I posted a few sentences from my "guilty pleasure" project yesterday, but here's the full opening paragraph:
Some people worry about going to hell, but I go there everyday. It smells like bacon, and there’s a never-ending supply of heart attack–inducing food leaving the kitchen. You have two choices for seats: eternally sticky red booths, or chairs that could break under your weight at any second. The devil himself runs the grill, barking out orders with zero tolerance for mistakes. Most people call him Old Man Parker. I call him Dad.
Ah, there's nothing like a book you shouldn't be writing, no? There's no pressure—it's just something to mess around with, something to stretch your writing muscles, something FUN.
When I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday, @Lee_G_Malone said to me: Every book is the book you shouldn't write. I had to laugh at the truth of it. I mean, the shear act of writing a book is insane. It's so much work—and for the most part unpaid work. And yet there are thousands and thousands of writers tapping out books they shouldn't be writing.
And strangely enough? Those books we shouldn't be writing always seem to turn out the best. They are the ones that end up having that all-too-necessary spark. They are the ones that we pour our love into, and it shows. Not to say the "should be working on" projects suck—because they don't—but the "side projects" are the ones that keep my creative juices going, so that I CAN work on what I should.
TRANSPARENT? I first wrote it as an outlet project when I was neck deep in edits on another book.
SIDEKICK? My outlet when I was editing TRANSPARENT.
HOUSE OF IVY AND SORROW? My beautiful distraction while I've been on submission.
The new one? Something to play with while I edit SIDEKICK.
Notice a pattern? Yeah. I, uh, write to take a break from writing. It sounds ridiculous, but it's totally true. It's just how I work. There's nothing like a fresh story to play around with. It keeps me going while I edit, while I wait. I wouldn't be anywhere without the stories I shouldn't have written.
I think it's one of the most common writerly "Afflictions". We get into a space where we're still "technically" writing, even if we aren't working on what we should be working on.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. I started my most recent project because I was making myself crazy with querying for the first book and the distraction has worked beautifully.
ReplyDeleteIt's worked so well that I now forget to check my query email account for days at a time, an unprecedented thing.
Glad to hear it. I might just write my new idea while editing Doorways. ^_^ Enjoy your new shiny project.
ReplyDeleteThat's totally what I'm doing right now! The only problem is that I'm so distracted I forget about my real WIP. :)
ReplyDeleteOmg LOVE the opening paragraph. HAHAHA! PLS MOAR?
ReplyDeleteAlso, you and Lee_G_Malone are so right. In terms of writing time, I'm staying monogamous, but I have to admit, my mind wanders, fantasizes, creates... But that's what a writing career is made of, right? A long string of relationships with new characters and stories. :)
I shouldn't be writing the story I'm writing right now either, but during the revision process it's a great way to keep the right side of my brain exercised. :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your opening!
ReplyDeleteYour pattern is brilliant. Brandon Sanderson took a break from writing what he was writing with the intent to just write a short story. What he ended up with was a 4th Mistborn book. Works for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd like Candice, I love your opening!
That's how I got my current WIP, and wouldn't you know it, it's got far more long-term potential than the story I used it to take a break from!
ReplyDeleteBut the words are coming -- not gonna question it. :)
I am with you! In fact, I know a writer struggling with the thought of turning to something else as he re- re- re-writes his first novel, and I'm going to send him the link to this post. He called it infidelity, but I have found it so helpful over the years to dwell on another project so that I can come back fresh to the first one.
ReplyDeleteIs there such a thing as "the book I should be writing?" I suppose if you're under contract there is, but beyond that?
ReplyDeleteFantasy-Fiction-Romance or whatever you want to call it-I think it's going to be fun rather than what I should or shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteShhhh, I am writing a book I shouldn't be writing, too!
ReplyDeleteShelley
I love the books you shouldn't be writing. You must have a rebellious nature like I do. The minute I tell myself I can't do something, it's all I want to do. Keep not writing that book and I'll keep not reading it. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a lot to learn from you -- my distractions and breaks aren't nearly as productive, creative, and amazing as yours are!
ReplyDeleteOpening paragraph is amazing!!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this the other day. I struggle with a lot of societal 'rules'. For example, society says you should finish thing 1, and then start thing 2; this is more true the more connected thing 1 and things 2 are.
ReplyDeleteBut recently I've started reading more than one book at a time. I think my Kindle started it, because I always have several books with me. I was trying to help a friend who's doing a Lit degree, by writing a summary of Farewell to Arms, but I found I needed to take a break and read something less Hemingway in between. Now I read like 4 books at a time.
And then I wondered how it would apply to writing. Thanks for showing me.
PS, Your voice is awesome!
What a fun, freeing idea. There is something about calling something a "guilty pleasure" that makes it feel a whole lot less like work!
ReplyDelete