Great post! I was thinking of this recently. One of the few projects I abandoned (as opposed to finished but couldn’t get published) was a campus novel. Just this week I realised that the secondary but important student character in my WIP would benefit from some of the thought that had gone into that almost-forgotten work.
Also I reworked a chapter from an unpublished novel into a short story which was shortlisted for the Bridport.
This helpful post has got me wondering what else I can reuse! Thank you!
A friend has just given me a great example of this: 'I just finished listening to Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus. (Excellent read, btw)
There is an interview with her at the end. The protagonist is a minor character in an abandoned project, plus she recycled/repurposed other characters and themes to make this multi million selling masterpiece.'
Great post! I was thinking of this recently. One of the few projects I abandoned (as opposed to finished but couldn’t get published) was a campus novel. Just this week I realised that the secondary but important student character in my WIP would benefit from some of the thought that had gone into that almost-forgotten work.
Also I reworked a chapter from an unpublished novel into a short story which was shortlisted for the Bridport.
This helpful post has got me wondering what else I can reuse! Thank you!
This is lovely to hear - thank you, Sheena. You got shortlisted for the Bridport - I hope you submitted that one to some magazines?
It’s in another comp at the minute. But yes journals are a bit of an untapped resource for me. Maybe that’ll be next!
You're on a roll!
Thank you! I’m plugging away as usual.
A friend has just given me a great example of this: 'I just finished listening to Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus. (Excellent read, btw)
There is an interview with her at the end. The protagonist is a minor character in an abandoned project, plus she recycled/repurposed other characters and themes to make this multi million selling masterpiece.'
Brilliant! And quite timely for me… thank you!
Yes - with your new book to promote!