Have you ever....

[David McAfee]

Have you ever gotten an idea you liked so much you immediately put any other WIPs on hold so you could start it? Is this wise?

[Pamster]

Hmmm, trying to remember and not finding that this has happened to me David. I suppose it depends, if you feel the new project is all you want to think about, then I would at least sketch out the details of plot into a long ten page doc like a synopsis or outline at the very least and then see if you are able to go back to your current WIP. If not the obvious answer is you have to write what your heart is tryint to share with you.

If it's the new project even after sketching it out, then get it started. Write on it until you feel done and then go back to the previous project and make sure you finish it up. Leaving characters hanging for years is a bad thing, having done it myself I can honestly say I am glad to be thinking about finishing u p the novels I have (two) that aren't finished because I got into writing something else.

So it's really your call David, if it's really burning to get out get it out and see if you're able to rejoin your WIP if not then like I said, you gotta do what you gotta do basically, the bottom line is to keep writing. As long as you're doing that it's all good. :D

[sfecphory]

You must work on what demands work, but you also need to finish. I personally have done exactly what you described, and no regrets. I make sure I focus on the new project, get it done, and return to the other project after.

[johnzakour]

Have you ever gotten an idea you liked so much you immediately put any other WIPs on hold so you could start it? Is this wise?

Do you have a contract for the WIP? Can you make the contract due date if you put your WIP on hold?

If the answer to the first question is "no" or the answer to the second question is "yes", then I don't see how any harm could come jumping into the new project.

I don't feel complete unless I have ATLEAST 5 projects going at once.

[Pamster]

That's a lot of projects John! :Hail: :Jaw: :eek: :Hail:

[Jamesaritchie]

Have you ever gotten an idea you liked so much you immediately put any other WIPs on hold so you could start it? Is this wise?

No. I thinks it's a horrible thing to do. If the idea really is any good, you won't forget it. If you do forget it, it wasn't worth remembering.

Besides, I don't believe ideas mean much. No idea is any better that the way you execute it.

Switching projects because you get a new GREAT IDEA is probably the most common reason so many new writers never finish anything.

[stormie]

No. I thinks it's a horrible thing to do....
Switching projects because you get a new GREAT IDEA is probably the most common reason so many new writers never finish anything.
Maybe I wasn't the norm, but as a newbie several years ago, I did just that. Then when a project was finished, I submitted it. Got acceptances along with those rejections. I still do this. If I have a great idea (for lack of a better term) , I'll start writing it until I run out of steam, go back to another project, then back to the great idea.

[Melanie Nilles]

yup. but it was harder for me to get back to the projects that were interrupted. I had two others going at the time, but I could NOT get the new story out of my head. I had to go ahead and write it, especially since I couldn't concentrate on either of the two projects I also wanted to finish.

Melanie

[johnzakour]

Switching projects because you get a new GREAT IDEA is probably the most common reason so many new writers never finish anything.

Hmm, interesting statement to make…

Here's my equally non-provable statement: Writers not loving their current WIP is probably the most common reason why so many new writers never finish anything.

I don't see any reason (barring deadlines) why an author can't put one project on hold to work on another project that really has their interest at the moment. You write better when you are truly interested in the project.

I'm not saying James is wrong, I'm just saying I don't agree with him. I don't think there is a right or wrong here.

[Nickie]

It frequently happens to me. Most of the time I'm working on a novel, trying to complete it, but in between I get ideas for other stories.
What I do then is quickly note down the idea, and store it somewhere until I've finished with the work on hand. If I still like the idea after that time, it's guaranteed to make a great new book.


Nickie

[Maprilynne]

Oh Man, where's Orion when you need her? Orion's book (yanno, the one that sold in a really big auction a week after submission) was her third book and she got this idea to write it and the idea wouldn't leave her alone. She wanted to wait till her WIP was done and then write it, but an author friend told her that if the idea was that persisten she should drop everything and write it.

She did and, trust me, she doesn't regret it.:)

Maprilynne

[Jamesaritchie]

Hmm, interesting statement to make…

Here's my equally non-provable statement: Writers not loving their current WIP is probably the most common reason why so many new writers never finish anything.

I don't see any reason (barring deadlines) why an author can't put one project on hold to work on another project that really has their interest at the moment. You write better when you are truly interested in the project.

I'm not saying James is wrong, I'm just saying I don't agree with him. I don't think there is a right or wrong here.

No, loving your book has nothing to do with it. You either finish or you don't, and it's a choice. And I'd wager that everytime a new writer doesn't "love" a WIP, they immediately jump to another they do "love,' right up until they they fall out of love in mid-book.

[Jamesaritchie]

Oh Man, where's Orion when you need her? Orion's book (yanno, the one that sold in a really big auction a week after submission) was her third book and she got this idea to write it and the idea wouldn't leave her alone. She wanted to wait till her WIP was done and then write it, but an author friend told her that if the idea was that persisten she should drop everything and write it.

She did and, trust me, she doesn't regret it.:)

Maprilynne

Such things happen. So does hitting the lottery. But it's not the smart way to bet. Exceptions only prove the rule.

