I did this to the first book in my trilogy. To my great horror I realized it needed a complete overhaul! But I saved all my old notes and incorporated them into the new outline when it was done. Definitely don't trash them altogether.
I deleted my first comment because I understand now (by reading other comments) that you literally didn't "trash" your notes. Always keep notes, even if it doesn't fit "that" story. I would say not to hold fast to anything you are brainstorming. I've been writing most of my life. I published my first book 13 years ago and I have written 15 more since then. Some of the books were easier to write than others. And, my writing routine changed probably about halfway through my writing career. Until you hit "publish" (if you're self-publishing), you can change anything in that book. I have written over 65,000 words in a novel only to realized it was written about the wrong character or the character guided me in a different direction and I was trying to force the character's life to stick with the outline. And, as for you saying you're writing a book without experience...every writer (past, present, and future) writes their first book without experience. You're working on that experience now. :) I'm looking forward to hearing more about your process.
If you are following your intuition and you thought trashing the whole thing is good, follow that. Sometimes a fresh perspective and a new fresh start is the way to go. I am not a plotter, but a pantser - I just write the story I have on my mind, without plotting...but I totally get trashing things. Have you tried just writing the story, without plotting?
I did this to the first book in my trilogy. To my great horror I realized it needed a complete overhaul!
But I saved all my old notes and incorporated them into the new outline when it was done. Definitely don't trash them altogether.
Don't trash it. Just put on the shelf and maybe come back to it. You probably have some nuggets of gold in there.
My notes arent gone forever, just filed away 😉
I deleted my first comment because I understand now (by reading other comments) that you literally didn't "trash" your notes. Always keep notes, even if it doesn't fit "that" story. I would say not to hold fast to anything you are brainstorming. I've been writing most of my life. I published my first book 13 years ago and I have written 15 more since then. Some of the books were easier to write than others. And, my writing routine changed probably about halfway through my writing career. Until you hit "publish" (if you're self-publishing), you can change anything in that book. I have written over 65,000 words in a novel only to realized it was written about the wrong character or the character guided me in a different direction and I was trying to force the character's life to stick with the outline. And, as for you saying you're writing a book without experience...every writer (past, present, and future) writes their first book without experience. You're working on that experience now. :) I'm looking forward to hearing more about your process.
If you are following your intuition and you thought trashing the whole thing is good, follow that. Sometimes a fresh perspective and a new fresh start is the way to go. I am not a plotter, but a pantser - I just write the story I have on my mind, without plotting...but I totally get trashing things. Have you tried just writing the story, without plotting?
I've thought about it, but haven't done it