Sometimes, I have it in my head what I want to write. The idea is there. The characters are fleshed out. I sit down to start it and I can't seem to focus. Can't seem to go anywhere with it. Instead of my creative juices flowing, another idea will take over. This idea just won't go away no matter how hard I try to push it back into the far corners of my brain to save for another day. It basically means I have no control over my ideas. They control me.
This just happened to me this week. I've finished my current WIP and was ready to start another. Prevailing wisdom is to start something completely different. A separate stand alone story in case the other doesn't take off. Problem is, a sequel is desperately trying to be told. No matter how much I worked to focus on the other, completely different idea, I couldn't do it. A character named, Ellie, needs to be heard. Granted she is a fiery, feisty redhead but I didn't think I was ready to tell Ellie's story.
What could I do? Force myself into the other characters? I tried that. I used my favorite music. I started in the middle of the story, which I sometimes do to help me get started. I tried all manner of things, but none of them worked. So, I've pushed aside the other story and I'm writing a sequel-Ellie's story. I'll do my best to make it stand alone as well and hope I can pitch it at a later date if need be.
Just goes to show you. We are not in control of anything in life, not even our own ideas;-) Moral of the story, just go with it. No point fighting the inevitable.
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