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27 September 2008

Shiny & New

Many writers have an inevitable attraction to new ideas, the bright and shiny ones that glitter with promise and lure writers in with their siren song. Sometimes the attraction is so strong that it diverts writers from their current work. But once the edge comes off the glitter, and the reality of work sets in, another new and shiny idea is sure to take its place. The cycle continues over and over, and the writer never finishes anything.

Happily, I don't have that problem right now; I don't have a work in progress from which to be distracted. What I do have are too many ideas racketing around in my head, all begging for my attention, making it difficult to choose just one.

I blogged earlier this week about an idea generated from a recent nightmare; that idea is still on the back burner, percolating. While interesting and compelling, I don't think I'm prepared to write that story right now - I'm not in a good enough place emotionally to deal with the feelings that working with that idea is sure to engender.

Which leads me to the other new and shiny idea that's clamoring to be written. After my divorce, I started a dark, very grim urban fantasy that was more about me getting my emotions out on paper than anything else. Needless to say, that story, while promising, never went anywhere; there's too much baggage attached to it. I told myself that the urban fantasy market was too glutted, that it had reached its high water mark, and my story wouldn't have been fresh enough to sell, anyway.

This idea makes me change my tune. I have yet to read anything like it. And it's something I won't have to agonize over to finish plotting; it came to me fully grown, like Athena from Zeus's head. Conflict (internal and external), plot arc, characters, the twist - everything. I'm hoarding all these images with superstitious fervor, for fear that writing them down will take away that gorgeous, gilded, glittery newness. The excitement this idea engenders is amazing; I want nothing more than to sit down and pour words onto a blank page.

Which is, in fact, what I'm off to do. Watch this space.

1 comments:

Nancy J. Parra said...

Sometimes what glitters is gold! I look forward to hearing more.
Nan