As many of you know, I just finished a WIP (FIERCE).
I am awaiting editor’s notes on my YA, LUCKY (to be published by Scholastic in 2011- sorry just have to mention that enough times that it sinks in!
I have made copious notes and rambling outline of new WIP (tentative title: BRINY DEEP).
Right now, the new story idea is like a soft little boneless animal, wrapped in blankets, and tucked in my lap. I peel the covers away from it every once in awhile, but I try to keep my self from looking or disturbing it.
It may get cold. It may stop growing. It’s doing things there in the dark and the warmth, away from my laser-bright gaze.
Making itself into something that will let me shape it, and pummel it, and knead it eventually into the form of a story. But first it has to be kept quiet.
And I have to leave it alone. Just let the occasional word or picture float into my mind. Most of the time I don’t even write them down, or add to the notes, because it’s about a feeling, a mood for the book that I am considering. Once I’ve inspected enough of these fleeting sensations, I will know which one best fits.
I know I want to start it with my heroine on a bus, leaving everything she knows, heading to nowhere, but beyond that I will not let myself travel.
Everything in me (the writerly bits) is yelping and surging against the leash, wanting to submerge itself. But I am exhausted from the frenetic schedule of the last six months which was FIERCE (and the six months before that which was LUCKY) and I know that if I dive in now, I will almost certainly screw it up.
So for a little while longer, I will keep myself from it, and read, and watch movies and have amazing dreams.
Do you go straight from project to project or do you pause for a while in-between?
Here’s a list of the books I am reading or will soon read:
Non-YA-
When will there be good news?/ Kate Atkinson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Stieg Larsson
Murder in the Rue Paradis/ Cara Black
The Eye of the World/ Robert Jordan
The Grand Tour/ Patricia C. Wrede
YA-
The Islands of the Blessed/ Nancy Farmer
Death at Deacon Pond/ E.M. Alexander
City of Ashes & City of Glass/ Cassandra Clare
Beautiful Creatures/ Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
The Poisons of Caux/ Susannah Appelbaum
Liar/ Justine Larbalestier
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Yes, it's usually better for the pause that refreshes.
Reading and looking around at the world is a very good way to spend the time until you sit and tell and your story.
It is. Thanks Marisa!
I HAVE to pause, and breathe, and do exactly as you’ve described – watch movies, read other books. It doesn’t mean I’m not “writing”, it just gives my mind time to get to know the characters, and their stories without the pressure of documenting it all.
Hey Kim, yeah I think of it as subconscious preparation. To others it may look like I am gazing out the window or slobbing out on the couch with rom com and snack foods, but ACTUALLY I am pondering very very deeply.
some excellent book choices, Jo. Eye of the World was fab. The first 6 in the series were amazing, but then it all got a bit political and drawn out.
Michael,
yeah I’d heard that. I’m usually not one for high fantasy but heard it was great and have meant to read it for a long time.