Hello all,
I would like some advice concerning my current WIP (if it can even be called that) and whether I should even start writing it.
So a month or so ago, I said to myself that I was going to start working on a new novel called The Dragon’s Descendant. It was supposed to be a fantasy romance based around the classic tale of the damsel in distress. It was about Princess Luscinia, the princess of a minor district of a larger empire, who was selected to marry Ahren, the descendant of an infamous warlord known as ‘The Dragon’, who fought and was beaten by the empire early in its history. He made a pact that he and his children would be held as prisoners of this kingdom in a dungeon in his old fortress, but in return would be married to royals from various districts in the empire. So Luscinia is thrown in a dungeon with Ahren, but wants to help him escape because he’s never done anything wrong and yet he’s been trapped underground and tortured his entire life. So with the help of the only sympathetic guard, she plans their escape.
Here’s the thing. It’s been a month, and I haven’t touched it. I haven’t even written a single chapter in its entirety. And it’s not because I’ve been worldbuilding or developing the characters or outlining the plot, I just haven’t been working on it. It’s not because I dislike the idea, but I just haven’t been motivated to pick it up and start. Like the title says, I’m not really feeling it. I think one of the problems is that when I start a story, I need to write a chapter (not necessarily the first chapter) or two so I can give myself a taste of what the story will be like, and it also gets me in the headspace of ‘I’m working on this now’. I haven’t finished this for The Dragon’s Descendant yet, and I think that is what is making me so uninspired by it. To me, it doesn’t even feel like I’ve started work on it yet.
However, a lot of other ideas have been taking up space in my mind instead. There are several, some of them are old, some of them I only just came up with in the past few weeks, but what they all have in common is that I can’t stop thinking about them. I just feel so much more eager to invest time in these ideas, but it doesn't feel right to start a new WIP when I haven’t even started my ‘current’ one. And I’ve never been the type of person to actively be working on multiple books at once before, and I’m not sure if I want to start doing so. I don’t really see anything against it, but I have heard advice not to and maybe I’ve taken it too much to heart.
Here are the other ideas I am currently debating between if you’d like to know more:
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the girl and the beast (but in human form) meet in their dreams, and things play out slightly differently after he’s freed from his curse.
The Little Mermaid but it goes both ways (so the mermaid becomes human but the guy also becomes a merman, and they’re leading double lives above and below the surface).
This story about a trio of pilgrims in Japanot who have deadly secrets and are trying to kill evil yokai that’ve taken over the sacred mountain, and one of them may or may not be after another’s head. (Two of them are also in love.)
A murder mystery inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (but without any of the ‘Frankenstein’ aspects).
The continuation of the story I wrote for the Spring contest.
If anyone would like to hear a little more about any of the ideas, feel free to DM me.
So, what do you all think? Do I push on with The Dragon’s Descendant to see if I really do like it? Do I start one of those other stories? Do I stop being so rigid and just write multiple stories at once?
Thanks in advance and happy writing!
Hello Nae!
So here's my past experience: There was a period of time where I was getting a lot of ideas for books that I wanted to exist but had no motivation to bring them to life. I wrote down semi-detailed plots for some of them, others I just wrote…