Can a story that you've been working on go stagnant? Is it just me or does/has this happened to other people too?
Example: roughly 3 years ago I was on break at work. I suddenly got this brilliant story idea. I start scribbling it all down as fast as I could in the little memo pad I carried (which you can see in my very first post on this blog). Over the next 3 years I worked on it here and there. Made some progress. But recently I haven't really thought about it. And when I do its just not the same. The excitement I used to feel for the story is gone. New ideas don't come flooding into my head like they used to. And this isn't the only story this has happened to.
So when this happens is it best to let it die? Erase all traces of it and forget? Or store it away, not think about and see if at some distant point interest resurfaces? Or do I continue on as I have? Maybe try to go back and outline (as I never do)? Any thoughts on this?
I'm completely lost as to what to do with these partial stories that are just collecting dust...
Example: roughly 3 years ago I was on break at work. I suddenly got this brilliant story idea. I start scribbling it all down as fast as I could in the little memo pad I carried (which you can see in my very first post on this blog). Over the next 3 years I worked on it here and there. Made some progress. But recently I haven't really thought about it. And when I do its just not the same. The excitement I used to feel for the story is gone. New ideas don't come flooding into my head like they used to. And this isn't the only story this has happened to.
So when this happens is it best to let it die? Erase all traces of it and forget? Or store it away, not think about and see if at some distant point interest resurfaces? Or do I continue on as I have? Maybe try to go back and outline (as I never do)? Any thoughts on this?
I'm completely lost as to what to do with these partial stories that are just collecting dust...
Sure, happens to me all the time with blog post ideas! I generally use one of two strategies.
ReplyDelete1. Set it aside and work on something completely different. Sometimes I come back to it someday!
2. Work EXTRA-hard on that sucker. Forcing my way through sometimes accomplishes enough that I start feeling proud of what I've done and excited about it again.
I dunno which strategy is the better one though... :)