We Interrupt This Program . . .
First . . . on my iPod is a killer song by Arcade Fire. And I am now a redhead!! Dyed it last night myself. Also cut my own hair. Kind of dangerous, but it looks good.
Second . . . how do you know when you have Shiny New Idea Syndrome versus "maybe I should put aside the work in progress to work on this new idea because it's what editors are buying"?
True story . . . I was writing a book about a Vietnam vet and a member of the IRA intersecting lives over a woman. And then I had the idea for Spanish Disco and wrote it in four months, nailed the voice for it (I think), sold it in a couple of months (well, technically I didn't . . . my agent did), and the rest is history, blah, blah, blah. The other book? Still on my computer.
Many times, I will abandon a work in progress to try to hit the curve of a trend. Most of the times, that gamble has paid off. And most of the time, I do go back and finish those abandoned books because I am still passionate about them. And then sometimes I sell them. This book was one I abandoned and then returned to and sold.
And striking while the iron is hot is a good thing. After all, by the time you spot a trend, it's often on its way to a glut and then good luck trying to sell in the market.
But the clue that it's just this flitting from project to project versus a sheer market and business decision . . . I think . . . is in the results. As in, do you ever fully finish something or are you afraid deep down inside so it's easier to chase waves of industry trends than complete, fully, one novel and try to land an agent and a book deal.
I have had many a very new writer approach me at signings and appearances and ask whether they can "sell an idea." As in write on even LESS than a proposal. On an idea. Or can they write a chapter and "get paid" to finish. There's a reason this occurs very, very, very, very rarely to new writers. A publisher has to know you have it in you to finish. That you won't freak out in the middle of a book and realize you have no way to write yourself to the end.
So when you interrupt a current work in progress to try something new, something you feel in your heart can sell . . . ask youself . . . do I always do this? Or do you KNOW you'll finish this new thing and then maybe return.
Thoughts???
Second . . . how do you know when you have Shiny New Idea Syndrome versus "maybe I should put aside the work in progress to work on this new idea because it's what editors are buying"?
True story . . . I was writing a book about a Vietnam vet and a member of the IRA intersecting lives over a woman. And then I had the idea for Spanish Disco and wrote it in four months, nailed the voice for it (I think), sold it in a couple of months (well, technically I didn't . . . my agent did), and the rest is history, blah, blah, blah. The other book? Still on my computer.
Many times, I will abandon a work in progress to try to hit the curve of a trend. Most of the times, that gamble has paid off. And most of the time, I do go back and finish those abandoned books because I am still passionate about them. And then sometimes I sell them. This book was one I abandoned and then returned to and sold.
And striking while the iron is hot is a good thing. After all, by the time you spot a trend, it's often on its way to a glut and then good luck trying to sell in the market.
But the clue that it's just this flitting from project to project versus a sheer market and business decision . . . I think . . . is in the results. As in, do you ever fully finish something or are you afraid deep down inside so it's easier to chase waves of industry trends than complete, fully, one novel and try to land an agent and a book deal.
I have had many a very new writer approach me at signings and appearances and ask whether they can "sell an idea." As in write on even LESS than a proposal. On an idea. Or can they write a chapter and "get paid" to finish. There's a reason this occurs very, very, very, very rarely to new writers. A publisher has to know you have it in you to finish. That you won't freak out in the middle of a book and realize you have no way to write yourself to the end.
So when you interrupt a current work in progress to try something new, something you feel in your heart can sell . . . ask youself . . . do I always do this? Or do you KNOW you'll finish this new thing and then maybe return.
Thoughts???
Labels: completing novels, Shiny New Idea Syndrome
posted by Erica Orloff at 2:29 PM
11 Comments:
So not there yet, LOL. Finishing is hard for me, and I seem to only be able to get over that hump by needing the money. If it's in the budget, it gets finished. Embarrassing and pitiful, but honest. I still love my characters and my stories and writing them, though! I've been feeling so inferior and inadequate, compared to all these perseverance stories I've been hearing lately.
I can, however, name six ideas that occurred to me one year to a year and half before they hit the front tables of Borders in a big way.
But I figure NY will happen when it feels right. I've always had great luck by jumping all over something when it just felt ... perfectly right in every way, when my whole body seemed to buzz with the idea.
Are you considering a risk? (And I have a habit of cutting my own hair, too. Usually looks better than what they do, but when it grows an inch or two? Yikes!)
Hi Spy:
I have a brain that loves to present me with new, cool ideas, too. :-)
As for me and risk . . . You know, my "announcement" is a total departure. :-) But the more I am in its world, the more right it feels. My other wip in a total departure in that it's women's fiction--I've done women's fiction before . . . but this is a very evocative, very "female" book with a huge emotional core. It's a weepy, emotional, tear-jerker book that is deeper in terms of its themes than anything I've done. So we'll see.
And yeah, in a week or two, my hair will probably look like hell. :-)
E
I don't mean to laugh, but from the books I've read of yours, it's never struck me that there is a "deeper."
But it sounds like a yummy idea! I love a story that makes me cry. And this announcement thing is torture, you know.
You definitely nailed the voice in Spanish Disco. That was the first book of yours I read. And I loved it! It really stood out from the rest of the RDI books at the time.
I initially didn't get the chick lit trend, then I read Spanish Disco, and I got it, I mean I really got it!
Spanish Disco is still one of my favs. Also, The Roofer is at the top of my to be read list. ;-)
I completed three different versions of my first manuscript. After speaking to a veteran writer and learning about the "never-getting-past-the-first-manuscript syndrome", I stepped back and discovered that no matter how I reframed the story, it just lay there, like a big gloppy spit wad.
My second attempt just doesn't seem to have a voice or the depth that it needs...it's a "drifting pile of plot", and not much more.
The current idea I'm weighing is unique, has punch, has passion and would be so much FUN to write!
The voice revealed itself in the first sentence, and I have expanded the concept and begun to world build.
Now it's time to focus on finishing and on those results. ;-)
Thanks, Erica!
Having finished only the draft of one book, and started work on two others, I can attest to the difficulty of writing through to the end.
I think that when starting off, as a new writer, working on something that moves and inspires you is much more important than chasing the industry. Newer writers will really need that motivation and inspiration to write the story through to the end.
Of course not all writers are the same, new or experienced, so that might not apply to everyone. I just know that it works for me.
spy:
LOL! Thanks . . . I guess this book has themes that are more intricate and a complicated emotional story. Some of my other books were rather much like ME, in my real life, so I guess I never felt like they were deep as they felt real. If that makes sense. But this book has a main character who is NOTHING like me, and a storyline that is nothing like anything I have ever experienced, so it feels bigger and more sophisticated in some way,
E
sara:
Thanks so much. I loved that book--and it remains my agent's favorite, all these books later.
E
kathy:
The very thing you responded to in Spanish Disco left some readers irritated--"Where are the cosmos??" LOL!
E
Hi Ewoh:
I agree. It also depends on goals . . . sometimes it is important to aim for a genre, to aim for something you can sell . . . but I think that becomes secondary to being sure you can finish a book--work it through and so on.
E
Erica, the first book I read of yours was Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven? Then I read The Roofer. Your voice in both books was completely different, yet both books rocked, and I can remember thinking how awesome I thought you were.
I was writing a paranormal romance, then stopped to revise a different book that had an editor's interest. While I was revising, I got an idea for two series of books that excited me more than my wip. These books feel right for me and right for my voice, so I'm going with them. They're WF, and the paranormal might be easier to sell right now, but I'm not chasing the trend. And who knows what will be the trend in a month?
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