Well, you definitely should finish some of them. If you don’t you’ll never have anything published. I also do think you should finish most things. In part because endings are critical to a solid story, and if you only finish the really good stories, you won’t get in the practice on making the endings stick. But what I wanted to address today is that oft-quoted writer’s wisdom that you should finish all your stories. Sometimes people even refer to Robert Heinlein’s 5 rules, rule two of which is:
You must finish what you start.
Now I don’t know whether Heinlein meant finish literally everything, but I am here to admit I give myself permission not to.
Why?
Because, in spite of my reasons in the opening to finish things, not everything’s a good idea. (and thus the photo at the top of this article – Smores flavored Ramen noodles which I found, and purchased, at a local store.) You see, in my opinion, Smores flavored ramen is one of those ideas they should have laughed about when they thought of it and then forgotten it. No one should have green-lighted that project. Let alone, come up with flavoring, and packaging, and shipped it. And worst of all. I should not have bought it.
Writing is very much like Smores flavored ramen. Some ideas should be thought of and then dropped. And if you make the mistake of writing and it’s not working, just like the cup-a-noodle people, you should realize you are making a mistake, wasting your time, putting something into the world that should not be there. So stop. And put your energy into something you really believe in.
Unless of course, Smores flavored Ramen is your thing. And in that case, you, as a writer, should not listen to doubting Thomases like me. You should write your story. You should finish it. And you should put it out there.
Because maybe someone like me will come along and buy it.
Just like I did with the Ramen Smores.
Do you finish all your work? What makes you give up on something, or what tells you to keep going? Let me know in the comments below.
Gideon P. Smith 
I totally agree. One time, I wrote a story for a submission call where the dog needed to be the hero. Finishing that story was a mistake. Why? Well, first of all, I don’t know the first thing about dogs. I’m not a dog owner, and I have no desire to become one. Second, I’m terrified of dogs. So, it was already a stretch to write that story, but I decided to give it a try, and I ended up with a terribly inauthentic story about a time-traveling service dog. Needless to say, that one got rejected.
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I actually have finished every story I’ve started. It usually takes a while, because it takes me FOREVER to work out story problems and write the thing out. However, having said that, I also admit there are an awful lot of stories that never got off the ground, mostly because they were S’mores & Ramen type of stories — ones I thought have already been done to death or ones that just didn’t excite me enough.
I spend a lot of time thinking about a story before I actually start writing it. I pitch it to myself. I mull it over and consider how much potential it might have and where it might go. I don’t always start writing it, but once I green-light it, I always finish it.
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