Completing writing projects is hard for me. It’s easy to work on an idea when it’s new and shiny, thus my blog title. When everything is new and fresh, the creative juices are flowing, and there’s no specific end goal except to get the thoughts that are rattling around in my brain down on paper before I forget them or over-analyze them.
That is the most fun for me. And the least like work. The initial ideas, what’s the story about, the scraps and bits of plot and characters that inhabit the story idea, the early worldbuilding. That’s great. Sometimes I do okay when it comes time to think it through initially, basic plotting, main characters, story arcs, and on into the rough draft.
But after that, especially when the rough draft is done or nearly done, I tend to get distracted. There’s always another idea out there, another story that wants to get told, another character who’s yelling at me to write about them, another monster or villain who wants his or her page time. Or another uncompleted idea or story that’s mad at me for not getting back to it, year after year.
And…I give in. On to the next shiny new thing (or the now shiny old thing).
The hard work of writing, all the various editing things that are necessary to make a story work well, that’s my downfall. Like making sure the characters don’t always sound the same, that they stand out, getting the grammar right (err, correct), not under describing or over-writing or using too many adverbs. Making it flow nice and making sure I didn’t just write 10 paragraph long sentences in a row.
Of course it would help if I wrote more. And sure, one of these days I’ll get there, hopefully before I retire (hopefully less than two decades from now). But keeping that focus would help as well. Buckling down and saying, no you beautiful shiny new thing, I can’t drop everything else and focus on you. You’ve got 30 minutes to an hour to tell me about yourself, enough for me to get enough information down that I don’t forget it or lose it, but after that, you have to wait in line.
It’s a long, long line at this point. I’ve had lots of shiny new things over the years. Lot and lots of ideas, running the gambit of completion from just enough information to remember them by, through synopses (I.e.the plural of synopsis) and rough drafts all the way to a completed book with the next four books in the series plotted out in chapter by chapter detail (I’m a plotter, not a pantser).
So to the next dozen shiny (or more) new things call this your warning. You get an hour or less. Then you go on the list.
…Unless your so good that I can’t help but put you to the top of the list. Don’t look at me like that, I’m trying here, I really am, but…but…it could be a really really good idea.
Boy is that true! I look forward to reading some of your Shiny New Things once they have made it to completion!