Another story shoulders in...

[Nik]

I'm deep in 'Long Weekend'. I've close to 65,000 words written, with a busy week to tell and a finale roughed-out (twice)...

Now I've woken with something completely different buzzing in my head. The scenario, a bunch of incidents, five of the seven main characters making intelligent if reluctant conversation, their back-grounds as clear as a CV, the lead-in, the meta-rules etc etc...

Aaaaargh !!

I've done something very hard-- I've NOT scribbled a dozen pages, taken notes or written a precis.

I'm throwing this one back to grow big and strong...

What do you do ??

 

[J-WO]

I scribble a lot of it down but try to limit it to a page, 'coralling' the various factors into zones. Perhaps even numbering them, if I'm feeling particularly OCD. I do this mainly as a psychological thing; to reassure myself that chunks of it won't fall down the memory hole never to be seen again.

The only drawback is that by writing it down, I encourage myself to come up with more.

 

[The Judge]

I would write it down, Nik. Unless you have a marvellous memory, you will lose bits and then you will kick yourself as and when you do wish to proceed. Just because you take afew hours, even a few days, to scribble the notes for this new project in no way endangers 'Long Weekend' unless you feel yourself succumbing to the temptation of writing it all - at which point leave it alone.

J

 

[fkatona]

Just do it. You know you want to

 

[reiver33]

I generally tend to go with the new idea, if it presents itself in such a clear manner. I don't consider it a distraction as I find re-reading the original piece, the one put aside, can get me back into the right 'mind set' for that particular narrative.

 

[dreamhunter]

I'm deep in 'Long Weekend'. I've close to 65,000 words written, with a busy week to tell and a finale roughed-out (twice)...

Now I've woken with something completely different buzzing in my head. The scenario, a bunch of incidents, five of the seven main characters making intelligent if reluctant conversation, their back-grounds as clear as a CV, the lead-in, the meta-rules etc etc...

Aaaaargh !!

I've done something very hard-- I've NOT scribbled a dozen pages, taken notes or written a precis.

I'm throwing this one back to grow big and strong...

What do you do ??

I would jot everything down, while this new thing is fresh and running rampant in your mind. As much of it as you can manage.

If you're a knackered wreck at the end of it, so be it. Then take a day off, even two, to recharge your spent battery.

When you go back to your old project, your new one would have served as a positive, productive distraction to the old one.

You'd be re-starting the old one fresh, especially after a day's break on top.

 

[Nik]

Well, in the end, I was stuck in a waiting room for an hour. Sometimes, I can take along a hastily printed page of Work-In-Progress, add a few lines. Sometimes, I'll tweak an old fragment in notebook.

This time, I wrote about Alys, Jenny & Sue, Pete, Henry & O, plus camp-out supervisor Mike. Archaeologist turned webmeister, roped in due Jeff's grumbling appendix, Mike did not like the weather forecast. He was not going to spend a miserable week camped on a wind-swept, sodden moor. No, he was going to set up in the cave where he helped excavate a Neolithic fireplace. There was a nice rock shelf that would take their seven bivvy tents, a nice shelf set high above any 'century' flash-flood and well clear of the cave roof's semi-detached 'Hammer Rock'...

Now I can go back to working on Thursday PM, Day #25 of protagonist Jack Lynford's 'Long Weekend'. Word count is a page shy of 65k...

 

[J-WO]

He was not going to spend a miserable week camped on a wind-swept, sodden moor. No, he was going to set up in the cave where he helped excavate a Neolithic fireplace. There was a nice rock shelf that would take their seven bivvy tents, a nice shelf set high above any 'century' flash-flood and well clear of the cave roof's semi-detached 'Hammer Rock'...

I'm certain that old adage about the best laid plans will soon have a special relevance for our Mike...