Falling In Love With An Idea

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 4, 2012

I finished the final draft of my first novel in mid-July, and while I was working on it, I was crazy in love with the idea and the characters. But now a month and a half has gone by since I finished it, and I know I should be working on something new, but I have yet to come up with a new idea that I love as much as I loved that one.

I've come up with many crappy ideas since then, each of which sounded good at first, but then as I started writing them out, I realized that they were not characters or ideas I'd want to devote another year and a half (or so) of my life to and I set them aside.

Do you always fall in love with your novels/ideas/characters right at the start, or can you learn to love a so-so concept (sort of like an arranged marriage) as long as you work at it hard enough?

Kerosene · Sep 4, 2012

I get an idea, but it progressively changes as I think about it, as I write it and revise it.
I don't fall in love with them, but care for them all the same. I don't aspire to write them, but wish to nonetheless.

If I get ideas, while I'm working on a piece, I write them down on a flash card and place them in a deck. (I've probably got 50~ idea/characters waiting for me. Almost all of them, I know I'm not going to touch).

I believe you start to, not fall in love, but grow attached with the character, thus their stories and everything else. Like a reader grows attached to the story, but from a stronger, more distant approach.

Maybe you need to devote, just some brainstorming time to the idea. Work with the character, dwell within their lives and just work your way into the story. Then, as you're enveloped in the story, start writing it.
After this point, if you like it and believe in it, you'll work your fingers to the bone to get it out. If you don't, maybe you should return to the drawing board, change something, a character or the story to that of which, you really want to get out.

My thoughts.

Nugus · Sep 4, 2012

I'm going through a similar thing. I loved my big novel - dreamed about it, lived it I would have had sex with it if I could. Now I find that I can't find a love like it. So I have brief little affairs with short stories. I grow to love them as well, but it's soon over. However I'm still looking for the next big thing - I hope that it will be soon.

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 4, 2012

WillSauger said:
If I get ideas, while I'm working on a piece, I write them down on a flash card and place them in a deck. (I've probably got 50~ idea/characters waiting for me. Almost all of them, I know I'm not going to touch).

This is sort of what I've been doing with the ideas so far that I haven't been happy with. I write out what I can and then save them in a Drafts and Ideas folder on my desktop. I'd hate to just scrap them, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not going back to them.

WillSauger said:
Maybe you need to devote, just some brainstorming time to the idea. Work with the character, dwell within their lives and just work your way into the story. Then, as you're enveloped in the story, start writing it.
After this point, if you like it and believe in it, you'll work your fingers to the bone to get it out. If you don't, maybe you should return to the drawing board, change something, a character or the story to that of which, you really want to get out.

My thoughts.

Thanks for these thoughts. Maybe I can try writing a background story on some of the characters I think up, or a character sheet or something and see if that helps me grow fonder. Last time though, the story just "came to me" - and I keep hoping to find that again.

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 4, 2012

Nugus said:
I'm going through a similar thing. I loved my big novel - dreamed about it, lived it I would have had sex with it if I could. Now I find that I can't find a love like it. So I have brief little affairs with short stories. I grow to love them as well, but it's soon over. However I'm still looking for the next big thing - I hope that it will be soon.

Sorry to hear you're in the same boat. I hope you find your "next big thing" soon, and you love it as much (or more) than your last one.

Quiessa · Sep 4, 2012

I fell in love with my current WIP, like Nugus I 'dream about it, live it, I would have had sex with it if I could'.

But my background research for it led to what my next novel will be, so I have this adulterous desire to move on to the next that makes me work on the current even when I'm growly and reluctant to do so.

My next project definitely draws from my current one; depending on your genre or style maybe you're trying to conflate your next story with your current one? It's not unlikely that there's overlap in themes, etc.

Sage · Sep 4, 2012

After my first novel (and my first NaNo novel, which I wrote in the middle of that one), I had a series of novels that I would give up on, usually very quickly. I would decide it was too ambitious or doubt my own ability to write or to take on a new genre. I would write between 200-2000 words and give up on it. Then NaNo would come along and I would realize that it was the best idea I had, so I would write it and love it by the end. The YA I'm querying was started two years ago, then I dropped it when I got stuck on chapter 1 and switched to a project that I had always been excited by but had been worried was too ambitious. But in February I was reinspired by it, pulled out some elements that weren't working, added some that helped with the plot, and finished in a couple months. I could not have done that two years ago.

