Sometimes (a lot of times) you get ideas for a book.
You plan it, even start writing it.
Then it peters out.
Why?
Wasn’t a good idea to start with.
I have a lot of books in mind, all based upon a visceral feel for one scene.
You write the scene. It’s great. You start the book.
It stops. Your idea wasn’t good enough to carry the book.
There’s two things you can do from this point – shelve the book, or shelve the scene.
If you choose to shelve the scene, this means it’s something you might be able to borrow for later use in another book – or it might be something you can rework for a short story later on.
If you choose to shelve the book, it means you think your book idea is good enough to use – you just have to ascertain how you can get it to work later.
I have no shortage of ideas. I’ll probably have a backlog of ideas to work on the rest of my life.
Hey, I might even set up a “ideas store” where you can buy an idea from me, complete with research to write your own novel with!
But probably not, because at this point, I don’t really think I’ve discarded any ideas except for the horror film of the psycho clowns.
I’m not working on that ever again. My coulrophobia kicked in, and I had extreme nightmares the three days I worked on it. I realized I’ll probably never get rid of this phobia. I guess to some people curcuses were enjoyable. Not me.
Ugh.
Not every idea is perfect. Not every idea will work.
The wisdom lies in looking at it and saying, “I don’t think I have enough there to carry a novel.”
