Inspiration

[marfisk]

I know, what on earth am I doing posting twice on the same day, but I just had to say something about what has happened to me.

I was feeling a little bereft and dependent on old ideas as nothing new came in to sweeten the pot. Then I caught the frame of a new romance novel, enough to give me something to pitch if Heart is accepted, but it didn't fill me with energy, probably because my hind brain isn't done tweaking.

So I've been glum and tired out. It's not that I don't have enough to do. At this point I have enough backlog to keep me busy for years if not decades. It's more that the ideas that catch hold and drag me along even kicking and screaming are so powerful, so overwhelming, that they fill me with drive and energy no matter how busy my life becomes.

I love all my books and short stories. Nothing I've written has ever been a pain overall, and nothing do I feel less than happy with what it will become when the editing is finished. That said, there are some novels that hold more power over me. Selkie was one, and its power is still strong despite my being in the middle of the second edit before even getting the first full critique.

With all that build-up, I guess you've figured me out. Yes, I've got a brand-new, fresh, overwhelming idea that's trying to steal the spotlight for Labor of Love...or NaNo if I don't finish Seeing Is Believing in time. This novel, currently called Con Shirt, is a stretch in so many directions that I feel like one of those old plastic hulk hogan dolls that you could pull the arms and legs out until the shape was distorted beyond human limits only to have it snap back into place. At least I hope it'll snap back into place, because it doesn't look like this book will agree to linger in the "Books to be" folder with the other ideas for very long.

The essence?

Can a neophyte witch track down a demon portal she opened with her own blood in time to stop the string of deaths and before a sorcerer lays claim?

It's an urban fantasy thriller or mystery, none of them genres I've written in before, though I do read quite a bit of urban fantasy as of late.

So anyway, wish me luck :).

Comments

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fun concept!

I've been letting go of a lot of my old manuscripts lately. I feel like I've grown as a writer in more ways than technique, so I'm ready to write (and submit) new things rather than constantly recycle the old ones. It's been refreshing and liberating.

[marfisk]

/me waves wildly :).

Thanks. And I better act on this one or the market for the type will have dried up by the time I crank it through the necessary edits :).

I'd be happier about letting go of my older manuscripts if I'd actually gotten them up to form. I have vague plans to refresh some olders that are strong, but they definitely fall into the category of "when I have nothing else to do" :).

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself though. I expect to be picking up your books off the store shelf soon enough...

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

Ah, I've abandoned stuff that never made it out the door or through "final" edits, too. On many of them, I think I recognize why I was never happy with them later, but at the same time, I'm in a different place now and don't think they are worth the work to make them "right."

Maybe if I ever need a backlog I can use them as idea fodder for new novel proposals (which would probably be written from scratch), but at the moment, I'm ready to move on.

Trunking several novels is a bit horrifying when I let myself think of it that way, but I think being stuck in the past has been holding me back, too. Many other writers have "learning" writing that never gets sees the light of day. Mine just happen to be novel-sized ;)

[marfisk]

Oh hugs and LOL all wrapped in one. Yep. Novel ideas. I have at least one of those and possibly as many as four. It comes from starting as a storyteller so my "learning novels" aren't crap with regards to the tale they tell, but the writing is so so so awful.

I have one I'm not happy with, and that one I tend to forget existed (the definition of abandonment) but then it calls to me at odd moments so I can't guarantee that one won't get the rewrite it deserves. As for the rest, they're all still hanging around waiting for me to get my act together. If they ever start shouting louder than the new stuff, they'll get on the plate. That said, most of the new stuff is still hanging out in the edit pile :p. Sigh.

[chipmunk-planet.livejournal.com]

Urban.

Fantasy.

Thriller!

*jumps up and down wildly*

This sounds awesome!!!!!

[marfisk]

LOL! You're assuming I can pull it off...but it looks like I don't have much of a choice :p. This novel is interfering with my other work! My outline (that I'm not working on yet) is already up to 6 scenes :p.

[nightpoet00.livejournal.com]

Ooh, now this sounds like fun! I can't wait hear the story (and the story of it's writing!) unfold. :)

[marfisk]

Thanks. As of now, it's about 1820 words of synopsis/outline type material. I need to catch up on some other goals so I can roll with it :).

[starchaser57.livejournal.com]

I have joined forward motion recently. While looking over some of the critique boards, I found the link to your live journal. I am also on live journal. My live journal is not a writing journal.

[marfisk]

Welcome :). I actually started this live journal just so I could post on people's LJs but a friend suggested I do a progress blog. I do try...generally I post when something interesting happens because most of writing is a daily slog even when you love it.