How do you deal with failed or unfinished projects?

Writing is often romanticised: portrayed as a beautiful, simple artistic form, where great ideas and poetic imagery are as free flowing as Sarim’s references to Persona 5. And a lot of the time, that can be true! But what of the times when it’s not?

Sometimes, projects don’t come with a neat little bow. Some are simply abandoned or left to the void. Mozart died before he could finish Requiem. Mark Twain took three stabs at The Mysterious Stranger before giving up entirely. Cyberpunk 2077 is six months past launch, and is yet to fully release. The pain of the incomplete is immense, and transcends genre and medium.

How, then, do creatives deal with such projects? How does one move past a work they poured so much into? Is there value in the forsaken, or is each failed venture a mere reminder of our shame?

I’m just kidding. Writers are a shameless lot.

In this episode, Rachel and Sarim attempt to find peace with the passed-up.