When a brain goes wild

[wayfaringwordhack]

“What are you trying to do to me?” is a thing I whiningly asked my mind on a regular basis these past few days as I fought to come to a decision. You see, my brain has taken an idea and literally gone wild with it. The idea is huge, too huge for this small brain, I tell you.  If brain thinks I can pull this off, then brain is going to have to be super cooperative and be willing to learn, to grow, to question more deeply, to...study and Research. Yeah, Research with a capital R because if I go along with the mind’s latest schemes and machinations, this isn’t going to be a project where imagination trumps facts. Yes, well, imagination will win out--I'm a fantasist and write fiction--but to make use of the brain’s twisty turns, there have to be a lot of veracious details.

Because of these developments, I am going to have to stop NaNo. There is just no way I can write this novel right now. I have lots of Research to tend to first. Another option has occurred to me, but I'm unsure of it. I could write on another project for a few hours a day (I can usually get my NaNo words in 1-2hrs), and use the rest of my time to dig and poke at the Big Story. I'm afraid of not being able to maintain momentum, though. I tend to get sucked into one thing and go at it whole hog. Nevertheless, part of me just hates giving up something I've started. *sigh* In this case, I think I need to do what is best for me and that means removing the pressure. But something else is bothering me: I can see the new project taking a loooong time to get finished. It would be nice to have something "lighter" in the works, too. Could it just be a matter of discipline and acting like a  professional, a matter of better organizing my time?

What to do, what to do? Has anyone else ever been in a similar situation? If so, how did you handle it? Anyone have advice?

Comments

[bkdunn.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I started my big research novel in February and ended up falling in love with the research moreso than the novel. Nine months later I'm not too sure what I'm even writing about any more, although I've started in on three different research-related would-be novels.

But I'm guessing your mileage will indeed vary... :)

Good luck with it!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yesterday, I read an article about what to research and when, and I'm hoping it will help me avoid that trap. One of the main things I took away from it was, "Have a list of questions ready before you start digging in. Don't read every single book that just happens to mention the subject." I needed that reality check and reminder.

Is it spec-fic that you are writing?