December 02, 2014

777 Challenge + How to Manage too Many Story Ideas


Kristin Smith tagged me in the 777 challenge. Thank you, Kristin! :) For the challenge you have to choose a WIP, go to the 7th page, scroll down to the 7th line, and share the next 7 lines or so.

I picked the sequel to Hurricane Crimes. The excerpt below is in Donovan Goldwyn's perspective. Yes, the sequel is divided between Beth's and Donovan's point-of-views. :) If you read Hurricane Crimes you'll notice that the excerpt below is an extremely important one. 



EXCERPT:



            Now all he wanted was to drink a beer, take a shower, and crash. He tugged open his refrigerator and selected a bottle of beer. Using his shirt to twist off the cap, he took a deep pull. He was picking up the remote to turn on his TV when his phone rang. With a groan, he walked back into the kitchen and took the cordless.
            “Yeah, this is Donovan.”
            “Meet me outside.”
            “Ryan?”
            “No questions over the phone,” his brother snapped. “Meet me outside.”
            The line went dead.
            Donovan sighed and took another swallow of beer before leaving his apartment. In the parking lot, he paused as he tried to locate his brother. A flash of headlights caught his attention. His brother’s unmarked car sat several paces away, the lights off.
             “Talk about overkill,” he muttered as he went to it. He opened the passenger’s door, slid in, and looked at Ryan. Stubble covered his neck and face, and his hair was about an inch too long. “What’s going on?”
            “Buckle up and don’t say a word,” Ryan said while backing the car out of the parking space.
            Donovan watched his brother from the corner of his eye. His hands were tight on the steering wheel, knuckles whites.
            This isn’t like my brother. Something’s going on.



Now I have to pick people to take part in this challenge. I tag Christine Rains, Loni Townsend, Julie Flanders, and Tara Tyler. Have fun, ladies! :D



Now onto the rest of today's post:

If you’re a writer, one problem you’ll likely have is an abundance of story ideas. You’ll get ideas randomly. Sometimes they’ll hit you left and right. Pretty soon, you’ll have story ideas vying for your attention. It could drive you crazy unless you know how to manage it.

Here are a few of my techniques:

1.    Whenever you get a story idea, write out every single detail. Write out all the plot points that come to mind, even snippets of conversations, so you don’t forget. Clearly label the pages and put them into a folder for later when you can work on that story.

2.    Even though you have a folder full of details for the story ideas you get, it’s also a good idea to keep a growing list of your story ideas, too. Whenever you get a new one, add it to the list. Simply writing “Story about Mars” will refresh your memory. Doing this will help you keep track of all the ideas you get.

3.    After you finish one story, consult your list of ideas for the next one you should work on. Considering which one would be more beneficial to your career at the moment will help you choose. As soon as you do, work on that story until it’s done. Then pick another.


TIP: If you get stuck on one WIP, work on another until you can return to the story you were stuck on. 

FACT: In my Liebster Award post, I mentioned that I had 61 story ideas waiting to be written. That number is now 68. HAHA!


QUESTIONS: Do you know how many stories you have waiting to be written? How do you manage too many story ideas? What did you think of my excerpt?


46 comments:

  1. I tend to let ideas stew in my mind for a day or two before writing them down. Then I'll know if it's a stayer or not! Your excerpt was good. It raised a lot of questions about the tension and relationship between the brothers which is intriguing.

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    1. Letting them stew is a good idea, but some people could wait too long and forget them! Eek!

      I'm glad you found my excerpt intriguing, Nick. :)

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  2. lol yeah I write them down too, have a ton at my sea as well. At least blog posts I can get done in 15 minutes or so, so they don`t add up. Stories take much longer.

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    1. Stories do take much long which is why I have so many waiting. lol

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  3. I write my ideas down too but normally only a few gets published. :P

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    1. Hopefully all of your ideas get published someday, SuperLux!

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  4. I try to write my ideas down as much as possible. Even if I am driving, I pull off to the side and whip out my journal to jot thoughts down.
    I loved reading the part you shared for the sequel to Hurricane Crimes!! Definitely leaves us wanting you to hurry off and publish it asap=)

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    1. That's good! You never want to forget a story or an important detail.

      Yay! I hoped you'd like the excerpt. And I am hurrying as fast as I can. lol

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  5. I have a list of all of my story ideas and it's 24 right now. Not a lot, but it's actually more than I thought it was. I usually have the opposite problem--I never have enough ideas! I like your idea of jotting down every detail. A lot of times I forget a lot of the little details if I don't start working on a story right away.

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  6. Sixty-eight? Care to share? I have one story idea at the moment.

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    1. LOL! I know I have TOO many! But they are all mine. ;)

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  7. That's a lot of ideas--which is great! :) I think your tips really hit the nail on the head: flesh out the idea as much as you can and one will almost always 'take off'. I also find myself incorporating multiple story ideas into a single story. I usually start an idea with a character I want to explore, so I'll sometimes use characters from multiple story ideas to flesh out my cast. :)

    Loved the excerpt!

