How do you keep your WIP fresh?

superman skivvies · Dec 14, 2008

I pretty good at coming up with ideas. I stink at keeping them interesting in my head. In the past I've started a lot of novels or short stories or whatever that I feel are so awesome, then a week later my mind has moved on. It's not that the ideas are bad or that they don't have potential, but they're not new anymore. It's kind of like getting a new toy. You play with it for a while and then you see a commercial on TV for a newer one. I realize that with everything you write there are going to be problems to overcome. Speed bumps, I guess. (Yes, I'm feeling very metaphorical tonight.) But lately every time I hit one of these speed bumps I just want to turn around. I have too many ideas. I keep wanting to explore a new idea without finishing the original one. Now I have finished things before, so I do know I can do it, but I'm just curious and looking for tips: How do you keep things interesting after the new car smell of your WIP has worn off?

scarletpeaches · Dec 14, 2008

Interesting? Ha!

I give myself deadlines and bugger how 'good' the WIP actually is; I just want to get to the end. I'll fix all that needs fixing on the rewrites.

Stubborness works really well for me.

Calliopenjo · Dec 14, 2008

What do I do? Well, I can't say I have the same problem, because once I start something I have to finish it, just to see where it's going. How to keep things fresh for me is I am constantly doing research online. What is this? What is that? How do I translate this? Is there a way that I can describe this? Then going back to translate what I've learned into the story.

Feathers · Dec 14, 2008

I have a similar problem; if I let my muses run wild, I fall in and out of love with a different story idea every week. So what I do is scribble down all my relevant points into one word doc, focusing on my premise and the few key scenes I've thought up; then I save it, stuff it in it's own folder, and set it aside. Whenever I fall back in love with this idea, I'll add more to the file.

Meanwhile, I pick my most-developed idea, and I write about it. And if I fall in love with something else, I'll stop writing my WIP for the week and I'll daydream, but I will not start the new story. This creates discipline without killing my ideas. Eventually, it gets easier to stick to one story at a time. Writing two at a time is NOT a good idea - if you struggle with this, multiple WIP's is waaay too tempting. Trust me.

To keep my current WIP interesting, I brainstorm regularly. If it starts to get boring, I throw in a twist, or write a really exciting scene that may or may not make it to the final draft. Generally I get bored when I've settled into a method of doing things and it's become a rut, when my characters have become mechanical and I'm not learning new things about them. Keep exploring your story; it stays more interesting that way.

I know that was a bit rambly. Hope it helped anyway

-Feathers

Don · Dec 14, 2008

I wrap it in paper towels, and store it on the lowest shelf of the fridge, not in the vegetable drawer.

No, wait, that's lettuce.

Apparently, I keep my WIP fresh by deciding that even though I have an outline, important things like the death of a major character and an election for a judge didn't occur to me when I was outlining. That means going back and adding a few new scenes to work already done, as well as adding in pieces of the subplots here and there. Suddenly I'm in the middle of, if not a new WIP, at least a WIP that seems new to me.

Mumut · Dec 14, 2008

I write everthing down as it comes when I'm in a writing mood then, at other times, I edit the work and make sure it's as well written as I am capable of doing. I don't write or edit when the muse is on vacation - it's a waste of time. So, over countless re-reads and edits I change probably everything at some time and come up with the best over a long period of time.

Noah Body · Dec 14, 2008

Fabreze. Doesn't everyone?

ishtar'sgate · Dec 14, 2008

superman skivvies said:
How do you keep things interesting after the new car smell of your WIP has worn off?

I just give them bigger problems to deal with. Then another and another....

NeuroFizz · Dec 14, 2008

superman skivvies said:
I pretty good at coming up with ideas. I stink at keeping them interesting in my head. In the past I've started a lot of novels or short stories or whatever that I feel are so awesome, then a week later my mind has moved on. It's not that the ideas are bad or that they don't have potential, but they're not new anymore. It's kind of like getting a new toy. You play with it for a while and then you see a commercial on TV for a newer one. I realize that with everything you write there are going to be problems to overcome. Speed bumps, I guess. (Yes, I'm feeling very metaphorical tonight.) But lately every time I hit one of these speed bumps I just want to turn around. I have too many ideas. I keep wanting to explore a new idea without finishing the original one. Now I have finished things before, so I do know I can do it, but I'm just curious and looking for tips: How do you keep things interesting after the new car smell of your WIP has worn off?

