I wonder if this rings a bell with others.
I can outline all I want, but sooner or later I always reach a spot in a WIP when I realise that I have no idea what’s going to happen next. I’ll have overlooked a plot point or a character trait that brings my story to a shuddering halt while I try to work out what to do next.
Since I don’t have the kind of imagination that works to order, it can often be some time before I get going again. But something strange has happened lately – for me, at least; others may do this all the time. While I was stuck in one story and not relishing the prospect of worrying about a solution, an idea for another story popped into my head. I scribbled a few ideas down, liked them and, deciding that if I couldn’t write Story A, I might as well write Story B, got started on that.
Things went swimmingly for about a week. Then Story B dried up; my outline had been very sketchy. In the meantime though, I’d had an idea for Story A, so I decided that I couldn’t write B, I might as well...
I’ve been doing this for a while now. Progress on both is slow, but there is progress. As I said earlier, others may do this all the time. My upbringing, though, has drilled the idea of finishing one job before starting another so thoroughly into my being that this... method of unlocking ideas has never taken root.
It’ll be interesting to see where it takes me.
3 comments:
That sounds very familiar to me, Nick. I spent most of my writing life working on 2-3 books at a time. As I got stuck on one, I moved to another. Often, one would be a commissioned book and one would be 'on spec.'
It's useless trying to invent the solution to a plot problem. You have to wait for the answer to arrive -- so why not work on something else, that's bowling along easily (for the time being) until the solution arrives?
This definitely rings a bell!
Susan: I've learned the hard way that solutions arrive when they're good and ready. And never before!
Anne: Nice to know I'm not alone.
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