It’s a fact of writing that projects need multiple drafts. But that’s not what I’m talking about in this article. Instead, sometimes you might need to completely take apart a project, throwing out every previous draft, and starting over.

Sounds extreme?

It is. But it’s something I recently experienced.

To properly explain this, I have to give you some background on the project in question. I’ve been working on the sequel to my third book since 2017. At the time, I was ambitious that I would finish it sometime that year and put it out in 2018.

It’s 2022 and it’s still not done. Part of it is for personal reasons but honestly, I couldn’t get the story to work. As a writer, it’s incredibly frustrating when a project doesn’t just click. There’s a difference between a rough draft and the feeling I’m talking about here.

I even had some twists and turns in mind. But the story didn’t come together. For me, this project was to be the largest piece I’d written yet and I put a lot of pressure on myself. It was kickstarting my mystery series and allowed me to explore a character for a second time - something I hadn’t done to date.

There’s a lot of pressure about writing a series. For the first time, you have to consider the consequences of your actions. What you write has repercussions. And I hadn’t left my main character on the nicest note.

So there I sat with a project that wouldn’t come together. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it and I was getting frustrated. Then I watched Only Murders in the Building and Imposter Syndrome set in big time. I felt like a fraud.

But, it encouraged me to look at the mystery I was writing in a more objective way. And I found the draft I currently had to be lacking. I read this work, something I had spent hours on, and to me it fell flat.

It didn’t help that in the last year I’ve discovered a new favorite pair of mystery writers and have grown to love their work. They’d already made me feel like I had so much more room to grow into writing mysteries. To this day, they are the bar I set myself to.

Characters were flat, the plot was at times incomprehensible, and there was no ending (I have vague ideas but haven’t quite figured it out). There were very real reasons why this project had stalled out.

So I tossed it. Threw the current doc into an old draft’s folder and gave myself a completely blank page.

Characters who were on the side have become better developed (and one got tossed entirely, see last month’s article). I even created a new character entirely. She is replacing, at least for the initial stages of the story, a few characters who returned from the first installment. While they worked there (and I want to use them in later stories), making them work in this novel did nothing but bog it.

The plot even got a major overhaul. I tweaked the method of murder and solidified it into something that makes sense. I tied it thoroughly into the source material.

By going this route, I’ve technically taken a massive step back. I returned to the research phase and am using this opportunity to develop layers into my mystery. I’m taking a look at my list of suspects and figuring out how to weave them into the tapestry.

I’m seeking inspiration to better develop this story. One way I’m doing that is by reading Preston and Child’s Pendergast mysteries. If you’re looking for a master in the craft, I’d look their way.

But throwing out a draft was hard. Throwing out large chunks of this concept that I had spent years developing. I had to dismiss them and force myself to stick to my decision.

Because as writers, it’s hard to throw away projects. It’s hard to throw away something we’ve spent hours on. Writing is a piece of us, and to throw it away feels like we’re tossing a piece of our soul.

It felt like I was betraying my past self. My healthier self. The part of me that felt like I was a better writer before I got sick, and now I was dismissing all that hard work.

The truth is, as writers we are the sum of our experience. As people, we are as well. What we experience affects us in every aspect of our lives.

Because of the things I’ve gone through, I’m a better and stronger writer. Which means, in order to do myself justice, what I write today has to reflect who I am as a person and as a writer now.

Why should you ditch a story and start fresh?

1. The Plot isn’t Working

This isn’t uncommon in stories. Usually stories grow and develop over the course of a couple of drafts. But in the more extreme case like this, you may need to start from the ground and work up.

To properly explain how bad this was, I didn’t even have an ending. Nothing more than vague ideas. I had tens of thousands of words written but no way to tie them all together.

It was working so poorly that I had trouble writing it at times. When a story isn’t gelling it makes coming back to it harder and harder.

2. The Story Needs It

Unless you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to explain the sensation that happens to writers on occasion. The story takes over and sometimes you surprise yourself with what’s coming onto the page.

I’ve had it a couple of times where I’ve gotten on a roll and the story has appeared. Honestly, that’s how the Climax of my first book came about. I was writing the scene leading up to it, the idea came out of nowhere and I wrote it.

It surprised people so much they thought my editor had helped me develop it. He had no idea until I sent him the draft.

In the case of the story I recently restarted, I wasn’t having those moments of inspiration. It felt like a chore dragging the story towards the finish lines instead of me and the plot and the characters running together in a beautiful race.

3. It Feels Right

There is something to be said for a writer’s intuition. After all, there is no one closer to our stories than we are.

When it came to this project, after having my own personal mystery bar raised, I realized that the only way I could reach it was to start again.

Honestly, it’s a freeing feeling.

I’m not sure whether to call this version a new draft or Draft 2.1. Whichever way I end up going, this project is going to be stronger for it. It was hard to do, but I’m excited to show the end results of my decision.