Monday, December 13, 2010

Writing: Super-Snazzy New Idea


From the results of my oh-so-scientific poll over there on the side, it looks like most of you would be cool with a few writing-related posts here on Ten Cent Notes. So I'm making Mondays my talk-about-writing day, though I might not post on it every week as I really don't want this to turn into a writing blog.

The idea came out of nothing. That's how it happens; I'll be driving (as i was with this one) or eating or talking to someone and then --  boom! Idea. Right there. I keep a list of the ideas in a sticky note on my computer and they range from a thought-out premise to just a few words that shouldn't make any sense at all. Usually I can put the idea up for later. I made it a habit to finish the drafts I start a long time ago, so there's not a lot of leeway to hop around from project to project. Plus, it might sound crazy, but it actually takes a really long time for an idea to sit in my brain long enough to actually be ready to write. Sometimes this is only a week or so and sometimes - usually - it's much longer. Months. Years. 

So I made a little note to myself about this idea and went tralalala over to work on my current WIP (work-in-progress), Apollo.

Except that this idea will not go away. The main character refuses to shut up, the first line is just sitting there and it is so good. I can't stop thinking about it. I've gone looking for visual inspiration on we heart it, I've heard songs playing and thought that completely fits this story! Except, it's not a story. It's only an idea and the logical, rational side of my brain knows this. It is a premise, a first line, an imaginary protagonist that I want to be best friends with. (And yes, I fully realize that all protags are imaginary. But I mean even more imaginary. Like, she doesn't even have a name yet.)

I want to work on Apollo, I really do. But this idea has just swooped in like SUPERMAN TO THE RESCUE!! and will not leave me be. I don't know how to get rid of it. I like it so much I'm starting to hate it for distracting me. And I can't get rid of it which means I don't know what to do. I have to finish this draft of Apollo before I work on anything else. So I'm thinking of making the new idea (which really needs a working title) my new side project. Although making it a side project means that it won't be given the forethought and (most likely) editing that my main projects get. So I have a DECISION TO MAKE.

Anyway. If anyone knows a good way to kill an idea or at better yet, cryogenically freeze it for the future, let me know. Also, fellow writers -- what do you do when hit with a shockingly good idea that just won't leave? Do you abandon your current project? Save it? Write both at the same time? Go insane?

3 comments:

  1. Pretty much go insane.
    No, I'm joking. Just write the idea down, and if it keeps coming, knocking on the side of my head, "Hey, write more about me," then I sit down and write it. Maybe a short story that later turns into a longer thing. But I never stop writing what I was writing and start with this new idea.
    It just has to wait.

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  2. That's what happened to me the other day, when I was at work. I would just keep a file open and write down everything you think about the new idea, but keep working on the old one too.

    Apollo? What's that?!

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  3. Ella Press
    I already sent you an email about my WRITING WOES with Apollo, but GAHHH I am totally going insane.

    Bri Meets Books
    Apollo: a slowly-dying story that I may or may not finish. It's up in the air right now, and not because of the snazzy new idea.

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