite to the private Screenwriting Tricks for Authors discussion board last week.

Let me know if you’re having any problems getting on!

—Alex

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Get the workbooks:

• Stealing Hollywood ebook, $4.99, also available as print workbook

• Writing Love ebook, $2.99

Need some help? The Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workshop is available online, as a self-paced course with all the videos, assignments, movie breakdowns and personalized feedback you need to get that book written this year, 15 minutes at time.

In three parts, and you only pay for what you use.

• If you have a first draft of a book or script already, or need more feedback, get targeted help getting you over the finish line in The Writers’ Room.

All material © Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors,