I’ve been writing full time now for over eleven years and I’ve started a lot of stories that I haven’t got around to finishing. And in some cases, I don’t think that I ever will.
Every now and again, I look at the list I’ve created and wonder how it got so long.
When inspiration strikes, I open one of them up and write a few thousand more words but then it all stops again.
There are sequels, parts to series and new stand-alone stories. In some form, they’ve been part of my life for a long time now.
I even have covers ready for some of them.
Let me explain how it all happens.
Often, I’ll finish a story and get an almost immediate idea for a sequel, or a connected tale. Although there’s always a satisfactory ending, there are some things that I’ve written that I don’t feel are ‘complete’ and need another story to give them closure.
The thing is, I don’t always get around to writing these. There are a couple of reasons for this.
1. I get distracted by a shiny new idea, which takes over, pushing everything else away.
2. Nobody shows any interest in the first story, or expresses a desire to know more,
3. I try but fail to develop enough of a follow-up story to justify the effort.
Sadly, in so many cases, reason 2 is why I’ve not written a lot of them. Sequels to novels like Survive, The Hitman and the Thief and Life and Other Dreams. More instalments of series like the Horis Strongman Steampunk and the Balcom Sci-fi ones. New ideas, based on short stories. They all have potential continuations.
If only people wanted to read them.
In the face of reader apathy, I can’t be bothered to write them. This is a shame, because I honestly don’t think the initial story is at an end.
On a personal level, I could do with finding out where it’s all going to lead.
But I have to concentrate on writing stuff that people might actually get behind and support.
So, the list grows, while the stories languish.
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