They’re always lurking there, just out of sight. Turn your head fast enough and you just might catch them in the act. They’re ready to pounce whenever your attention wavers for a moment.
What are they? They’re ideas that are better than what I’m currently working on. They’re ideas that will ultimately let me down in the same way the current ideas are, but the new ideas have so much promise. It’s so tempting to follow them into the wilderness and never return.
Over the weekend, I was attacked by two story ideas entirely unrelated to my NaNoWriMo novel. One of them was a flash of insight into a story I had originally considered writing for NaNo. I didn’t choose that idea at the beginning of the month because it was really just fragments of a story, gaping plot holes held together with a few bits of thread. But this weekend I had some ideas to patch those holes, and I started to wonder if I should have gone with that idea instead.
The problem I’ve always had with writing a long piece like a novel is that I need to work on it every day to keep the creative energy flowing. If I go more than a day without writing at least a paragraph or two, I lose the thread entirely. When I have to reread to remember what I was writing, I get caught up in editing and never get back to writing. After this happens a few times, I’m completely bored with the first few chapters. It seems easier to start over with a new idea, swearing that I won’t let myself get sidetracked again.
I’ve written about fighting distraction before, in Learning Patience. But it never gets any easier. The monster always uses a different tactic, a different lure to tempt me away from what I should be doing. I know I’m not alone. Many other writers on the NaNo forums have come up with fantastic ideas in the middle of the month when their novels are languishing. Some followed their new ideas with greater success. Some chose to stick with the original plan.
Last weekend I gave in to the wild ideas and had a blast writing about something different. At first I despaired of ever returning to my NaNo novel. I was afraid I’d get sucked into my new story and end up with another half-finished novel on my hands. But after I’d written down my new ideas, the headlong rush slowed. Writing the new novel wasn’t going to be any easier than working on the old.
I realized what I needed was time to reflect on my NaNo novel. No pressure to write, just time to think. I looked at my story as though it belonged to someone else, asking the questions a reader might ask. What happens next? How can the characters possibly get out of this mess? Why do I like these characters so much? As though they had been there all along, the answers popped into my head, and I ran with them straight to the computer and started typing.
I’m still only at 23,000 words, which makes me 12,000 words behind if I still plan to reach 50,000 by November 30. But now I have fresh enthusiasm for the story, and I still have hope that when my voice recognition software arrives I’ll be able to sprint to the end. Even if I don’t make 50,000 words, I think I can finish the story by November 30.
I read an interview with a writer whose name I can’t remember who said when he gets bored with what he’s writing, he opens a new file, writes some erotica for a while, then goes back to his real story. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who needs a distraction once in a while.
