Tag Archives: timing

Getting started

Tomorrow we’ll continue with deep POV, looking at conveying your character’s thoughts without slowing down the action of the story.

As I finish up what I hope will be the final major edits of my latest project, I’m getting ready to start my next project. But while I have several ideas to write next, I haven’t chosen one for sure.

For my last few projects, I’ve found ideas (or have friends give them to me) that I had to write right away. It was almost like I didn’t have a choice—I had to start getting those ideas and characters down on paper before I lost them. There was an urgency driving me the whole time. I had to get those scenes down before I forgot the dialogue and the characterization and the next steps.

I haven’t had that “I have to write this now” feeling yet, so I’m still kind of floating. I’ve been working on sketching out the internal and external conflicts, developing the characters, and finally outlining the plot. I guess I’m secretly hoping that working on this will bring that feeling, but I’m also kind of afraid it’ll kill it.

How do you choose what to start next? Do you wait until you find something you just can’t wait to write, or do you keep developing an idea until you get that feeling, or do you start writing until that feeling kicks in?

Photo credit: typofi