About a year ago, I sat down to write Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love. Even just that short time ago, I was a complete and total pantser. I had a vague idea in my head, the injury and Ben flying across the country, and I just started writing it willy nilly and hoping it all came out in the end. Fortunately it did, I finished by the deadline and was able to submit it and it was accepted.
But what a difference a year makes.
Now I’m a combination writer, have been all year long, and it’s made such a huge difference for me. If it was a year ago, I would have started writing this new story, gotten a good four or five thousand words in, and had to scrap it because it just didn’t work. Now though, even though I have begun plotting, I could see that it wasn’t going to work. It nice stuff, good stuff even, but the structure is not going to work, and it would turn into something….not good. So! Now I know I’m not going to do it that way, and I’ve tucked those notes out of the way, and made a few keyword entries on the chalkboard to work them in if I can. Right now, they’re backstory, which is not a bad thing at all, so these scenes may never see the light of day. That’s okay too.
At least I know my characters.
At any rate, it’s back to the starting over point. My boys are vivid and real, and together we’ll sort out their story as it’s meant to be told. Eventually. And at least I know what doesn’t work. That’s how I’ll find what does.
Kris T. Bethke--Author of M/M Romance 
You know I think not every story needs to be written. I started out with a story I began to post on the fan fic site that just wasn’t working FOR ME. I got decent comments and kudos but for me it fell flat so I got rid of it. I used some elements of that story for The Hardest Part, because I still had the idea for that in my head. Similarly I’ve started a story where Jim is the professor and Spock the student but so far it hasn’t really captured my attention enough to work on it. It happens.
The right story for you to work on will comealong
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I will take heart in this, because you’re the perfect example.
I have also taken parts from a story that didn’t work and then used them in one that did.
(I love that Professor Jim one, though, I liked it’s beginning. I hope it inspires you again some day)
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Harding out ideas and knowing what you don’t want is still progress, lady! And I bet some ideas that get pushed to the wayside can be used elsewhere sometimes.
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