Having spent a computer and internet free vacation, I returned with the determination to get organized once and for all. Naturally, this included culling and filing away a gazillion documents on my OneDrive in that thing they call the Cloud. I still don’t trust it and much prefer the old-fashioned file-drawer with hard copies neatly put into hanging folders with colored coded labels – but I just don’t have the space. I live in a tiny little cottage.
Somewhere deep on my hard drive in a generic pale blue folder labeled BOTTOM DRAWER – was a partial manuscript. It was something I had written in 2017 for NaNoWriMo. For those unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. The flagship program is an annual, international creative writing event in which participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript during the month of November. I’ve done it a few times but given up after the first ten days because of the pressure. However, it appeared that in 2017, I had persevered!
To my shock, I had written 52,000 words. I do not remember writing any of it. Not a word. Is it possible to have written it in a dissociative fugue? I have re-read the partial three times and it’s not too bad at all.
Aptly titled The Diversion, I wrote it during the most miserable year of my life – my husband had left me for a much younger woman (argh! I know! What a cliché!), I’d had to sell our beloved house in Oregon alone and move into temporary accommodation and, after twenty-five years in the USA, had decided to move back ‘home’ with my two dogs – horribly traumatic for them. The icing on the cake was that I was turning sixty. It was a wretched time.
As it turned out, the change was a blessing in so many ways that I am grateful it happened. But, at the time – to quote the late Queen Elizabeth – it was my own annus horribilis.
I’ve changed so much since I wrote that story so I’m approaching it with fresh eyes. Thankfully there are plenty of resources online for this sort of thing and these tips have helped but I’m open to any suggestions from my fellow scribes.
Here are a few tips I’ve discovered online so far:
Janice Hardy’s Three Step Plan for “Returning to a Partially Finished Manuscript” suggests: 1. Read the entire manuscript again. 2. Review and Update the Outline Past Where You Stopped Writing (Pansters can skip this) 3. Revise three chapters prior to where you stopped writing. Hardy also suggests creating an “editorial map.” I always do a chapter-by-chapter summary noting the date, time, setting, bullet points about what must/is happening in that chapter, and then copying and pasting the first paragraph of the chapter and the last paragraph of the chapter. It was a tip given by a Kerry Madden a wonderful author and writing instructor at UCLA Extension. I do that exercise with all my manuscripts.
In Liz Hudson’s Writing Voices essay A Confession: Returning to a half-finished manuscript is tough, she suggests writing off-manuscript short stories and scenes, flashing out characters backstories and personalities that will never make the book. I love this idea.
But now I keep faffing about and every time I get to P.199 where I stopped writing on November 30, 2017 (I have written and published six books since then), I come to a stop. It’s like I am teetering on the edge of the blank page and I just can’t seem to take the plunge and trust the creative process.
Recently on this blog, I mentioned I wanted to rediscover the joy of writing. When I re-read this partial manuscript, the joy was right there on the page because I’d written it without any thought of what I would do with it. Now I want to finish the book I can already feel the heaviness of expectation. Will my agent like it? Can I get it published? Does it matter anyway?
I’d love your thoughts!
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The Writers in Residence 
Goodness, Hannah, I can feel your joy in finally knowing what to do with your partial manuscript. I suppose it was written as a kind of release during your bad period of life and how glorious now to have found it and are eager to finish it up. Thank you for the writing tips, all great. For the first tine in my life I am taking two writing classes, Editing and Novel Writing. The latter relies heavily on prompts – a system that I had always distained – and I am humbly enjoying the daily discipline. I’d joined to meet fellow writers after my move from West to East Coast, and find this form of writing both fun and beneficial. I have two partials, new mystery series I’d put aside a few years ago, like you, and now, thanks to the energizing prompts, I’m ready to resume their stories. How blessed we are for this blog, The Writers in Residence, to share such gems. Good luck with the Partial. Sounds like you poured your heart into it at the time.
