I recently came across the 7000 or so words I wrote for my dead-end writing hobby. I don't know why I stopped, but I just did. Anyway, four months have passed now and reading it again without the pompous naivety I wrote it with, I now realise my writing is a load of rubbish. It seems weaker and less physiological (does that make sense?) than I thought it was. I feel as though I want to start again but I don't want another 500 stories with only the first line and an over-thought title.
Should I start again?
In answer to your question, Adam, in a word, yes. In three words, yes, start again. We all have!
Adam, your question came at just the right time for me - I have had a crisis of confidence this week and felt really down about myself and my writing.
I am nearly finished writing a novel which I had enjoyed doing, but then (after 70,000 words) I decided it should be written in the first person so I started changing it only to decide that I didn't want it in the first person after all. I felt like I was wasting my time and was useless but yesterday I seemed to be back on track and feel less useless and more positive again which is a relief as I thought I had all but given up on myself.
The people on here are really helpful and supposrtive and although I have only been on here about a week I have learned so much. Thank you everyone for sharing your ideas and experience and good luck Adam.
Perhaps it may be an idea to go through the 7,000 words you have and try to distill the essence of what it was you were trying to say. See if there are a few indicators within these beginnings as to character, plot, etc. Pull out the gems and then develop them. I can't believe that there can be nothing hidden within 7,000 words that you cannot use :)
Then, as Jonathan says, build on this and make a plan, so you have a path to follow when you tackle the rest. With a standard novel coming in around 60-80 thousand words you have a way to go with this, so a plan is very useful.
Good luck, and, as has been said, keep plugging away. The hard work is worth it in the end!