How to fix a crappy story?

If I hate what I’m writing then I get nothing done. I went through a stint where something about my plot was nagging me and I couldn’t figure out why then I realized I couldn’t get the voice of one of my characters to come to me. Once I realized the issue, I plotted my story again, like from the first plot point onward (that’s about 80% of the story).

I’ve scrapped words, sentences, even paragraphs. If it doesn’t work, nothing else you write will either. Breaks are essential to get your mind right and sometimes you have to table some projects. It’s better to enjoy what yours doing, even if you’re going to change everything than stick to something because you put a lot of work into it.

First and foremost, think about what's the message you want to get across with the story. Once that is set in stone systematically build out from it, how do the characters, their actions, arcs and relationships connect with the message you want to tell.

I mean, yeah, the general advice is to finish the draft, then take a sledgehammer and chainsaws to it for all the reconstructive surgery it needs. I'd take some time to reread over what you've done so far and try to shut off editor brain. Focus on finding what you actually like in it RIGHT NOW. If you can genuinely say there's nothing savable, stop work on it and start from scratch.

Never get rid of your file for it. You may come back to it later and appreciate some idea you had before and suddenly decide to scavenge from it. That time may come years from now on another project. Don't ever completely deep six concepts you wrote. You never know how it may help next time, if only to remind you what road to not take.

If you still wanted the story to work, I’d have different advice, but you said you’re pretty much done – so let it be done. “Don’t beat a dead horse,” is a saying for a reason. Figure out where you detailed on this project and take that knowledge with you on a new project and you’ll be much happier

I have one story I’ve been working on for over a decade. I’ll pick it up, write some really pertinent scenes, and then drop it for months or years. And it’s been interesting to see how various life experience and my knowledge and execution of writing has led to a much better story than I would have gotten if I had forced myself to write the whole thing 12 years ago.

First of all, I get it. You'll finish a chapter and finish another and then another but then after a month, you decide to read your own work and realize you could have done so much better. This is actually a good sign that you can notice this. This means that you've grown as a writer and reader.

In writing, you will never be 100% happy with your work. It is only the best version of itself in your mind and that's okay. You use what you have and work with it.

It takes multiples of drafts to create something acceptable. You write a plan, make a draft, reread it and edit, edit your edits, realize you don't like a certain part and when you finally make something satisfactory, you publish and do the cycle again. The thing that keeps us going is our own mind. Stay positive, write for yourself, do not force yourself to make anything perfect because that's impossible.

Who cares if you don't get likes or readers or subs, you had fun and that's what matters.

Now that that's out of the way, here's what you can do.

1) Take a break, your mind and heart need it. That doesn't mean you can completely forget about your story. It means to step away from your work area and while you're away, to keep yourself motivated, think about scenes you want to correct and how to go about it. Think of future scenes you want to write, think about scenes that made you happiest. And when you step back into your work area, well rested and with a healthy mind, you'll make amazing work.

2) Be ready to scrap your idea. This is scary and sad but it is what must be done. Gratefully that isn't the last step in this whole process. DO NOT DELETE YOUR PROGRESS!! Keep it as a reference for when you revise your old story. Yes you will scrap it but you won't give up on it. The biggest reason why people give up on a story is because they hadn't planned it thorough enough. Keep note of what you liked in your old story, what you hated, where it went wrong and why, how to make it better, what you would do THIS time to improve it. This will help you prepare for step two.

2) Make a solid plan this time but don't be afraid to change it or add on as you go. The more changes, the better. Changes mean you were able to recognize where to improve and that means you know how. GOOD!

For this part, ill be using my story as an example. 'Past Life Lovers'1 is basically broken into many levels.

EXPOSITION, RISING ACTION, CLIMAX, FALLING ACTION, AND RESOLUTION and their MAIN IDEAS. Then I finally move on to my broken-down chapters and notes.

I suggest you make a very broad plotline of your story. This will be easier since you have already done this process once before. The difference this time is that you'll know what you need to improve and where.

Once you've finished you're final plotline draft, note where each part will begin (exposition, rising, climax, falling, resolution.) They usually will after the main idea of the first part changes. For example,

Exposition: In the castle, there was a princess and her guard who she loved. There was also an evil wizard who wanted to marry her, he threatened to kidnap her.
Rising: While the guard had been to the battle field of another conflict, the wizard strikes and steals the princess away from the castle. The guard must save her. He travels far and wide until he is met with the front of the wizard's evil tower.
Climax: The wizard sends his dragon and monsters to stop the guard but nothing breaks his determination. The guard finally makes it to the wizard's battle field and wins.
Falling: The guard finds the princess in her jail and releases her. They return to the castle.
Resolution: With the princess safe and the guard a hero, the story ends with a happy marriage. The end.

In my web-novel, 'Past Life Lovers'1, I finally only began to plan each chapter after I did the above. My plan looked something like this:

Exposition (main idea): Characters Jayden and Kou are rivals with a bad relationship, but when Kou gets into a life-threatening accident and wakes from his coma, he changes.

