Thursday, October 18, 2012

Now what?

So I have finished a first (very rough) draft of my book. It's a fiction novel that covers the life of a woman from the mid-1940s until the mid-1960s. It's a tumultuous book without a ton of hope or redemption. The first draft came in a 99,300 words. I am currently working on the rewrite (which I think is harder than the first draft). There's a lot to do yet for this book--for it to be good, to be finished, to be published.

But now, I am wondering, what do I write?

I have perused my writing journals for the past four years and realized that I've been telling this story in varied forms for the past 4 years. It needed to get out.

But now that it is told, what should I write? Really, I have no idea.

Should it be another fiction story. I'm not sure I have another one in me. Should I work on those two non-fictions that have been rolling around in my head? I don't have enough experience to write those. And truth be told, I don't think I'm very good at non-fiction. Should I focus on blog writing and building my platform (that's an idea where writers increase their base so as to show publishers that a potential book would have a market. I buckle against this a bit)

From what I've heard, most writers have more than one project going at any one time. Some even jump from project to project depending on their mood.

I don't have any other projects.

And I know that I already miss the creating aspect of writing. It's only been three weeks since I finished my draft and I am aching for the joy of creative writing, for discovering where a character is going to take me, for following an action out to it's furthest consequence. I miss storytelling.

I'm not any further ahead than I was at the beginning of this post. But now at least, you know as well. You're a creative bunch, got any brilliant ideas? I'm open to suggestions, if you have any!

2 comments:

Gail said...

Lots of things come to mind for me reading your post.

Regarding nonfiction ... everyone is an expert at something and you can choose to be an expert in the two books you're writing.

Fiction. Weren't you working on something for middle child. A book with female lead. A girl who fights dragons instead of her brother.

Also, I have an idea that I would love to work on with a few writers ... YA science fiction. 5 main characters and I'd like to have each character written by a different person for POV.

We can chat tonight.

Meika said...

My expert advice is to write what's rattling around your head. If you don't have a fiction idea rattling around, then find something else to play with. Why do you buckle against the blog idea - just because it seems to businessy and impure? Or because you're not into the format.

I think it's time for coffee. :) Next Wednesday?