Sometimes I find I fall in love with the idea as I write it. Sometimes the soundtrack I make for it can help me fall in love with an idea (in fact, that's what brought me back to this last novel). Sometimes I need to let it simmer a bit. And sometimes it just doesn't ever happen.

But there's nothing wrong with working on it until a SNI hits you that you fall in love with right away, or with taking a break.

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 5, 2012

Quiessa said:
My next project definitely draws from my current one; depending on your genre or style maybe you're trying to conflate your next story with your current one? It's not unlikely that there's overlap in themes, etc.

I don't think that is the issue. Actually I think I may be having a little of the opposite problem - I've read that as a new writer I should stay within the same genre, but the new ideas I am having are for different genres than my first novel.

CatharsisChild · Sep 5, 2012

I don't just get attached to my characters. I am my characters.

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 5, 2012

Sage said:
After my first novel (and my first NaNo novel, which I wrote in the middle of that one), I had a series of novels that I would give up on, usually very quickly. I would decide it was too ambitious or doubt my own ability to write or to take on a new genre. I would write between 200-2000 words and give up on it. Then NaNo would come along and I would realize that it was the best idea I had, so I would write it and love it by the end. The YA I'm querying was started two years ago, then I dropped it when I got stuck on chapter 1 and switched to a project that I had always been excited by but had been worried was too ambitious. But in February I was reinspired by it, pulled out some elements that weren't working, added some that helped with the plot, and finished in a couple months. I could not have done that two years ago.

Sometimes I find I fall in love with the idea as I write it. Sometimes the soundtrack I make for it can help me fall in love with an idea (in fact, that's what brought me back to this last novel). Sometimes I need to let it simmer a bit. And sometimes it just doesn't ever happen.

But there's nothing wrong with working on it until a SNI hits you that you fall in love with right away, or with taking a break.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds a lot like what I've been going through. Glad to hear I'm not alone.

That's great that NaNo inspired you so much, and that you ended up going back to a previously abandoned project and managed to look at it with fresh eyes so that you could make it into something you were happy with. It gives me hope.

shadowwalker · Sep 5, 2012

I had to stop and consider this. I can't say that I've ever been 'in love' with a story. That implies a blind eye to the faults, and a desire to stay with that story forever. I have been deeply involved in stories, and felt tremendous loss when they were finished - but only because I wasn't sure what to do next, if I had another story in me, if I could do 'as well' with the next. In other words, I was filled with self-doubt. And though I came up with new ideas that I liked, they were sometimes painful to give birth to. But I kept on with them, revising, editing - and eventually I hit the sweet spot. The old story was a fond memory, the new one pulled me in and I felt the same involvement forming. And when that one was finished - well, it started all over again.

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 6, 2012

shadowwalker said:
I had to stop and consider this. I can't say that I've ever been 'in love' with a story. That implies a blind eye to the faults, and a desire to stay with that story forever. I have been deeply involved in stories, and felt tremendous loss when they were finished - but only because I wasn't sure what to do next, if I had another story in me, if I could do 'as well' with the next. In other words, I was filled with self-doubt. And though I came up with new ideas that I liked, they were sometimes painful to give birth to. But I kept on with them, revising, editing - and eventually I hit the sweet spot. The old story was a fond memory, the new one pulled me in and I felt the same involvement forming. And when that one was finished - well, it started all over again.

I think it is the self-doubt issue that is my main issue here, rather than trying to define my feelings for the last story.

It sounds like from everyone's comments I just better pick one of my ideas and stick with it for a while, even if I'm not sure of it, and see what happens.

But right now, they all still seem crappy to me, as compared to the last one. Maybe I'll give it another week and see if something better crops up...

bearilou · Sep 6, 2012

WillSauger said:
I get an idea, but it progressively changes as I think about it, as I write it and revise it.
I don't fall in love with them, but care for them all the same. I don't aspire to write them, but wish to nonetheless.

So well said, I'm just QFT.

Will has his deck, I have a notebook I fill with ideas as they come to me. The next thing I write usually leaps out at me as I read through them.

The more I tinker with it, brainstorm, play with charcters/plots/themes/settings, the more I can tell if this is something that is harmonizing with me or not. If not, I put it away and keep searching. If it is, it gets more preferential treatment.