Great ideas for new stories are a dime a dozen. But they are worthless unless they are rounded into a complete story. You may be developing one of the most destructive habits in this business. Writing for completion isn't going to be new car smell and new and interesting times from start to finish. It's work, sometimes hard work. It takes thought, careful scene construction, well-developed characterization, sometimes tough word and phrase selection. And it takes incredible self-discipline. Any tips? Sit down and finish something. You have good ideas coming at you all the time. Put that intellectual curiosity to work for you--challenge yourself to look for good ideas to get you through just one story, start to finish, without bolting to something else. There is a huge difference between just writing stuff and being a writer. Writers finish projects.

Some writers can work on multiple projects at the same time. But they have one thing in common with those writers who following solo projects in sequence. They all finish their projects. That's what you should work for--to become a finisher. But be prepared to work to do it. The finished projects are old pick-up trucks that lost the new car smell long before the odometer turned over for the first time. But they run strong and we've lived every one of their squeaks and shudders.

gothicangel · Dec 15, 2008

The book I'm writing has been getting the procrastination treatment for too long (several years) now. However I'm entering it into two prestigious awards in the UK in 2009 so I have to get it written. Hopefully I'll be submitting to agents by Jan 2010.

How do I keep it fresh? A good story; characters I'm in love with and the setting of my beloved home town Newcastle.

foonting · Dec 15, 2008

I write loads of scenes that excite me, slot them into my overall outline.......I then just have to write the next bit to see how they link up! I don't end up by using all of the scenes of course, it just keeps my juices on the boil.

Bufty · Dec 15, 2008

Roll up your sleeves, get out there and clean the car then give it a squirt of air-freshener. And enjoy the sense of achievement at having started something worthwhile - and finished it.

I have no tips or easy fixes for you. Seems like you simply lack discipline and concentration, and are perhaps over-impatient for instant results from a craft that can take years to master even after having learned the basics.

Maybe at the moment you just like the idea of being a writer - a worthy aim, but to achieve that - or any - goal takes effort.

Good luck.

superman skivvies said:
I pretty good at coming up with ideas. I stink at keeping them interesting in my head. In the past I've started a lot of novels or short stories or whatever that I feel are so awesome, then a week later my mind has moved on. It's not that the ideas are bad or that they don't have potential, but they're not new anymore. It's kind of like getting a new toy. You play with it for a while and then you see a commercial on TV for a newer one. I realize that with everything you write there are going to be problems to overcome. Speed bumps, I guess. (Yes, I'm feeling very metaphorical tonight.) But lately every time I hit one of these speed bumps I just want to turn around. I have too many ideas. I keep wanting to explore a new idea without finishing the original one. Now I have finished things before, so I do know I can do it, but I'm just curious and looking for tips: How do you keep things interesting after the new car smell of your WIP has worn off?

Shweta · Dec 15, 2008

What everbody else says is probably much better advice than what I'm about to say, so listen to them

But honestly, I'd stick to short stories and try to write one every week or two, before the idea gets stale. Because I think if the idea can possibly get stale in a week, rather than lead to new ideas, to me -- well, I wouldn't have a novel-worthy idea there.

And getting a few short pieces finished sort of tells my brain that yes! I can write things and finish them! And I really need to know that in order to sit down to a novel.

...Also I don't think ideas alone can carry long work. I need characters I want to spend hours and hours with.

donroc · Dec 15, 2008

I let my characters do the heavy work.

jeany · Dec 15, 2008

I delve into all kinds of minute background details about the characthers that I know won't ever make it into the book. It keeps me entertained, and helps me get to know the characters personally. It relaxes me to waste some time that way.

tehuti88 · Dec 15, 2008

Keeping something interesting isn't much of a problem for me. I'll only write something if it's a story I'm passionate about in the first place, and even though there will inevitably be times when it's not as new or fresh or desirable as before, still, I'm interested and I love it, and I WANT to see it through to the end.

It seems like it could be a serious problem if you so quickly grow bored of all your ideas. Unless one is really good at pounding work out for the sake of meeting a deadline, submitting, getting published, and making money, writing just seems to be a thing where you should really like and be interested in what you're doing because, yes, at times it could get tedious.

I haven't read the other posts so forgive me if I'm echoing somebody else, but maybe you should try short-short stories to start with...? Less risk of losing interest so quickly in those, at least. At some point though, if you want to write longer work, you'll have to get used to sticking with it for the long haul.

Charlie Horse · Dec 15, 2008

Interesting ideas are not enough. Like tehuti said, you need to be passionate about your subject matter.

Also it helps if your writing entertains you. If it's not keeping your interest, chances are it's not going to grab anyone else either.

Denton · Dec 15, 2008

Write it quickly, while the passion for the story is still there.

MumblingSage · Dec 15, 2008

Treat each WIP like a relationship. This won't help if your relationships don't last past that new-car smell stage...

