Most of us (writers) will depart this earth with several unfinished manuscripts. Have you ever thought of what might become of them? Will someone in your family pick them up and FINISH them? [as the estates of some famous authors have done]. Would you WANT anyone (family or otherwise) to finish writing those stories you envisioned and possibly outlined?
I think it’s very likely that I’ll have several unfinished manuscripts when I depart this earth. In fact I have several sitting on my computer right now. A couple of them are edited and ready to go, but for one reason or another I haven’t tried to get them published. My favorite unpublished work has a heroine that people will not like. I understand her and think she experiences a lot of growth as the manuscript advances, but a lot of people won’t ever like her.
Will anyone in my family pick them up and finish them? I doubt it. I only have one son who might be interested in doing so. He has written two books of his own that are very good, but he’s shy of sharing his books with the world so they’re sitting on his computer. He’s a very good writer so if he would finish them I’m sure they’d be good, but I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he’d take them in a totally different direction than I would. Once we decided on a topic and each of us agreed to write it our own way, and then we’d compare stories. We had fun for awhile, but then he lost interest.
Truthfully, I don’t guess I’d want anyone to finish my stories. They’re mine, and I know the way I want them to go. Even if the writing was good it still wouldn’t be my story anymore. Still, if my son wanted to give it a try I’d cheer him on from the great beyond and hope he enjoyed himself and had good luck with the book.
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