It's that harmonizing that is key for me.

Diver · Sep 6, 2012

I struggle with the same problem. I have a folder full of story premises and half plotted story lines.

Last year I took a BIS (butt in seat) approach. Since I could not come up for a good enough premise for a story of my own, I choose to write instead a short story for my 4 year old. Instead of concentrating on a plot, I worked on building a simple idea. It was liberating.

I do realize most of the writing that has captured my imagination has less to do with a main story idea, but rather, its execution. Sure, a great premise makes me pick a book, but compelling writing keeps me reading and wanting more.

I had not thought to keep this advice when drafting story ideas.

For me, reaching for a balance between what I want to write and how I want to write it helps me move forward, leading to a satisfying, rounded story. It breaks the point in story premises where the main plot stalls and writing takes over.

bearilou said:
It's that harmonizing that is key for me.

Maybe this is in line with what bearilou means by harmonizing?

D.L. Shepherd · Sep 6, 2012

bearilou and Diver - I just wanted to thank both of you for taking the time to comment on my dilemma. I'm going to try and stay off the forum for a bit, and try Diver's BIS approach until something (hopefully) harmonizes with me.

rwm4768 · Sep 6, 2012

I wish I had advice for you. I'm in the same boat. I've written nine novels now in two series, but I have been unable to find anything I like as much. I fall in love with an idea when I first think of it, but when it comes time to flesh it out, I lose my enthusiasm.

Lunabird · Oct 31, 2012

I think a big reason why ideas lose their sparkle for me is because when I try to line them up into a story I miss the concept that made me excited in the first place. Rather than force a plot, I find it better to mull over the idea for days, even weeks, adding on anything that gives me that same shiver down my spine. Once I'm ready, I shift all the fragments of ideas around until come up with a plot that I love.

Erin Kelly · Nov 16, 2012

When I have trouble falling in love with a new idea, I stop working on projects and just read like a madwoman. Reading great books often inspires me, gets my creative juices flowing, and unlocks my imagination! Nothing inspires me more than good books.

Also, I found it concerning that you feel like you need to stay in one genre as a new writer. I believe that people should always write what they are compelled to write, even if it's outside the genre. Write now, worry about those things later. There's nothing wrong with trying different genres. I have WIPs in different genres and know several new and established writers who write outside of their primary genre all the time. It's not unusual.

Best of luck!

BlackMirror · Jul 25, 2013

You should maybe do a spin-off of your novel with a different character that you like. Maybe a short story surrounding their back-story?

jmikehub · Oct 5, 2013

of course, sometimes its hard to make bad things happen to them cuz I like the character so much

Lady Ice · Oct 17, 2013

I get this a lot. I suppose it's a bit like life really- if you commit yourself to something or someone for so long, naturally everything afterwards is bound to feel inferior.

What you probably need to do is to take a new angle or start switching things around. Take your characters or idea and change one key thing about it/them. Don't try and change it into a completely new thing; just pick one thing.

For example, if your idea is about a quiet man who is haunted by his popular twin brother's ghost, try the same idea with two sisters or a brother and a sister. Take the characters and switch them: what if the popular guy is being haunted by his quieter twin?

You don't have to stick to the switch but even if you don't, you'll come back to the original and find where you need to make alterations. Inspiration will strike, in some form.

MostlyBecca · Oct 17, 2013

D.Owczarek said:
This is sort of what I've been doing with the ideas so far that I haven't been happy with. I write out what I can and then save them in a Drafts and Ideas folder on my desktop. I'd hate to just scrap them, but I'm also pretty sure I'm not going back to them.

I think it's a good idea to save ideas like that regardless of whether you will use them in their current state. You never know what bits and pieces you might be able to cannibalize later for another story.

Deepthought · Oct 17, 2013

jmikehub said:
of course, sometimes its hard to make bad things happen to them cuz I like the character so much

I have the opposite problem. I like bad things to happen to my main characters, really bad. But I can't kill them off because I need them.

MikaelaBender · Nov 27, 2013

When I write I fall in love with my characters. Also when I write I come up with new story ideas along the way and then fantasize about it to the point that I have to force myself to keep with the book I'm on. I don't think I could write a story about characters I don't care about.

Flight Heart · Nov 27, 2013

The problem with loving your characters is you don't want the journey to end. Makes it hard to do what needs to be done to wrap up the story.

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