DECIDING ON AN IDEA
I have always worried that I will run out of ideas. It's never happened, not once in my writing career have I not had ideas that I can work on. But that worry, the anxiety, is still there and very much present. Now normally, when I'm drafting, my focus is so much on the stories in front of me that I don't give much time or thought to other ideas. So when it comes to the end of my drafting, I find myself scrambling and worried that nothing is going to happen. I worry this time will be the first time when I fail to find something new to write about. It's never happened, but my anxious brain is sure that this is the time it will.
Part of me knows that writers are filled with ideas. It's not always fully formed ones, but a scene, or a snippet of dialogue, or even just some characters and the thought of what you'd like to do with them. Given I usually have some kind of mystery within my works, I will find myself focusing on that, what thing can happen to them that will focus on something no one knows the answer to? It's worked for me, but I also know there can be times when I have way too many ideas or snippets, and they can't all fit in the same story, so then I have to decide what to keep, what to prune, and what to store in my back pocket for the next time.
Deciding on an idea can feel like it's easy enough. Just choose the one that you want, and done, right? Nope! As most writers will tell you, we find it hard sometimes to narrow it down. We find it hard to work out which project or idea excites us the most. While I'm more methodical in my choosing, as in if I'm working on a series, I will always write the next book in that series next, others don't do that, and that's perfectly okay and valid.
After all, a lot of the time, the idea is what keeps the words coming on the page. If you don't have anything for the next book in a series, then what do you do? How do you make the most of your time? If you're not actively writing something, doesn't that mean that you're slacking off? I don't agree. I really don't buy that you always have to writing something to be valid as a writer. I know that some readers have been shocked that when it comes to series, the next book from an author is not always going to come first. Everyone works differently, and that's okay.
But if you've got a myriad of ideas, and you want to find one that works for you, then there are three questions I find help me narrow down whether or not it becomes one of the ideas that I want to work on. Just quickly, I usually work on multiple projects at once not all authors do this, and that's not a slight on them. They work in their own way and that's okay.
Onto the questions:
#1 DOES THE IDEA MAKE ME EXCITED TO WRITE?
#2 DO I HAVE THE START IN MIND?
#3 WILL THE IDEA GROW WITHOUT HELP?
I'm not going to go into detail here, just because it would be a lot of the same information. I ask the first because if this is an idea I am itching to write, then I will find it easier to get the words on the page. The second is more because for my planning phase, I need the start, without that, I'm pretty much swimming in the dark. And the final question is basically because if I can't grow the idea in my mind without constantly playing what if this and that, then for me, the story is not ready to me written.
Like I said, everyone works differently and that's okay, but this works for me. You gotta find what works for you, and keep writing.
Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!
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