New Ideas Interrupting Current Work

The writing process, writing advice, and updates on your work in progress
User avatar
knight_tour
Posts: 161
Joined: December 7th, 2009, 2:30 pm
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
Contact:

Re: New Ideas Interrupting Current Work

Post by knight_tour » April 17th, 2010, 2:48 am

I am like you in that if I don't finish what I am working on before starting the next piece, I will never get back to it. That is why I haven't started writing my second book, even though the story is insistently writing itself in my mind. I keep editing my first novel, yet the second one won't leave me be. I feel like I could sit down and bang out the complete second novel almost without needing to think about it now that the plot points have continuously forced themselves on me as I try to complete my first.

lexcade
Posts: 107
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 12:57 am
Location: northern ky/cincinnati
Contact:

Re: New Ideas Interrupting Current Work

Post by lexcade » April 17th, 2010, 2:51 am

happens to me a lot too. i generally will try to write down either in notebook form or in word processor what the idea/scene is and if it seems like a viable thing, i'll tuck it away safely in its own folder. that way, if i have flashes of idea, i can just include them in that folder and have everything together. my next WIP was built that way, stone by stone.

sometimes i'll go back and forth between what i'm editing and an idea to give it a little life, but mostly my attention stays with what i'm editing. priorities or something
"Art imitates nature as well as it can, as a pupil follows his master; thus it is sort of a grandchild of God." ~~Dante

User avatar
ganstream1
Posts: 31
Joined: March 15th, 2010, 8:20 am
Location: Malaysia
Contact:

Re: New Ideas Interrupting Current Work

Post by ganstream1 » April 17th, 2010, 8:07 am

I wrote new ideas down to the last details that my mind could churn out at that time on a piece of paper, stored it inside a file and forget about it till whatever I'm currently writing finished.
Read my blog novel at: Aku-Stories

Elizabeth Poole
Posts: 21
Joined: February 6th, 2010, 10:46 am
Contact:

Re: New Ideas Interrupting Current Work

Post by Elizabeth Poole » April 17th, 2010, 9:33 am

This happens to me all the time, and I do a combination of what everyone says. I jot the idea down in it’s own separate document, what I think it’s about, where it might go, who might be the characters. This makes it real enough to occupy space in my brain without totally distracting me. Then I get back to work on my WIP.

The neat thing I discovered about having several half-formed ideas in my head it sometimes they mate, and combine to form one AWESOME idea. This never happens what those little fragments of stuff floating in my head, only the ones that I have fleshed out at least a little bit.

I used to worry about losing that initial shiny idea feeling, but then I started writing down what was sooo exciting about it in the first place, even if it was something as simples as “I REALLY love the monkeys in this idea” I can get back to that same level of excitement after I am done with other projects. If anything, the excitement grows from waiting, because the idea feels more real.

Maybe you can experiment with several different things me and the other posts have suggested to find the best course of action.

Good luck!
Proud owner of a Plot Wolverine

http://writerelizabethpoole.blogspot.com/

Sarafiliz
Posts: 2
Joined: April 19th, 2010, 11:48 am
Contact:

Re: New Ideas Interrupting Current Work

Post by Sarafiliz » April 19th, 2010, 12:01 pm

I've accepted this as part of my normal process. I usually think about a given writing project for at least two years before starting to write it, accumulating notes on the backs of receipts, on scrap paper while I'm cooking or 15 minutes after I go to bed. I have a standing file on my desk that acts as my back burner. It has a lot of folders in it, labeled 'black coat story' or 'road trip novel' or 'short story scraps and ideas.' I throw my notes in those and go back to work on my current project. Sometimes I'll write a few pages for one of them, and then I create a computer file for those. Eventually these files either get to the point where I, having finished my current big project (or at least, it's out for review, or in the drawer to ferment), sort them out and decide if they're my next project, or decide this one's not going to work out, and chuck it in the recycling bin.

In any case, I'm seriously working on one large project at a time, and only deviate for occasional short stories, poems, and marketing. And online scrabble.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 21 guests