I'm needing some writerly opinions, so naturally I'm coming to my blog buddies for help.
We'll call this the question of the week.
Hypothetically...
You finish a wip then send it out into the world for a little beta lovin'. While you're sitting around returning the beta favor or reading books, maybe actually even experiencing life again, your writer juices creep up.
Oh you know what I'm talking about. They're the juices with side effects like bodyquakes, a constant glazed expression as you plan a 300 page book in your head and a perma-smile.
All because of your shiny NEW ideas!
You may have been trying to put a lid on them while you were finishing your last project, but they're plowing you down with reckless abandon right now.
My question then is this:
Do you take one of these new, fresh ideas and mold it into something right away, or do you put it on the back burner and continue working on what could be book number two for your recently finished piece?
I hear some say, let your creative juices flow. You never know if your current wip is even going to catch an agent's eye.
Others say, no, do book two because an agent is going to want to see what you have planned after book one.
I'm a query newbie so I I have no idea which is the best route....if there really is one. So please sound off.
Which would you choose. Write the new book or continue the series?
And for those of you who say both, well, I bow down to you:)
Have a great weekend peoples!
Write the new book. It'll haunt you otherwise. I've tried to force myself to "ignore" a shiny new idea and it never works. BTW, I like your new blogger picture:)
ReplyDeleteI vote for shiny new idea, because...well, for me: Let's say book one never gets picked up. I'd put months of work into book two, and wouldn't even be able to query it when I finished. BUT- I do have a document of notes for book two that I open regularly and add to. It lets me satisfy my book two urge without getting lost in it.
ReplyDeleteI always go for whatever I am most passionate about at the time...at that passion could change in the middle of what I'm working on. (Which it has)
ReplyDeleteYou could write the second in the series but if that's not what's really calling you, then don't. If the first book sells to an agent just have an idea of what the next ones will be.
That's my opinion anyway. And congrats on finishing a MS! Big accomplishment :)
Whenever I have a new idea, I write it down, and then give it enough time (about an hour or so) to get a rough outline down.
ReplyDeleteThen I leave it and it's ready for whenever I am.
Congrats on finishing your MS :D
Get the book out of you, even if it's just in outline form. The series will be there when you want to go back to it. : )
ReplyDeleteDefinitely write the new book. But also write a blurb/query/synopsis whatever for the second book in the series. THEN move onto the new book :)
ReplyDeleteAuthor Brandon Sanderson had the BEST advice about shiny new ideas--Get them out in short story form and then see where they go.
ReplyDeleteWrite a new book.
ReplyDeleteYou can always propose a series (book 2 & 3) if the first one sells.
I plot and storyboard and character analyze and time frame chart the new story idea and do everything I can to keep the creative juices flowing without the commitment of a new story. At least JUST yet. The time will come soon enough and with enough stewing it will be better than if I had just started in right away.
ReplyDeleteI would go for the new idea. You don't have to finish it now, but you need to start getting it down on paper while the juices are flowing. Even if you have to stop in order to work on the sequel, at least when that's finished you have the core of your ideas down on paper.
ReplyDeleteAt least write down the idea of the idea. Then, if it is ready to be written, if the characters are bugging you, continue. If they just wanted to make sure they weren't forgotten, move on to where the characters NEED to have their story told now.
ReplyDeleteWrite the new one! I'm all about writing what you love, and you can plan out book 2 later. Good luck!
ReplyDeletetough question... but if im writing something, and i get a great idea for the next one, i keep writing what im writing... for me, the idea always seems great in my head, but when u get down to work on it, it's not always as great as you thought! lol
ReplyDeleteI second what Tasha says. At the very least write down notes or an outline, get the idea, the plot, & the characters in order. Once that's done, you can decide if you're ready to move forward with it or go back to revising the first book after your betas & CPs are done. But you don't want to lose that idea. So flesh it out a little now. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI can't speak from the book writing perspective since I have only recently finished just the one. However, as a musician and lyricist this has happened to me many times. I always put down my new thoughts, be it on paper or recording them, that way I could always return to them and not lose momentum from my original thoughts when they sprang up.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a weird thing to say, but I'd do both. I'd run with book two in the morning, and then the new ideas in the aftrenoon.
ReplyDeleteI find that two ideas can feed off the other, so there's no harm done.
This is so hard, and I'm not there yet, so I can't be sure. I think it might be fun to write a few chapters of something different. Just to use those creative juices and let them flow to new boundaries. However, I do think it would be smart to work on book two as well. Because... lets face it - if you do get an agent knocking you want to be prepared! Agh! It's so hard to decided. Can I do both?
ReplyDeleteNew idea. Write it until you get it out of your system. If your current querying WIP doesn't have any legs, this new one may be the one that hooks 'em.
ReplyDeleteAnd most agents won't be all that interested in your second series book. They have to sell the first one - which will have at least a year out pub date (if it sells), giving you plenty of time to work on book 2.
Great question, and interesting responses. I'd say to dump all of your ideas at least in bullet points for both books so you don't lose them and then see which gels faster into a fleshed out story. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI would write the idea! But what I do first is the outline, and then I think a lot about the characters and their personalities, and THEN, when I have the arcs of the story, the climax, etc, I start to write. :)
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'm doing: I'm getting my MS to the point where I'm confident querying, then I'm jumping into something new. I know I'll need something to distract me what I'm waiting for responses from agents and what better way than to start on the next great idea.
ReplyDeleteI've considered starting the 'new idea' while waiting for critiques but the voice in my second book is completely different than my first, so I haven't. But you might have the same voice in the second and so would have no issues with that. I say, start on the second if you don't have anything else to work on with the first book :)
I think it's different for everyone, but I personally have to put those other ideas on the back burner while finishing a manuscript, otherwise (which I've learned from extensive personal experience) I'll just bounce from one project to another and never really finish anything.
ReplyDelete