Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Keeping my motivation

If you read my entry yesterday you know that I have a new voice in my head.  He is pretty persistent.  And normally that would be enough for me to ditch the WIP I am currently spending all of my free time with to check this new idea out.  

In the course of full disclosure, I did spend some time the other night getting a rough draft of the story down, because, well Cutter wouldn't leave me alone.  It was weird, like he knew me.  

But then last night I went back to editing.  For a couple of reasons.  Mainly because I am still excited about the story I was originally working on.  As I sat down to write, the words literally flowed from my brain to my fingers.  I have never had a story come to me that effortlessly.  Literally every scene unfolded like I was watching a movie with the dialogue ringing loud and clear. 

So even though Cutter is still there, yammering at me to get his story told, I felt it was only right to continue on with Finn's.  He was here first.  And last night was a success.  I put my foot down with Cutter-so to speak.  I promised him he will get my undivided attention just as soon I get the bulk of this one completed.  

Does this happen to you?  Do you have one character in your head trying to get out even as you are working on sewing up the last one?  And when you do, what is your secret?  How do you make it work.  In the past for me I would move on to to the new story, but I am afraid if I do that Finn and his lady love will be relegated to files that are never worked on again and I really don't want that to happen this time.  So pass on those words of wisdom, I could use them today.  To keep me motivated.

I guess if all else fails, I could just head to the store for more chocolate.  I am not really a carrot kind of gal, unless they are the sparkly kind.

5 comments:

Candyland said...

Chocolate ALWAYS helps.

Patty Blount said...

Candy: WOO!


It depends how far on a story I've gotten when a new voice starts talking. I was working on Book 2 in a series when "Dan" from SEND started screaming at me that kids need to know how dangerous the internet is. I'd only gotten a few chapters into "Head Lines" so I did switch over to finish SEND.

I'm working on Past Perfect now it's so close to done, I won't put that aside even though I have a new voice in my head demanding the spot light.

abby mumford said...

i'm having trouble hearing any voices, so hold on tight to the ones you can!

Linda G. said...

It's tough to know what to do. On the one hand, writing the voice that's speaking the loudest makes sense. OTOH, if you keep finding yourself dropping projects in favor of the Shiny New Voice, you'll have a problem.

Let's face it -- the "new guy" is always appealing. He's fun and exciting, and he hasn't stood us up (writer's block) yet. So sometimes you just have to make yourself finish what you started, no matter how tempting the new guy is.

And, yes, chocolate is always good. :)

Anne Gallagher said...

I have to agree with Linda. Try and finish up what you have first.

However, if Cutter persists, just write down what he has to say, get it over with fast, and then get back to Finn. Otherwise you'll just keep wandering.