Here's a personal question: When should you throw a story away in the trash and pretend it never happened? There's a story that I'm currently writing on where: at first, I wanted to work on a story, worldbuild, and have scenes planned in my head, only to work back on it and feel like it's going to be an unwanted offspring that I should smother while it sleeps. While I'm debating on whether to continue writing on it or ask someone to delete it, when do you, o reader, give up on a story and abandon it?
Often it is useful for me to write down a story only in keywords in the first step. I put the draft into the archive for a while. Do I still like the story when I read it again? Fine, then it is worthwhile to continue writing.
Never destroy work. Collages are a thing for a reason. I've lost track of the number of times I've poached an old idea and used the first draft as a model to start from. You can reconfigure a LOT, or save a character, but if you destroy it, it's like it never existed. Google seems to thing that what people need to know about me is a comment on a pornographic mod from a decade ago. Considering I've written over three books worth of material on the internet, it's a little insulting, but hell with it. Just means I can steal my old stuff and nobody will notice. And if they DO, it means I have a fan. Which improves my day. Either way, I win. But IMHO, NEVER destroy work. Still regret the one time I did it on here, and wish I hadn't. Only time to destroy work is to save your own life, and even then, if they want to KILL you for it, somebody cares about your writing.
I'll admit I have one whole story sitting out there that I haven't touched in a while. When I find writing time, I keep getting distracted by other folks' shiny stories and add chapters there instead. I've yet to even be tempted to delete it though. I just let it sit for now. Since it costs me nothing, I don't see the harm in letting it lie for a long while if need be. In short, I'd probably have to be really embarrassed with a story I wrote to delete it outright. If nothing else I can edit the crap out of all the chapters later
I'm still relatively new to the posting my writing, so I don't have much experience with abandoning public works. But I have so many abandoned story ideas in my private writing folders, but I don't delete them. But I would especially say so here on CHYOA where anybody could add or pick it up. I have a story I started on here and abandoned, but I still get the occasional like on it and hell even recently someone wrote a chapter for it. So just saying, even if the story isn't calling out to you anymore you never know what could inspire someone else to start writing.
You shouldn't destroy work. But there comes a time when it ceases to be fun, when you don't want to continue on anymore...and then you wrap it up or put it aside.
It has occurred to me that people are talking about published works. I should note that all of the stories that I've killed have been in development (hell).
Keep it and put it away. The muse might strike you again years from now on the same topic. That said, I have a pile that are sitting in limbo too and have been for years. I actually started a story up for dumping some of my loose chapters in that weren't going anywhere (https://chyoa.com/story/Loose-Vignettes.29886) Maybe we should start a forum thread for passing semi-finished works round for other authors to finish if they have the inspiration (not sure I'm completely serious about that).
I know For myself, I have a couple of story outlines, backed up somewhere. Years later I looked a them and couldn't barely remember that I'd written them at all. IT was like a different person had written them. But it was fun to look at. And whatever emotions I had tied to them were no longer there so I got to see them from an outsiders perspective. At least momentarily before the memories started trickling back. That's why I'd say you just leave them and maybe 10-20 years from now you'll look at them and thing - "how the hell did I ever think of this?"
Me too. Sometimes I feel like I have a personal writer whose style is perfectly fit my fetishes. The only problem is that he keep asking to use my time.