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    1. Yes, at least I'll always have something to write. And I'm glad you think I hit the nail on the head with these tips. :) I've actually used multiple ideas for one story as well, which helped to narrow my list a bit. lol Thanks, EJ!

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  8. I enjoyed the excerpt and then enjoyed it even more when I got to the end and saw that you tagged me. Thanks!!

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  9. Love the excerpt, Chrys. I want to find out where they're going! Yes, I have quite a few story ideas and I write them on yellow note cards. One thing I did this summer was start a short story collection. I'm almost finished it. The nice thing about it is all of those ideas can get utilized. In fact, I just saw a video of Ray Bradbury addressing an audience of students and he recommends writing short stories before attempting the novel. Interesting. Thanks for the tips!

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    1. You'll have to wait to find out. ;) I wish I could publish it sooner but it might not be until this time next year.

      A short story collection? That's great! Good luck with it! :)

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  10. I have about a dozen Word files with novel ideas. Plus if that runs dry, I have probably 100 short stories written in notebooks I could fall back on.

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  11. I have a hard time managing multiple ideas - probably the reason being a write would not suit me lol ;)

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    1. Shucks! Next year I'm going to be blogging about other things than just writing, so hopefully you'll be more entertained. :)

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  12. I enjoyed reading your excerpt:) And I can't recall how many story ideas I have at the moment but off the top of my head it's probably right around ten.

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    1. Thanks, Quanie! Ten would be a lot easier to manage, especially with a baby. :)

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  13. Writing out stories ideas is good. What I do is write at least the first chapter That way the characters will leave me alone for a while. I'll also make jottings of major plot points as they crop up.

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    1. Writing the first chapter is a good idea. It'll also help when you do have the time to write it because you'll be able to read what you wrote and remember the story better.

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  14. I have story ideas and outlines waiting for me in notebooks and flash drives. I have a few, two that I really want to get to.

    I love this challenge. Yay on a sequel.

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  15. That's a lot of ideas! I've been having ideas but since I don't write them down, I soon forget them. And that excerpt was really intriguing!

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    1. Forgetting them is never fun! I'm glad you found my excerpt intruiging, Al! :)

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  16. Thanks for the tag. How fun! And yours is quite a cliff hanger!

    I can relate to a lot of ideas. They just have to wait their turn, usually jotted on a scrap piece of paper and shoved in a drawer...

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    1. You're welcome, Tara! Tagging you was a no-brainer. :)

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  17. What a fab challenge! When I have ideas for stories, I quickly start typing until it falls flat. Yesterday I scoured through the numerous word docs that are unfinished stories. Some of them were swiftly dragged into the waste bin and another one, I stared at the words thinking, "Wow, did I write that. That could be a great story." So, I completely agree that writing down all ideas. Who knows where one may lead? Thank you for the post.

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    1. See? You never know how much of a gem one of those spur of the moment ideas will be. :) You're welcome, Nicola!

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  18. Thanks for tagging me! I'll be posting next week. I enjoyed your excerpt, and as always, excellent writing suggestions.

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    1. You're welcome, Loni! I can't wait to read your excerpt! :D

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  19. Loved your excerpt, Chrys! So glad you "took" the challenge. :)

    I can't believe you have 68 story ideas! That's awesome. I think I have maybe 5 or 6, and I thought THAT was overwhelming. Haha!

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    1. Thank you for tagging me in the challenge, Kristin! I had fun! :)

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  20. I have such a looming queue of hiatused books, resurrected ideas and characters from 20+ years ago, and books I need to do significant editing and restructuring of. I also have some ideas for future books when all those things are finally done, like some Japanese historicals (starting with the Heian era, which is a LOT further back in time than I've ever written, barring some discontinued story from prehistory 20+ years ago), books set during the High and Late Middle Ages, and something set during the Golden Age of Islam. Given how my brain is wired, it's really no big deal for me to keep all these ideas and outlines in my head. I've had entire books and storylines memorized back and forwards for years before I finally wrote them down.

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    1. Many of mine of the stories waiting for me are from many years ago, too. I also have a Japanese Historical book I want to write when many of my other projects are done. :)

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  21. Great excerpt, and fantastic tips. I really need to keep a story idea folder. I get so many! Thank you for the tag. I did this one recently on FB. Don't think I ignored it. :)

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    1. Oh yay! At least you did the challenge once. :)

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  22. I'm not a very prolific writer so I don't worry about forgetting ideas. I'll always have more knocking around in my head than I'll ever write. I really enjoyed your excerpt, too. Intriguing! :)

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    1. I have more than I'll probably be able to write, too, but I still want to remember them all so I can try. ;) Thanks, Gisele!

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