By Dame Kaz
I was thinking about this a lot last night – and it’s something that comes up at regular intervals in the writing life… When you’re ready to start the next project; when you’re finally at a place where your ‘desk’ is relatively clear and you’re able to give your attention to one of those Shiny!New! ideas; how do you decide which one to go with? How do you choose?
Or maybe it chooses you.
As a writer without external deadlines, there is a sense of freedom and possibility – we can take a crazy idea and run with it. There’s nothing to stop us doing something unusual or out of our comfort zone. We could change genres, collaborate on something, or write the book we’ve always wanted to write but didn’t think we could. Prior to getting that first book contract, this is the one time you get the chance to write anything and everything you want to try. Once you sell your first book(s), you’ll then have multiple deadlines to stick to. At least, that’s the hope! 
I’m in that in-between place right now, and I’ve been trying to think of the sensible thing to do – what should I write that will be right for my future career as a writer? Another YA urban fantasy? The sequel to one of my books with my agent or out on submission? But the thing I really want to write is the adult urban fantasy that’s been nibbling at me for the last two years. The one I mentioned in my post last time that got half-written and then discarded. There’s something about the world and those characters that’s calling to me. Even though I’ve been concentrating on YA fantasy lately, I still want to find out what’s going to happen to these people. The world is something different to anything I’ve tried before, so why not take the opportunity to explore it while I can?
There are so many ideas floating around in my head right now – every time I read something that sparks my interest, or reminds me of that other cool premise I was toying with; every time a snatch of random dialogue hits me and seems to open up a whole world of possibilities… I worry that I won’t ever get the chance to grab all of those ideas and capture them on the page. I also don’t want to get too ‘stuck’ writing one kind of thing. I’d love to be able to write YA and adult stuff; to explore all aspects of the fantastic, including (one day) science fiction and even writing comic books.
But for now I’m going to focus on this new/old idea. The adult urban fantasy that seems to want to be told. I’m going to set myself goals and try to stick to them, and will keep myself ‘honest’ by posting about my progress on my blog. I might need to rewrite some of those 40,000 words I already have written, but even with that in mind I should be able to finish the first draft by the end of May. (Um… maybe. *g*)
How do you decide on your next project? And if you know what it’s going to be, is it something that you’ve had simmering for a year or more? Or is it something fresh and new that you’re only just beginning to get figured out? If you’re hoping to have a first draft complete in the next few months, what are your goals? Let’s share them here and keep ourselves on track!
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Tags: Karen Mahoney, writing
They definitely choose me.
I’m writing a book right now for which I don’t even have a verbal commitment, just because it refused to NOT be written. Hopefully, Dame Agent will get me a contract before it’s finished, but I’m finishing it either way.
I got this particular idea while driving in my car. I don’t remember what triggered it, but I was so excited that I called Dame Agent on my cell RIGHT THEN. She agreed it was a “drop everything” idea.
I cancelled an appointment so I could sit down and write the premise. I couldn’t even wait to get home–I stopped at a nearby store and bought a notebook and a package of post-it notes and sat at a bar and sketched out the character and each of their inciting incidents through to realizations (Thank you, Discovering Story Magic). The bartender thought I was some sort of lunatic, because I was too engrossed to drink.
BTW, that’s http://www.discoveringstorymagic.com/
My current WIP grabbed me in the middle of working on something else. And it was very odd in that the premise (dare I even say *message*) came before much of anything else. Kind of smacked me in the forehead. I started writing and discovered a really cool little world that I didn’t even know was in there. Funny how that happens.
My current WIP has been nagging at me for the last two years. At first it just started as an idea in the back of my mind and now its progressed so far that everytime I open word for college work its hard to concentrate. Though I’ve now set time for it, which makes life a little easier.
I’m at that in between stage now and it’s excruciating deciding what to do next. I just finished a project I intended to be stand alone, a first for someone who loves writing series. And finally when I started congratulating myself for accomplishing a single complete story, the idea for the sequel started standing up and demanding I pay attention. Sigh. Well, I guess I know what I’ll be doing after all.
I’m in the same place you are. I have a book out on submission, and i’m not sure whether I should be working on the sequel to that or an unrelated new project. I can’t decide which.
I love both of the projects, but the indecision is keeping me from writing at my normal pace. *sigh*
I’m in a weird place w/ my writing at the moment. I finished my thesis, started on the sequel, got frustrated, went to a project that had been pricking at the edges for about a year, finished that one, started on that one’s sequel, went back to the other sequel I was working on, and am now back to revising my thesis for querying. So… I’m a bit tied up in 2 series right now, and neither has any hard deadline.
I also have a couple other ideas that blow in and out of my mind on a fairly regular basis. But I think they need more simmering. The non-thesis-related series I’m working on simmered for at least a year before I really figured out where I wanted to go.
My goals right now are just to revise and query. If I start making too many more it becomes overwhelming & I freak.
Ooh, you want to try science fiction too? Horray!
I’m not quite sure why I decided to write my current WIP instead of finishing the SFR I’m halfway through with. Maybe it was the characters. I couldn’t get this one scene out of my head. Funny thing, though, that scene had been hanging around for about six months, but it had been disguised as another sci-fi novel. I took it, converted it to an urban fantasy setting, and tada! I started pounding away on my WIP.
I have very vivid dreams and a lot of times a scene or image sticks with me through getting up, taking a shower, having breakfast and going to work (that 3 minute drive is a real killer, you know). Even if it doesn’t fit into my current WIP, I try to write it down with as much detail as possible just so I don’t lose it. If it’s something I can fit into my WIP, it’s very exciting, but if not, well, at least it’s there when I need it. At the moment I’m actually working on 3 novels, two urban fantasy and one straight romance. I don’t know which of them will get finished first or even if they’ll all make it to the end, but they all have something of my subconscious in them. One of them is even using research I did for a different novel that never took off, so that’s even better! You never know when or where the story idea is going to hit and I hate to turn down my muse whenever she deigns to offer inspiration. That might change a bit when I eventually get published (fingers crossed), but until then, I just keep playing tag with whatever wanders into my mind.
My current WIP came about from a character study I was working on for another WIP. The story between the two characters was just too interesting to not get a full fledged treatment from me. It’s in the “bleed all over the page” (my edits) at the moment but I enjoyed writing it. Now…to get back on track with what I’m supposed to be working with.
I’m not a very prolific “idea” girl, so when I have one, either it hounds me until I write something on it or I turn it around and around and around in my head until I can’t help but write it.
I’ve just recently moved on to the sequel for my first novel while simultaneously polishing the first one and a vamp novelette for submission. So I’ve definitely got my hands full, but the idea was picking at me and just had to start it. I feel like the idea chose me, but I needed to put the bits and pieces together in a cohesive story first. So I’m off and running with the story plotted out and the first three chapters written.
I’m hoping (a high goal) to have it written by the end of May.
I’m in the midst of juggerling a WIP 1st draft.
I’m starting to think my Muse is on a Hypo Caffeine phase, at the moment.
I have ideas written down currently for @ least another series of stories. Plus at least two other stand alone books. I really need to get my head down and start getting these down…I’m starting to worry my muse may run out of coffee and I’ll be stuck running these solo.
*sigh*