You see, I’ve never had a problem coming up with story ideas. I have notebooks and computer folders stuffed full of random thoughts and snippets of stories. My difficulty is usually in choosing just one. That’s how I normally get stuck while I’m writing, as well, because I have too many options to choose from and I second-guess which one would be the best to go with. (Unsurprisingly, I have a tendency to do this in real life as well. Though, mostly I’m indecisive about little things, not the big stuff. The huge decisions I can see with more clarity than the minutiae of our daily lives.)

 

I thought I knew what I was going to work on next—an idea for a new series that I’ve been chomping at the bit to start on—but then I stumbled across this one line of text during my research, and that single statement has become rooted in my brain. It's barely a germ of an idea, but for some reason it has found fertile soil in my imagination and now it’s threatening to overgrow the other plot. 

 

This has actually happened before, and Lady Darby happened to be the encroaching idea when I was halfway through what became my fourth manuscript that failed to sell. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time I was writing it or I certainly would’ve jumped ship immediately to the one I knew would eventually land me a publishing contract. I believed Manuscript 4 had promise, and I was not far off in my belief, for it nearly did sell. I had heard how dangerous it was to continually abandon established projects for new ideas--a nasty trick that has stopped numerous aspiring authors from every completing a manuscript--but Lady Darby wouldn’t go away. So, I made a compromise. I gave her a week of my time, and wrote what later became the first four chapters of The Anatomist’s Wife. Then I got back to work on Manuscript 4, knowing I would return to Lady Darby when I finished it. 

 

Now, upon finding myself in this quandary again, I realize the situation is quite different. First of all, I’m not in the middle of a 100,000-word manuscript. I’m only just beginning to plot and character map and write. So, I face the decision of which idea to tackle. And this is where I must fall back on my particular quirk as a writer.

 

You see, I’ve read about the writing process of many authors, and I know this is where I divulge from many of them. That’s not to say I’m unique. I’m quite certain there are other authors who consciously do the same thing, but of the accounts I’ve read, they are few. 

 

There are many authors who do detailed plot outlines and character sketches. They examine every possibility before they begin. And there are the authors who fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants, who do no planning and just write whatever comes to them. Either approach can work. There are established, well-respected authors who use both methods, so I offer no opinion on the subject except to say, whatever works is all that matters. However, those of you who know me would be shocked if I said I wasn’t a planner—Miss Organized-Analytical-Anna. And I’m not about to make your jaw drop. I do plan, and work up plot outlines and character sketches, but not until I’m about fifty to one hundered pages into the story. 

 

That’s my little quirk. I must begin writing first, to see where the story is naturally headed, to find out if the creative regions of my brain remain lit up by the plot, to feel out the personality of my characters, particularly my protagonist. If I try to do a character work-up before I meet them, it’s just too forced. I lose interest in them almost immediately, and feel stunted in my writing. The same goes for the plot. It feels pigeonholed. Now, I know some would argue that we are always in control—our characters don’t control us, we control them—and yes, I know this is true. But I also believe they are controlled in some way by our subconscious, and if we deny it the chance to offer input, we sabotage the creativity of the process all together. I need those plot outlines to keep me in line, and dropping the right hints and clues where they should be. I need the character sketches to keep them realistically motivated and psychologically authentic. But I cannot create these work-ups until I’ve gotten a pure-unadulterated taste of who they are and where they’re going. 

 

So, it appears that in this situation I’ll be writing the beginning of two novels, comparing and contrasting, and deciding which one fires on all cylinders, so to speak. It’s the only way I’ll be able to figure out which one is worth moving forward on to present the idea to my agent for her opinion and which one should be, at least temporarily, shelved. Here’s hoping there’s a clear winner. 

 

In other news… I received a fabulous endorsement quote from author Deanna Raybourn on Friday. She is one of my absolute favorite authors, so I’m thrilled she agreed to read The Anatomist’s Wife and liked it enough to endorse it. Thank you, Deanna!!

 

And I’ve finally joined Goodreads and set up my author account. So I’ve moved my book reviews there instead of posting them on the blog as I’ve been doing in the “What I’m Reading Now” segments. Come on over to Goodreads and friend me, if you’re so inclined.