Should You Follow the New Shiny Book Idea?
a "Behind the Curtain" article
Didn’t want to see Behind the Curtain? Update your subscription preferences now!
I stopped writing fiction for a long long time before the seed that became A Grail for Eidothea was planted. Now all the ideas have come rushing back. I have a massive four book trilogy to finish (yeah, it was meant to be a trilogy but *shrug*) plus every time I read an instalment of
‘s Arthurian Locksley serial (first section of that is free to read, the rest is behind a paywall), I want to work on my own Arthurian novel.And then, this happened on the 15th October, 2024.
The Shiny Idea
A week later, I started writing it…
It’s definitely not a novelette.
Done “by the end of the week”?? Ahahhahahahahaha. Ahem. Case in point:
“this one is all written” refers to A River Trembles that is currently being serialised.
The Shiny New Idea Story is Obsidian & Flame, the Story That Just Won’t Quit. Twice since mid-November, I have declared that it is finished. Reader, I finally have a draft done (for real this time), but let’s pause at this point where I realise that the new shiny idea is seriously impacting the writing I’m supposed to be doing.
A Sword for Wellington hadn’t lost its shine. Admittedly, it took some juggling to bring the two storylines together.
So what to do?
Should You Ignore The Shiny Idea?
Probably not if your shiny idea is a short story and you don’t have conflicting commitments. However, you can’t indie or trad publish an unfinished novel. That said, even if it hints at something longer, maybe go play with it for a day or so to see if it has legs. We writer are dreamers after all.
If your goal is publication (and being a paid writer) and you’ve never finished a novel before and the Shiny New Idea is novel-sized … don’t follow that shiny idea too far.
I know, it could be your life’s work and it still could be. Just not for the next six months. Spend a day with it, write it down, promise you’ll come back to it, or set it free, back to the muse.
writes about this in Big Magic and I too have experienced giving a story back only to see something similar pop up in the book world a year or more later.If you are under contract to produce X amount of books in Y time, then yes, ignore the shiny idea. You can still promise that shiny idea that you’ll come back to it. Instead, ask yourself: why is the thing I’m supposed to be working on not taking up all my available brain space? Is there something not working in the story? Is there something in my life impacting my writing? You can then work out whether it’s the story or yourself that needs a bit of extra TLC.
[Editing to add that
wrote a beautiful piece about resistance to writing and learning your creative rhythms. Check it out in the footnotes!1 ]One could argue that when you’re producing a serial, then finishing it is a contract between you and your readers. I agree with this. There are two more books to come in the main Môrdreigiau Chronicles so to go off and write a whole other novel serial novel is a bit… rude.
So What Happened to My Shiny New Idea?
I wrote it, allowing it to eat my brain space like a zombie.
Because, it is (and it always is) a case of know thyself.
Hiraeth proved I could write two serials at the same time, although Hiraeth is less of a time commitment. Writing three serials simultaneously turned out to be one too many. Which is why I divided my writing time between A Sword for Wellington and Obsidian & Flame. I can keep the story moving in both. I know, because I’ve tried it with Hiraeth. I ended up giving the month of January to A Sword for Wellington (and finished it at the start of January) and switched gears to Obsidian and Flame in February.
On the 7th February, I finished a first draft, and unlike the previous two times when I declared the story finished (see Note image below), I really mean it this time. I can finally move the original ending to the “Abandoned Scenes” folder.
A couple of weeks ago, while daydreaming about O&F, Panawr, the hero, begged me to find an alternative to that ending that made me cry. He was quite touching. I argued and pointed out problems with his reasoning and he came up with ways around it, and so, the new ending was penned.
The Rewards of Following the New Shiny Idea
I chose to follow the Shiny Idea, even knowing it would upend my progress writing my main serial and I gotta be honest, I don’t regret it. I love these two characters, what I discovered about the dreigiau môr world and all the plot twists and turns. Every time I plot something out, the characters were all “yeah nah”. I’m discovering that I’m a discovery writer.
Over to you: What do you do with shiny new ideas? Do you play with them? Pocket them? Give them the boot? Does it change based on life/work commitments? If you resist, share your tips on how you successfully did that in the comments below. (Or if you’re reading via email, just drop me a reply!)
Did you know you can subscribe for free and have posts like these, plus fiction, delivered to your inbox? Thank you if you already subscribe! I appreciate you being here! Subscribe to The Môrdreigiau Chronicles:
I've had this problem in the past. Right now, my main problem is just focusing on writing since editing and writing non-fiction blog posts can mean too many interruptions.
This is a fascinating article, with so many great observations about the writing process. I would say denying the idea is there never works. You have to at least outline it, or get a brief synopsis down, or even a few scenes, or it's just going to drive you crazy. You can always set it aside for later at that point, and go back to other things, and then dip into it as other parts begin to form. Sometimes, having multiple things on the go can be very helpful. If you get jammed on a main project and need to wait for the right words to come, you have something else to explore, which is very valuable, and can often be a great way to get things flowing again... 😎