It never fails.
Every time I start working on a book, I get an idea for a shiny new book. Seriously, every time. If I ever need a great idea for a book, all I have to do it start working on a book and throw myself into it. Soon afterward a great idea will follow. I think my muse is contrarary.
Speaking of The Book, it's going slowly. I am adjusting to doing things by the seat of my pants, so this means a lot of stops and starts while I work on motivation and depth, and then write the next scenes. I was floundering for a little while until I found this awesome blog: Plot to Punctuation. Mr. Black's posts are short, sweet, and packed full of great information. I especially enjoyed his posts on Why Stakes Work, Five Steps to Building a Believable Character Arc, and Making Good Choices for Your Characters.
He's also a book doctor, if you're looking for someone with experience to evaluate your work before you send it off to agents or publishing houses.
I want to highlight one post in particular: Why Smart Characters Make Dumb Mistakes . This isn't talking about avoiding making stupid decisions for your characters because the plot demands it (that's Making Good Choices for Your Characters). This is talking about HOW to make that happen in a believable context. How cool is that? Sometimes we need our characters to mess up, but it's hard to do that in a realistic fashion after you've spent your time making them appear smart.
In other business, I am hosting a blogfest on January 25th! The topic is a unique birthday. Tessa Conte is also hosting a birthday blogfest, so if you why not check that one out too?
Now it's back to the book. I hope you're all doing well with your New Year's Resolutions.
I think that it isn't always just starting a novel that triggers a story idea. It's LIVING that does - and when you are in the throes of writing, you have, basically, primed the creative pump, so just seeing anything, a news story, whatever, can trigger a chain of "what ifs" in your brain - and generate a story idea. Even other stories can trigger this cascade.
ReplyDeleteIt's an occupational hazard. ;-)
@ Linda: Ooooooooooh that's a great point! I will have to consider that. I guess I notice it more while I am writing a book.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean about sitting down to write, but the ideas keep coming for other books. I've learned to take lots of notes, but stay on track.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links.
@ Kathi: Thanks for commenting. Keeping notes is an excellent idea, and ultimately, what I did.
ReplyDelete