Losing Interest

Many times over the years, I've found myself losing interest in the current story I'd been working on. The reason for this is almost always because I've thought of an idea I'm more interested in, and transitioned to writing that one - but is abandoning a story a good thing to do, or is it really not that big of a deal?

The answer is actually completely and totally up to you. There have been times when I've stopped writing one story for another, and never went back. While I may be disappointed because it never got finished, I usually feel proud of myself for coming up with an idea that I'm much more invested in, and that was important enough to me to put my other idea on hold.

However, there are times when I DO go back to work on older stories - which is totally fine, too! There are no rules saying that you can't work on more than one idea at the same time, but I personally have found that method difficult to keep up with.

If you lose interest in your story, change it up a little bit. Think of new plots, new endings, new characters - even if you don't end up using them, it'll help get your imagination flowing! If you think of an idea you'd rather write instead, give it a try and see how it goes. Writers' minds are often overflowing with possibilities, and it may benefit you in ways you may not even realize to let them all spill out onto the paper (or the keyboard!)

Don't feel bad about "abandoning" ideas if it comes down to that, because sometimes, it just happens - and usually, it's for good reason. I believe that every idea I come up with is better than the last, and that an idea I stick with is a story I'm really, truly passionate about - in fact, I like to think that my current story, which I've been writing since December, is my best yet. That doesn't mean I've forgotten about stories from before that, but if I were still writing the same thing I began while in middle school, I don't think I would've grown nearly as much as a writer.