How to Salvage A Gone Wrong Passion Project

Sometimes, nothing seems to work. You've read all the how-to-write posts, you planned with care, you had a perfect outline-- and then, your passion project fell flat. It just wouldn't come. Or you started it and then everything sort of died out. Suddenly, the book you're so invested in has simply... gone wrong. 

You'll find lots of posts out there telling you two different things.

1. to either push past the writer's block and force the words purely out of determination, even if the inspiration isn't there, 
2. or to abandon it and work on something else, giving up because it's being difficult and you're not in the almighty "magic flow".

Unfortunately, with a project your heart and soul is invested in, neither of those are great alternatives. You could write a book that just isn't quite right, and you know it, and it's going to hurt because this isn't the book you dreamed of. Or you try to forget about it and move on to something that is easier... and that hurts too because your passion project will never be in existence. 

I believe, though, that passion projects gone wrong CAN be saved. They should be! 

1. If this is a book that is coming from the deepest parts of your heart and feels like it's alive inside your mind, i t deserves completion, and it deserves to be everything it's meant to be.  Not some half-hearted attempt. 
2. Knowing you didn't give up on your passion project is good for you as a writer. How many times do we exchange what we love for what's easy? When you continue to work hard for what you are in love with, though, the rewards are unbelievable. 
3. Passion projects are few and far between. Sure, we might get hit with the inspiration bug often, and we might enjoy what we write, but the ones that grip us inside and demand to be told are rare gems. Why should you give up on something so valuable to us?

So we've covered three basic principles on why you should want to save your passion project. But how do we salvage it when it has gone very, very wrong?


First of all, take a step back and don't freak out. While it can be very overwhelming to realize your passion project is not working out the way you hoped, take a moment to remind yourself that this is just part of the writing game and you'll work it out just fine. You might need to set aside your project for a little bit-- I suggest at least a week. When you're right in the middle of something, every problem is magnified and it's hard to see things objectively. 


After some time, reevaluate your book. Now is the time to reread what you already have done-- whether that's a full novel, a handful of scenes, or scraps of notes, research, and outlines. Taking the time away from it before doing this step will help you look at it with fresh eyes. Ask yourself these questions:

• What is it that's not working? Is it a character, or the plot?
  • Characters often are what cause the most problems, I believe. We rarely take enough time to get to know them as we should, and then we attempt to tell a story based on what we think about the character-- and sometimes, we might be missing out on some really important facets of the character!
  • Another big difficulty in gone-wrong books is the plot. There are so many ways it could have gone awry. Perhaps you didn't have enough fleshed out and you're not including a key piece to the puzzle. Perhaps it's falling flat because there's no structure. Maybe you have too much going on that there is no breathing space, or the book tries going too many directions at once. Take a long hard look at your plot and be honest. What is it lacking?
  • Other areas that can somehow end up wrong despite our best intentions are listed for you here as well.
    • themes: are you trying to write a theme that just isn't what the book's about?
    • mood: are you portraying the best feel for this particular book?
    • research: did you not do enough and have nothing to pull from, or did you do too much and get everything bogged down in facts?
    • dialogue: are you actually writing it how your characters would speak?
    • Do I have enough information for the book, or am I lacking somewhere? Is it possible I have too *many* details planned out that it's stifling a new direction that the book needs to take? Sometimes books end up on a totally different path, and if you're trying to stick to a preplanned outline, it can end up "gone wrong". 
• What would make the book better? Sometimes the book itself isn't necessarily "wrong"-- the characters are portrayed accurately, the outline is correct, and everything else is technically right. That's when the problem may not be with what we need to take away or change with what's already there, but what we need to add. Would including another subplot help it? Would it get better with some more scenes? Would more description or world-building added in enhance the story? 

Now is the time to get feedback. Sometimes, even after reevaluation, it can be hard to pinpoint what exactly isn't working for your novel. And even if you think you know what the problem might be, getting another opinion is a good idea. Remember how I said fresh eyes to look at your project is good? That includes eyes who have the ability to look in from the outside. Especially with passion projects, it's important to have someone who isn't as attached as you give you honest feedback. But who do you get to give you some constructive thoughts?

