Dancing with my latest manuscript issue has reminded me of a cure for half-finished manuscripts I discovered not too long ago. Well, not a cure, but something to help limit the available excuses not to finish.
I don’t get ideas every single day of the week, but when I do, I’m passionate about them. Every waking thought is filled with an electrical storm of visions, dialog, and full scenes cascading through my head. If I listen to it, what ever piece I’m working on is left on the road side, incomplete, probably forever.
The problem with this method of writing is that nothing ever gets done. The storm rolls by, another one rolls in, and there I am with an endless succession of half finished manuscripts.
Of course, I’m not a miraculous fountain of ideas. For every idea storm I have, I also have at least one idea drought. I wonder if I’ll ever have a creative thought again. I don’t make any progress on the story I’m on because I don’t have ideas for it, or if I’ve finished the manuscript I have nothing new to work on. Those times are scary for an aspiring author.
The first year I started trying to get published, I realized that wasn’t going to work. Publishers want complete manuscripts after all. I can’t listen to the siren song every time it calls, and what happens if I hit a draught with a deadline coming up?
My solution came in the form of a folder on my computer. When ever I get an idea for a story, I open up a new document and fill the pages with everything that will immediately flow out of my fingers. Names, characters, dialog, scenes, anything. I keep going with everything that will come out of me in one sitting. Then I save it into the folder, and go back to my WIP. I don’t pick at it, organize it, or extend it past the easy stuff. If it won’t come out in the first literary burp, it doesn’t need to.
When I’m done with my WIP, I open the folder and look around for something interesting. With this system, my manuscripts get done and I don’t have any down time.
I also put scenes I have to ax but totally love in the idea box. After all, it might be out of character for Susie to be crying under a tree, but what about moody Angelica? Mm? I never delete anything anymore. It’s all in my idea box. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pondered a spot in a story I just can’t fill, only to find the perfect answer somewhere in this folder.
If you don’t have an idea box on your computer, I strongly suggest you make a folder now. It can save you a lot of time!
A.M. Kuska's Blog 
Aug 19, 2010 @ 13:42:24
This is an excellent tip. I’ve begun using google docs in a similar manner. Whenever I get an idea, I throw it into google docs and will hopefully circle back around to it sometime in the future. Now, what has not improved is that list of all of those unfinished unpublished things….
Aug 21, 2010 @ 13:55:51
Go back and look at the oldest one. You’ll probably have fresh enough eyes to see it for what it is. ^^
Aug 19, 2010 @ 14:59:28
Great idea. I have such a folder. I never would have completed “Becca” had I stopped after the first, second, and third brainstorm. I nearly deleted it several times. I had to leave it alone for a few weeks before its ultimate directions emerged in my mind.
Aug 19, 2010 @ 15:17:51
I too have lots of unfinished things happening, and I have folder (s) like the one you talk about here. My ‘problem’ is, I see the whole thing in my head, and it’s finished there before it’s finished on paper/screen. I used to write out of sequence, but as you say nothing gets done! Must get back to it, and write to the end of at least one of the novels waiting to be liberated from my hard-drive!
It’s nice to read you!
Aug 19, 2010 @ 19:57:55
This is a perennial problem of mine! Your suggestion is great. I use this method, but probably not to its peak efficiency. I put a lot of stuff in there, and then more anecdotal material might pop up and I quickly stick it in with the thoughts from the initial ‘storm,’ BUT I find I forget to come back and review the idea file often enough. I see from your post that the trigger for reviewing is the completion of the current project. Ahhh, seat of pants applied to chair. Completion. Yes, that’s key.
I’m so glad I found my way here from your comment today!
Aug 19, 2010 @ 20:22:45
Excellent! One of my old song writing habits is having available (especially in the car) a small digital voice recorder. When a tune or lyric comes to mind, I quickly hum it or speak it into the recorder. If on listening to it later it seems worthy of expansion, then I do. On the other hand, I have found that generally the things that I don’t remember without recording them are usually the things that weren’t worth remembering anyway! Go figure. I still feel safer recording when I can – saves me from thinking “if only…”
Aug 20, 2010 @ 01:21:02
Most writers I know of do this. I had one a long time ago, a physical file, and it’s still in my filing cabinet. Strangely, since I’ve been working on my WIP and the one before it, I haven’t had any outside ideas pop in that I was that crazy about that I wanted to save them. I guess I’ve been very, very focused.
Aug 20, 2010 @ 13:24:52
My theory is that the writer’s mind moves in waves. We have a huge inspiration push with a zillion new ideas and wonder if we’ll ever be able to finish our current WIP. Then we have an editing mode where not a single new idea pops into our head but every flaw is sure clear to see. Then we have a writing mode somewhere in between.
Aug 20, 2010 @ 20:43:06
Love that idea. It’s a habit we share…although my early notes find their way into bound notebooks. The tactile is very important to me at that stage. And the frisson of wondering where the hell you put the damned thing…ahhh, incomparable!
Aug 21, 2010 @ 03:23:07
I had to look “frisson” up. >.< I tend to use my notebooks to help pull stuck ideas from my head. Something about that extra demension just helps.
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