This year I am writing a novel.
As I write I still have two separate storylines warring for my thoughts. Since the beginning they have both been in my brain and I have looked at them both at length but they do not fit together at all. So, they remain at war; both ideas wanting to be told.
The Nameless Files are still flowing out onto the pages. This story is set in our world but magic and people who can weld magic are a part of our world. However, that second story that is whispering to me is set in a whole new world. It is a world that is born out of the depths of my imagination. I am drawn to the creation of a world but for now it will have to wait while The Nameless Files continues to grow and come to life.
Does this happen to you? Do you have more ideas in your imagination then you can commit to paper at one time? How do you manage those multiple ideas?
By Shari Marshall – 2021
Brewing Coffee, Twisting Words & Breaking Pencils 
The stories play out in my head for years.
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One year for A to Z, I wrote 26 different scenes. Disconnected ideas, some of which had nowhere to go and some turned into novels. But it really helped to get it all out of my head.
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Wow, that’s a busy A to Z but I can see how it would be helpful!
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I wrote most (or all) of them in advance. That helps! I try to do that so I can focus on reading other blogs. Sometimes it works, haha.
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That is a great plan!
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Hi Shari.
I start with a few item in mind.
1) which is not negotiable: the starting scene, the middle or end? Often, this decision dictates the rest or at least hedges it in.
2) write a first cut of that scene
3) decide a soft word limit to control your investment in scenes yet unwritten.
4) write what the muse directs
5) check your progress against your word limit and adjust your own expectations as needed.
6) I like to do some editing along the way for paragraphs the must either progress the story line, constitute really good entertainment or vital character enhancement. Other stuff has to go to protect your length limits.
7) Build in some 2 day breaks to give yourself fresh eyes to reread your own work. I even like to print out sections so it looks different than my screen and give it a sanity read with mark ups.
8) by this time scenes that are growing contrary to plan will likely stick out as being unworkable.
9) recall that the plan is mine, not the other way around so I leave myself free to see and write new stuff that occures only after my characters stand up on their own and begin to live out their parts.
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Thank you Gary.
I have been printing off and re-reading. It us interesting to see the difference it makes in a read through. I like the 2 day break idea.
Great plan.
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