• They need to be able to be comfortable with giving you honest opinions and critiques. This means that they need to be able to speak freely, as well as know that you will take their words without getting upset. It's a two way street in the communication area-- you need to trust that they will be real with you, but they also need to be able to trust that you are able to handle whatever it is they need to say. If they don't say what they're really thinking because they are afraid of offending you, this whole step is in vain. 
• They also need to be able to be encouraging and supportive of you and your writing. Honest feedback is important, but it's best when it comes from a person you know is cheering for you and wants you to succeed. They'll be able to give you things to think about while also encouraging you to keep going. 
• The less they know about your project, the better. If you can, try to have someone read it who hasn't heard all your ideas and inspiration. If they already know a lot about the story, they'll fill in a lot of gaps without even realizing it. If they start reading without ever hearing about the story before, however, they will be able to look at it the way a new reader would, and that will help find missing pieces a lot better. 
• They should be familiar with your genre. If you pick someone who only reads retro mystery novels, how are they going to be able to give valuable insight into a fairytale-style novel? If you're writing historical fiction, find someone who is well-read in historical fiction. Not only will they understand the genre, but they'll be able to pull from their knowledge of other books they've read, and compare notes. 

Decide whether it is time to write your book or not. The truth is, sometimes it's you that's holding the book back. Don't misunderstand me. There's NOTHING wrong with this. Sometimes, though, the topics talked about, the writing required, or the soul that the book needs is something you just can't give yet. That's ok. Give yourself time to learn and grow as a writer, and allow yourself the grace to put it in the vault for a while until you're ready to write it. There's many reasons it might not be the time to write your passion project. 

• You may not be mentally or emotionally ready to pour yourself into the book. For instance, I have a book that I adore, but it is basically an allegorical expression of a character journeying through depression and emotional trauma. It's an important subject to me, and I really want to see this book come alive. But in order to be able to write it, I need to be ready myself as a person to tackle the subjects without causing myself pain or distress. 
• You may not have enough knowledge of the topic to write the book yet. If your book is heavy in history, for instance, or uses a lot of real-life facts, the truth might be that you need to learn more in order to write it well. I have a series set in turn-of-the-century Alabama, and I love it to this day-- but I need to learn an immense amount about all the things I want to write about before I try to tackle it again. 
• You may need to allow yourself to experience more in life to complete your passion project. I wrote a novel about a Japanese American during WWII and it was dear to my heart-- but I knew it was off. Looking back, I realize now that I wasn't able to portray things correctly or really put enough of myself into the book because I was trying to write about a college-aged guy, without really thinking about what that meant. I hadn't experienced enough to be able to write convincingly. (Side Note: I'm not saying that authors have to experience everything they write about, please don't misunderstand me. What I am saying, however, is that experience and age can benefit us greatly in telling a story). 
• You may not understand the book until some time goes by. This is a combination of the book not being ready to be written and yourself not ready to write it. Some novels need to go in a direction and you just can't get it completely until time goes by, or maybe the story itself just doesn't reveal itself right away. I have two books like this. I have written 2 different full-length versions and about 3 uncompleted versions of the same novel-- a book about sisters during the Revolutionary War. None of them were right, and yet I'm in love with this book and I won't let it go. Do I know quite why it hasn't turned out right so far? I believe that time will tell. There's going to come a time when everything falls into place and it becomes crystal clear, and the book will be written. How do I know this is true? Because I've experienced it many times. My book The Needlemaker is a passion project, and it had gone a bit sour. The ending was all wrong, and for two years I tried to figure out how to fix it. The book was unforgiving, and I never could make it work. And suddenly, it fell into place. I believe it's because the ending that the book is supposed to have wouldn't have been able to be written by myself two years ago. It involves politics and character development/choices/actions that I wouldn't have had a grasp of enough to write before. 

You might be thinking, "But wait a minute, I thought you were saying that you shouldn't abandon your book?". That's exactly right. I don't think you should abandon it. Sometimes, though, you need to allow time to pass in order to be able to write the best book you can. 

As time passes, revisit your novel from time to time and go through the questions I listed above again. Let yourself mull over the story as you continue writing in other things. Don't just push it out of your mind and ignore it-- think about it. While you're at it, we offer a great workbook on how to take a productive writing break. The best part is, it's free! Just use the sign-up form below and you'll instantly have access to this and more.

​How about you? Do you have a passion project that just seemed to go all wrong? What did you do about it? 

Stay Fearless! 
Victoria