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Oh Jill – thank you for this. After I hit “publish” I felt embarrassed. I’m such a private person but here was I airing my “not so clean laundry.” I’m intrigued by the prompts you mention. They may just be the thing to push me over page 199. And yes, I am so grateful to be part of the Writers in Residence community – it’s such a wonderful supportive group … and I am learning things all the time too! p.s. and I hope you re-ignite your partial mysteries!
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Hannah, I, too, have files of story ideas I wrote many years ago and even more recently just in case they might become the basis of a short story in two of my detective series. But this habit started even before I started writing professionally. When I was in high school, a teacher had us begin a novel. We would write for twenty minutes at the end of each class. I still had those pages. There might not have been many pages, but the opening of the story I started writing when I was 15 became the opening of my first Chance McCoy Detective story. I changed a few things since the storyline went in a different direction, but that became the foundation of the entire series. I’m glad I never threw away those ideas.
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The story ideas are the most fun to accumulate. A fellow author keeps a notebook (it’s a great exercise) and jots down odd lines he overhears, settings or situations he notices. Then … he puts them in a numbered spreadsheet – which apparently is enormous – and every so often, he picks three numbers and writes a short story. I am still in awe of short story writers. I can’t even write a tweet.
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Hannah, I’m so glad I’m not the only one to have abandoned manuscripts that won’t budge forward.
I realized that with one story in particular it was because it was about a very dark time of my life – as yours is – I have not yet been able to really delve back into that time to create a resolution. Still too painful. So it’s the, “I’ll think about that tomorrow, Scarlett,” syndrome. But you sound as if you’re ready to jump to the next step. Brava! And I have found this blog a very safe space to share probably far too much of my personal life. Sometimes we need to just vent – amongst friends! And thank for the great tips and reminders. I am encouraged. If you can do it – so can I!!!
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I know all about the Scarlett syndrome! I’m committed to this partial because I only have until October 1st to finish it. That’s when I have to start writing my series books again otherwise I won’t make my annual May deadline. I say this quite cheerfully at the moment because we’re in August. Come September I may think differently! Rosemary, I hope you are encouraged to tackle your dark-time story. Just so you know – the partial is about another grim time in my life three DECADES ago so I can look at it from afar. And all the real people who inspired that story are … well … they’re no longer alive!!
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What a moving post, Hannah–and it definitely reminded me of the many files of previously begun stories that I have on my computer. I’ve been pondering a new idea, but maybe I should return to some of the old ones and see what inspires me. And, hey, page 299. Stop stopping Hannah! I’m sure you can finish the book now, especially after writing about it here.
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I definitely think you should revisit some of those stories in your files. Um. You are right, I HAVE to finish that story now because I’ve told everyone!
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Miko here. I found your story so relatable and your tips inspiring. Rediscovering that WIP from six years ago, one that you wrote in a haze of sorrow, and finding it had merit, reinforces something I’ve long believed: sometimes it’s better to forget about “being” a writer and just write – let it pour out undisturbed, uninterrupted and uncensored. What you get may not be perfect, but it’s pure. Good luck with the revisions.
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Thank you Miko – I appreciate it. I also think I wrote it with the idea of not showing it to anyone anyway – like a journal. But now, years later – and having that feeling that time flies by so fast – I have this sense of urgency to stop putting things off and just throw it out there. We’ll see. (Brave words here!)
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Hannah, I know what you mean by the heaviness of expectation, which I feel every time I write a single word! I echo Mike’s advice: forget about “being” a writer and just write. You know in your heart that you’re a good writer, so put it out there!
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Maggie ! I just needed to hear that today. Thank you. I’m staring at p.200 and the page is totally blank. Still. THANK YOU!
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Sorry for being so late to the party, but I’m 100% behind you on rediscovering the joy of writing…sometimes its soooo hard!
However you “go” I’m a thinking the movement is what matters…
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