Writing Wednesdays: Why you shouldn't give up on your story

So you got that fabulous idea for a story, started writing, kept writing, and now… now what? You’re so close to that finish line, you can practically see ‘The End’ written on your screen, but you just don’t know how to get there. Or maybe you just don’t want to get there.

Don’t give up yet.

It can be really easy to lose all your motivation as you get to the end of a book you’re writing. 

Maybe you’ve got ideas for other books you’d rather work on, or maybe you’ve just lost faith in your writing and you don’t feel like it’s really worth finishing. But believe me, it’s definitely worth seeing the work to the end and finishing your story, even if you’re convinced it sucks.

I mean, half the time when I’m writing, I’m sure what I’m writing is rubbish. 

But even so, I do my best to persevere and finish the story, to see it to the end. Once you finish your story, it’ll be much easier to go back through and edit the whole thing so you’re happier with it. But as I mentioned in my post on editing your book, try to wait until after you’ve finished your book to do any big edits.

If it’s motivation (or lack thereof) that’s the issue: trust me, the feeling when you finish writing a story is incredible. It’s like you could conquer the world. It’s like listening to your favourite song for the first time in years or a warm cup of tea after you’ve just come in out of the cold. If you finish it for no other reason, finish it just so you can say that you finished it.

Even if you’re convinced the ending sucks. 

Hell, you can always rewrite.

You might like this post on editing your novel.

And when you’re not feeling too motivated, finishing a book will bring this huge sense of achievement that will, if anything, make you more motivated. You’ll be able to say to yourself, ‘Hey, I finished that book! I finished writing that story! I did it!’ and then you can say to yourself, ‘And you know what? I can do it again.’

If you’ve lost motivation because you want to start a new story, you should still finish the one you’re working on.

You might like this post on how to stay motivated.

Like I just said – it will make you more motivated to move on to the next book. But also, if you get into a habit of abandoning your stories before you finish them, you might never finish them. Don’t get into that habit. (I mean, sure, it’s okay to abandon stories every so often, but try not to do it with every one you work on. Have a little more faith in your writing, believe in your story a bit more!)

If it’s the actual ending of your book you’re struggling with – 

As in, ‘I want to write but I don’t know HOW to finish this story’ – maybe try reading other books of a similar genre. See how they end. Try wrapping everything up nicely, try an open ending, try an epilogue. Try everything, if that’s what you want to do! 

You’re free to rewrite as many times as you want, and at least having a go at the ending you want to write might help you figure out how you want it to end.


What do you struggle with most when writing? Share in the comments!