Forum:Portfolio of Partial Works Syndrome

If no one has coined this term, I do now:

Portfolio of Partial Works Syndrome (n.) A syndrome where a writer is too half-hearted to finish works and is more interested with starting other works, resulting in a collection of plenty of partially complete works that are often dropped indefinitely and rarely completed.

Example: Me. Look at my portfolio -- I have so many ideas for stories, and come up with them so quickly, that I lose interest in many of my stories before they reach the halfway mark. Notable exceptions include Harbinger (2/3 done), a few works I didn't submit online, my poems, and a variety of short works.

Example: Most people on this site, sadly.

It's probably not all that bad, though. It allows you to explore a variety of story frameworks and styles, especially early in your (informal) writing career, and allows you to experiment with many different storylines and spot the recurring cliches, themes, etc. Additionally, because most works have the beginning complete, you get a disproportionately large amount of practice with characterization and introduction of concepts, settings, and of course characters. As for the latter half of the story, you keep all the ideas and are able to recycle them in other stories, allowing you a fresh start (since you haven't written that scene yet).

Nevertheless, since most writers are fixated on the goal of eventually finishing a work, though, we need to come up with ideas to motivate ourselves to finishing.

And now, I open up this forum to discussion: Why did you quit a work? Did your new story turn out to be more interesting and worth your time? Any comments or stories you want to share, etc. :

01:04, 28 March 2008 (UTC)