Then chapter details:

Chapter 1:

Main idea: Jayden and Kou finish up their volleyball match. Kou got hurt in the process. They make plans to go to waterpark.

Purpose of Chapter: Introduce the characters to the readers. Make Kou seem unfriendly. Show that Jayden still tries to get along with the other. They make plans to go to the waterpark before school starts.

Plans:

• Jayden and Kou finish up the last match of the night.
  -Jayden wins
• Jayden notices that Kou got hurt.
  -Tries to ask if he's alright.
  -Kou refuses to be friendly
  -Kou pretends he's okay but he's not
• They go to MCD and plan with their friends to go to the waterpark.
  -Jayden manages to get Kou to go too by challenging his ego

Notes: Kou is very weak to instigation. He is very competitive and this causes him to be unable to make up with Jayden.

And boom, you're done with planning after you do this twenty or so more times until you have a finished plot line. It is just easy riding from here!

You purposefully want to be broad in this stage so you can make room to innovate more scenes in the chapter. That keeps writing fun and helps you develope the story.

Although planning can be somewhat boring for most, I enjoy it. I'm still learning how I want to plan my stories but I'm having fun while doing it. Don't think too hard in this stage.

3) After scrapping your old story and planning from the beginning again, you can finally begin writing.

FYI! Completely finish writing the exposition of your story before beginning to upload it on platforms like TAPAS. This allows you to have a head start with your publishing schedule. Also, TAPAS recommends you write filler episodes just in case you take a hiatus and can't write. This saves you time and keeps your audience interested while you take a vacation.

Writing. I'm sure you know how to. This time however, create mental notes (or physical) about what will be different this time. Whether this is plot-wise or writing-wise, know what needed to improve. This will definitely be hard but you will succeed! I believe in you!

Writing goes like this:

Have your chapter plans in front of you (I suggest knowing what the next chapter will contain just so you know how you want to transition into the next) and write accordingly. You should be able to see one main point of the chapter and then write down what comes to mind. This is what makes writing fun. You just wing it from here.

Oh, Jessie transfers schools? Okay, she packs her boxes into her family's red pick up truck and drives for three hours to their new home.

Just like that.

Although I don't know the details of what went wrong in your last story, adjust the steps to your case accordingly.

By the time you know it, you're on step four.

4) Celebrate because you did it! You managed to continue with your story by scrapping it and starting over. Starting over is upsetting but also exciting. You get to plan an amazing idea all over again and this comes with the satisfactory feeling of accomplishment. the feeling you haven't felt in a long while. Take this from someone with similar experiences, albeit, short. I've had to replan my story well over three times now and it does not resemble my first draft at all, but I am happier with it.

It is okay to start over. Keep your past chapters and plans and save them for when you feel like looking back on your old work. I guarantee you'll laugh at your mistakes, we are all still learning. Your readers won't get upset, and if some do, remember that you write for yourself and not for others. you create work you get to be proud of. Take down what you have published and within a few weeks, you'll be uploading brilliant chapters!

Do not scrap your idea, do not give up on your story. It is good and interesting! You know it! Just start over and stay positive! Have fun and take a break. Stay motivated and most of all, good luck fellow writer!!

P.S

I'm guessing you already know your story and its characters so this whole process should be quick!

Kudos,

Beppobear <3

dump it.

it's kinda like your first ex-spouse... you see a picture years later and think "What in the world was I thinking."

Dump it, move on and write something brilliant to replace it. I don't know a single author that doesn't have something like that tuck in the back of a file, floating around in a cloud storage they thought they had or maybe in paper format.

Chuck it and move on.

I feel for you. I've been feeling like I'm writing a filler for a while now, but at the same time I'm about to enter some better stuff again. I realized I need to take breaks instead of forcing myself to deadlines. This DOES NOT work for everyone. This doesn't keep consistent readers (people have actually commented asking if I'm okay [soooob]. But I feel like taking breaks and writing when I actually have the drive creates better material.
My advice would be to have most of the story written before posting it (that is probably my biggest regret with mine). In my opinion, writing the story for yourself first and actually giving it the love that it needs makes a huge difference. That makes a post-worthy story vs a forced-posting story.

step 1- read the whole story
step 2- note down all the plot holes and get rid of them.
(when a story is logically correct it gets much much better)
step 3-the dialogs ,put more effort into it what , what you can do is say each and every dialogue out loud and see if it sounds natural (you might want to be alone while doing it)
step 4- read it again and if some settings seem weird or overused change them
step 5- cut off extra stuff and stuff that does not add to the plot
final step- re-read.

This will make it much better and make it a decent read
You might feel that you have done it all but do it in this order and it really helps. And when you re-read it as a whole at the end you will see how much it has improved.

So, you want to salvage some trash.
Look through and start taking notes of everything wrong with it.
Sum up chapters in roughly a single sentence each, for safekeeping and management.
Look at your summary and your problems, and then think about what you really want. From there, you're probably going to have to do a lot of rewriting.

I feel like my suggestions are trash, but without knowing more specifics of the project at hand, this is the best I've got on hand.