Set aside time for the WIP. Remember what you like about it. Do things you enjoy together (that is, write stuff you enjoy). Experiment (with writing styles, not, um, other stuff). Promise you will always be there for it, even if you stray on a month-long haiatus every so often.

Really, perseverance and commitment will get you farthest in my estimation. You just need to keep coming back to it. For me, the passion comes and goes. Sometimes I get a second flare of passion for the work, and sometimes I just fall out of love with it. But I keep coming back.

RunawayScribe · Dec 15, 2008

Commit. It's called dedication. Make up your mind to finish it, and then do it. It takes time to finish a story, and even if it's a great one, it's probably going to feel worn and stale to you at some point. Writing is work. It can be a ton of fun, but ultimately is lots of work as well. When you have an idea you love, make up your mind to write, say, seventy-five pages. By the time you have that much, you won't just want to throw it away.

My point in a nutshell? Just do it.
Ew...I'm a shoe commerical...

Dave.C.Robinson · Dec 15, 2008

I second the idea of using short fiction to train yourself to finish things.

I know short fiction has worked well for me lately.

ishtar'sgate · Dec 15, 2008

gothicangel said:
The book I'm writing has been getting the procrastination treatment for too long (several years) now. However I'm entering it into two prestigious awards in the UK in 2009 so I have to get it written. Hopefully I'll be submitting to agents by Jan 2010.

Good for you. Deadlines can work wonders.

Liosse de Velishaf · Dec 15, 2008

Well, if I start getting tired of a story, I throw something new in there. Often times it explodes through a reaction with some other element, and I get a fresh burst of interest. Of course, I spend a lot of time fermenting a story in my head, mainly in transit, while eating, while not doing my work...etc. So the catalyst has a lot of material to work with.

I have to agree, though, that there's a lot more than interest involved. If I only worked on a story when I was interested, I'd get a few hundred words a week. Not enough to finish in a timely manner. So much like the contest entrant demonstrated, it can be very useful to pose deadlines. This works much better if there is someone else involved. Like a contest, or a beta, or a friend you made a deal with. But even without deadlines, you just have to sit down and write, even if you hate it and would rather fold the paper into 1000 paper cranes than write a single word.

superman skivvies · Dec 15, 2008

NeuroFizz said:
Great ideas for new stories are a dime a dozen. But they are worthless unless they are rounded into a complete story. You may be developing one of the most destructive habits in this business. Writing for completion isn't going to be new car smell and new and interesting times from start to finish. It's work, sometimes hard work. It takes thought, careful scene construction, well-developed characterization, sometimes tough word and phrase selection. And it takes incredible self-discipline. Any tips? Sit down and finish something. You have good ideas coming at you all the time. Put that intellectual curiosity to work for you--challenge yourself to look for good ideas to get you through just one story, start to finish, without bolting to something else. There is a huge difference between just writing stuff and being a writer. Writers finish projects.

Some writers can work on multiple projects at the same time. But they have one thing in common with those writers who following solo projects in sequence. They all finish their projects. That's what you should work for--to become a finisher. But be prepared to work to do it. The finished projects are old pick-up trucks that lost the new car smell long before the odometer turned over for the first time. But they run strong and we've lived every one of their squeaks and shudders.

Don't get me wrong. I have finished stuff. I've finished two novels and a handful of short stories. I was just curious to see if other people have the same problems I do and what they do about it.

scarletpeaches · Dec 15, 2008

Serious answer?

I've been looking ahead to which WIP to work on after I finish the first draft of this one and I'm torn between two. One has around 60k written and needs another 40k.

Another has 16k of scribbled, out-of-sequence scenes but...this is the one I'm itching to get back to.

Lori (thethinker42) says I should write the one that's calling to me but going by NeuroFizz's philosophy, which I happen to agree with, I should run with the one I'm closest to finishing.

I mean, if I keep jumping around, I'll never finish anything. So I'm itching to get back to my rewritten trunk novel? So what? I've waited fifteen years to write it. It can wait another couple of months.

NF's right - it's not always about keeping your WIP fresh. It is hard work. Fun, but hard work. There are always going to be times when you wonder, "Why the hell am I doing this?" but if I jumped ship every time things got hard or boring or my writing got a bit blah, well...that'd make me fickle, indecisive, and an also-ran. I'd never get to the end.

Expect your writing to be blah sometimes.

What to do about it? Well it's not something you can avoid, so don't try. At least on the first draft.

What do I do about it? Write through it. You can't edit what you haven't written.

So I'll probably go back to the 60k WIP in January. Then by the end of the month, I'll have another complete first draft, instead of numerous scribbled pages and not a clue of where to go next.

How do you keep your WIP fresh?

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