As I mentioned last time, I began work on my next novel using the “snowflake method.” I got as far as Step Two (of ten) and started spinning my wheels. Step Two is where I take the simple one-sentence storyline that I wrote in Step One and expand it into a paragraph. My original inspiration for this new novel was a shocking moment that would build into a horror story. The concept veered off that path pretty quickly, and the story seemed more like a suspense thriller than a scary tale.
As I worked on Step Two, the story idea morphed once more, this time into a detective procedural. That’s totally not what I wanted to write. I worked at it for a while, but I can’t seem to get away from the detective thing.
So I’m chucking the story back into the bucket of ideas. I’ll let it sit for the time being and see if it eventually becomes what I need it to be. In the meantime, I pulled another idea from the pail and started working on it. It’s pure science fiction, which I enjoy writing. I’ve quickly moved to Step Three, where I flesh out the characters. I already like the protagonist and have a good feeling about his two companions. The bad guy is still little more than a sketch, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to be a total badass.
The storyline came together very quickly (it almost wrote itself, as they say.) If I take the time to think it through, I have a feeling the story will be huge. I just need to pace myself and build a believable world that’s big enough to hold the yarn that’s unraveling in my head.
Now if only I could spend my days writing instead of going to work…
Why not go with the detective story? I would. If it turned out that my horror story unintentionally became a romance, I’d go full throttle on it. It’d be a fun new experience and learn something in the process.
You might enjoy writing it.
Hey, Don. You make a good point. I’m not really into detective stories, though. The ideas that I had didn’t have the spark that I needed, so there was no fire. The new idea I’m working on is exciting to me, and I think that will come through in the writing, where if I were to write the other story without feeling that, I would be cheating my audience (and the story would probably suffer for it, as well.)
When I eventually come back around to that story idea, I’ll keep an open mind. If it doesn’t want to be a horror story, I probably shouldn’t force it. And like you say, maybe I’ll enjoy it.