[CaroGirl]

Yes. And no. Yes, I've had a new idea while working on a project, and no, I didn't abandon the other project to write the new one. The idea didn't go away, so I began working on it the moment I had finished a beta draft of the previous one. I can certainly work on editing, revising and subbing that draft while I write a new novel.

I frequently, however, write a short story while working on a novel. Otherwise I'd never write shorts. I write those during "break time".

[Del]

Originally Posted by Jamesaritchie
Switching projects because you get a new GREAT IDEA is probably the most common reason so many new writers never finish anything.


I'm stuck in the middle of these two. I agree with both. I love to love what I'm working on but I also know if I don't stick with it I won't finish it.

The solution is to try to understand why you don't love it. Or in my current case, where you lost the love. I see it as writer error. Something went wrong and it needs fixed. I'm going back, rewriting and trying to rekindle an old flame.

Hmm, interesting statement to make…

Here's my equally non-provable statement: Writers not loving their current WIP is probably the most common reason why so many new writers never finish anything.

[PattiTheWicked]

I usually am working on two or three different projects at any given time, and because they're all different I can work on whichever one I'm in the mood for. When I get a Really Great Idea, it's just not realistic for me to start a new thing, because then I'd have nine or ten manuscripts in progress and none of them would ever get done. I tend to work one for a couple of weeks, then flip to another one -- right now I'm toggling back and forth between a paranormal romance and a YA historical. Both will be complete this year, as long as I don't add more Great Ideas to the mix.

[Del]

It frequently happens to me. Most of the time I'm working on a novel, trying to complete it, but in between I get ideas for other stories.
What I do then is quickly note down the idea, and store it somewhere until I've finished with the work on hand. If I still like the idea after that time, it's guaranteed to make a great new book.


Nickie

Me too. If I go back and it still lights me up then I know it really is a great idea...and not just a summer thing.

[Del]

Oh Man, where's Orion when you need her? Orion's book (yanno, the one that sold in a really big auction a week after submission) was her third book and she got this idea to write it and the idea wouldn't leave her alone. She wanted to wait till her WIP was done and then write it, but an author friend told her that if the idea was that persisten she should drop everything and write it.

She did and, trust me, she doesn't regret it.:)

Maprilynne

But she stuck with that one. How many ideas did she write down while working on it? :D

[johnzakour]

No, loving your book has nothing to do with it. You either finish or you don't, and it's a choice. And I'd wager that everytime a new writer doesn't "love" a WIP, they immediately jump to another they do "love,' right up until they they fall out of love in mid-book.

To me at least loving (or at least having a strong attactment to) the book has a lot to do with finishing the book.

I've finished every book I've started to write, even if on occasion I take a break from one book and write a movie or a comic or a video game or another book in between.

[PeeDee]

I generally have a lot of projects going at once. if I have an idea that I really love that much, I don't generally drop everything and write it. If it's a short story, AND it shows up with an opening, then I'll write it and see where it goes. If I have time, and as John points out, no deadlines.

That said, ideas keep. Your enthusiasm for the new idea will last, if you let the idea sit. The real enthusiasm will come when you start writing the story down. So don't be afraid of waiting.

And if you lose the story while you're waiting...oh well. It wasn't memorable, was it? And if you forgot it, you'll have forgotten it and therefore not feel too terribly bad about it.

Ideas that AREN'T short stories, I tend to just let brew in the back of my head. I was in the middle of one novel when I came up with the plot for my Rome novel, and I'm just now beginning to poke at writing it. That's six months later.

It's not as if you're just sitting around while the idea picks at you. You're writing other things which also take up your mind.

[WildScribe]

I have had an idea churning and fermenting for two or three years now. It started pounding on my skull yesterday, so I started it to get it out. I might go back to my first WIP, or I might work on both, but I will not drop the YA novel that I am working on, either.

[PeeDee]

I have a short story that I wrote a lousy draft of eight or so years ago. One day, I'll re-write it. or I might not. It might just stay in my head, and I'll think of it every few years.

Ideas either stick around, or don't. If you're giddy about it, work on it. If it goes somewhere, great. Just remember that if you don't work on it, it doesn't mean you'll lose it.

[David McAfee]

Well, I don't have any contracts or deadlines, and I have not sold my first novel (though it is complete). I was working on novels 2 and 3 when this idea hit me, and it ties nicely into Novel 2 but is a separate, preceeding story. I think I am going to tinker with it alongside the other two, if for no other reason than It won't stop eating at my brain unless I put something down on it.

[alaskamatt17]

I've had a story I started writing and then put on the back burner but never really stopped thinking about. It intrudes plenty on all my other stories, but I know it isn't publishable. Does that count?

[AndreaGS]

I notice that it takes me a lot of time to develop an idea into something story-worthy. I have an idea fermenting in my head for my next book/series of books, and I'll jot things down once in a while, or write out a scene, but I get distracted so easily that I find it best, once I find focus, to keep on going until I'm done!

I personally can't jump from project to project without losing concentration.

[IrishScribbler]

I don't write simultaneously, but I do work on more than one project at a time. For example, while I was writing my WIP first (skeleton) draft, I started doing research for my next project. Now that I'm rereading/editing my WIP, I'm starting to sketch out scenes for my next project so I have an idea where I'm going with it.