A writer’s dilemma: When do you abandon your book?

There was a pretty interesting discussion on a writer’s subreddit where someone was at 30,000 words into their book and ready to abandon it.

I really related to this.

I once abandoned a book at 40,000 words and then realized months later that the book really had no plot, and I hadn’t given the characters any likable personality traits. They were just going through the motions.

I moved on and became obsessed with another plot. That one was finished and published. Maybe one should go back to the basics of why they want to tell a particular story. What is compelling about the characters, and why are they even there? Give them a reason to live and then something to survive.