Idea Resurrection & the Lunchtime Book
I find it fascinating that the ideas I had as a teen for novels that I dismissed a decade later for being too silly are things I'm re-considering 20 years later.
I mean. When I was 16, there was no idea that could be too dystopian. When I was 26, not so much. Now I'm about to turn 36, and I think I'm going to revisit at least one of those really insane 10th grade ideas and actually turn it into a book I'm going to try to sell.
Now, mind you... this isn't just personal growth on my part, it's looking around at the market. And maybe the leading edge of dystopian YA is actually too far past, I don't know. But I would enjoy writing this book, so I'll do it, even if it's my lunchtime book.
...my lunchtime book, you ask?
I started writing a book that required little research so I could work on it a) without the internet; b) kind of randomly; c) as a break from my heavily researched historical fantasy. I tend to produce about 500-750 words on a lunch break, and I realized that even if I only write every other lunch break, I can easily produce another MG/YA novel a year, beyond what I work on at night and over weekends. And it's nice for my brain to have a break from the other book. REALLY nice. And it seems to boost my productivity on my main book, to have this little outlet for other words and ideas.
Plus, without the required research books and stacks of notecards, that makes the lunchtime book a good travel book. It'll be interesting to see if I can work on it when I go visit my mother, head out to a con, etc... even just at 45 minutes a day while traveling. It's nice to feel like I'm not being totally unproductive when I'm away from home.
I've only been doing the lunchtime thing for a month, so I don't know how sustainable it will be--will I be able to keep up with the book once it gets to the unwieldy stage, or will I have to move on to another book beginning, and what will the fallout be if I end up with a half-dozen first 10k starts on novels but nothing gets finished?--but on the other hand, I have 7,000 words I wouldn't otherwise have, AND there's no detriment to productivity on my contracted work.
I find it interesting that I have no impulse to write short stories for my lunch work. I guess I'm really just about finished with trying to be a short story writer. I mean--never say never. But I am having a very hard time thinking of any stories to tell that take less than 45k to explore.
Growing pains, maybe? Some day I might turn around and be a real short story writer?
Doubt it.
I mean. When I was 16, there was no idea that could be too dystopian. When I was 26, not so much. Now I'm about to turn 36, and I think I'm going to revisit at least one of those really insane 10th grade ideas and actually turn it into a book I'm going to try to sell.
Now, mind you... this isn't just personal growth on my part, it's looking around at the market. And maybe the leading edge of dystopian YA is actually too far past, I don't know. But I would enjoy writing this book, so I'll do it, even if it's my lunchtime book.
...my lunchtime book, you ask?
I started writing a book that required little research so I could work on it a) without the internet; b) kind of randomly; c) as a break from my heavily researched historical fantasy. I tend to produce about 500-750 words on a lunch break, and I realized that even if I only write every other lunch break, I can easily produce another MG/YA novel a year, beyond what I work on at night and over weekends. And it's nice for my brain to have a break from the other book. REALLY nice. And it seems to boost my productivity on my main book, to have this little outlet for other words and ideas.
Plus, without the required research books and stacks of notecards, that makes the lunchtime book a good travel book. It'll be interesting to see if I can work on it when I go visit my mother, head out to a con, etc... even just at 45 minutes a day while traveling. It's nice to feel like I'm not being totally unproductive when I'm away from home.
I've only been doing the lunchtime thing for a month, so I don't know how sustainable it will be--will I be able to keep up with the book once it gets to the unwieldy stage, or will I have to move on to another book beginning, and what will the fallout be if I end up with a half-dozen first 10k starts on novels but nothing gets finished?--but on the other hand, I have 7,000 words I wouldn't otherwise have, AND there's no detriment to productivity on my contracted work.
I find it interesting that I have no impulse to write short stories for my lunch work. I guess I'm really just about finished with trying to be a short story writer. I mean--never say never. But I am having a very hard time thinking of any stories to tell that take less than 45k to explore.
Growing pains, maybe? Some day I might turn around and be a real short story writer?
Doubt it.