starryskybc

So I've written about three pages of a story that's been in my mind for over a year (the first notes I have about the story are dated March 2005). Since I really don't have anything else to work on, I started writing that story.
But now, three pages in, I'm bored. I guess I never had that excitement or enthusiasm about it from the beginning. I just wanted to write it because I love the story plot, and because it's been in my mind for so long.
So, your opinion, should I keep writing or not? Should I try to think up a different story, one that interests me more?

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Dawnstorm

I'm currently about 60.000 words into my novel. I had three false starts.

It's a fantasy novel; I had the basic plot and characters outlined for years.

The first attempt was a traditional quest-journey idea with a "party" of characters who don't really get along all that well. It didn't work like that. Writing it was boring, reading it would have been three times as boring.

The second attempt started with an execution, then remembered the trial, which re-constructed the events that led to it. That one got a bit farther, but lost steam after a few pages, as well.

The third try went back to the original concept, but told the story purely from incidental Points of View. It's something I still want to do; but it didn't work for that story (although I do have incidental point-of-view in it).

The fourth try, and the one that works for me is characterised by:

1. Unity of setting. All the scenes take place in a single city, now. (Some in the beginning don't, but they have "vectors" pointing towards the city).

2. The plot set-up follows crime investigation structures instead of a quest structure. (Different factions all have their own investigators, and so does - of course - the city itself.)

3. The political aspect is foregrounded a lot more than it was in either of former attempts.

My word-doc is called "Yetanothertry". When I created it I fully expected to quit. Yet again. But it looks, as though I'm actually finishing it now.

The point is: if you find writing it boring, perhaps you haven't found the right approach to it yet. If that's the case (and, no, I can't really tell you how to find out if it is), you're better of quitting for now and write something else. But don't give up on the idea. Something may come along later that gives you the impetus to try again. And one day it might just work.

Writing should be fun. (Generally. :: Of course, sometimes it's drudgery; you have to plough through tedious scenes to arrive at the exciting ones. If that's the case with you, you'd be better off sticking to it until the ball gets rolling. Some sections do come harder than others.)

Since I don't know you, though, I can't really help.

Mungye

Well, what was that first thought, that first picture that came to you and so stirred your heart and mind that all this time later you found yourself wanting to put it down in pen and paper?
I always think of JRR Tolkien who was marking papers for his students and on a clear piece of paper suddenly without ever knowing why wrote about a hobbit living in a hole. He had no clue what a hobbit was but he kept at it and the rest they way is history.
And his best friend C.S.Lewis who nicknamed his own self Jack at four and was called that always by Tolkien just had a picture in his mind one day of a mythical faun holding packages from the market, wearing a scarf and carrying an umbrella. That is all he had and from that came the wondrous tale he is now famour for.
Perhaps you need to sit down and do a sort of 'story board, let your imagination carry you along with a setting, plot, characters and what you hope to tell the world thru them.Story boards are so helpful, honest.
I would really try at any rate instead of just letting that wonderful germ of a story fall to the ground and die bereft of the waters of your imagination.

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Mike C

It's only words, you won't run out. Start over, and start over, and start over, until you write something that excites you. If it bores you, just think what effect it'll have on a reader.

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Mr. Blix

For what its worth: For a couple of my stories I've had these ideas that didn't really amount to anything. Then as I came up with new ideas or new characters, sometimes I realize that they would work combined with things I've already thought of. If something isn't working for you now, maybe it will work later with a fresh theme, character, or something that you'll think of later.

simon woodhouse

I had two false starts on my first novel, and it took me a while to work out what was wrong. I wasn't unhappy with what I was writing, but rather the way I was writing it. I had an idea in my head of what I thought was the sort of beginning people would like to read, the trouble was though, that wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to write.

My initial idea had the characters going about their lives in a happy, carefree sort of a way, which was meant to lead up to the dramatic trigger and the beginning of the story proper. But I felt really uncomfortable writing the happy stuff. It just seemed too false and not at all intriguing. On the third attempt, I started with the same situation, but the MC was already dealing with issues, and writing that way suited me a lot more.

Perhaps, like the problem I had, you're not writing in a way you really want to. I know it's a bit corny, but you do need to find your writing 'voice'.

starslight

From the blog of one of my favorite writers, Scott Westerfeld:

You can read some of his other writing tips here, if you'd like:
http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?cat=5