What’s Next?

How do you choose what to write next?

One of my friends asked me that recently. She is also a writer and sometimes this sort of decision making becomes a giant procrastination generator for her. This isn’t a question I think about a lot. This post is my attempt to streamline and simplify the wordy jumble I gave her.

The more time I spend debating the next project, the less time I’m spending on telling the story. And that’s frustrating when I have so many in my head, clamoring to make it to the page.

My favorite strategy: listening to what feels right. Seriously.

I have to know enough about my story — who’s in it, where it’s headed — that I don’t get hung up on figuring things out as I go. That’s a great way for me to bog down in details and procrastinate. Or never reach the end. The trick there is that I discover so much of my story while writing that I can’t find that line between needing more planning or more research and having enough.

And it has to talk to me.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and a quiet story won’t get written. Which is how one story sometimes muscles another out of the way.

Case in point: I didn’t intend to start the novel I’m working on now. I planned what would come next: a fun stand-alone with sequel potential straddling urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Something potentially sale-able. Because, you know, that’s where I want to be and what I want to be doing.

Instead, something made me return to a rough draft I wrote three years ago, the first in a series of seven. And I got excited all over again. The sort of excited where anyone forced to listen to me gush wants to duct tape my mouth shut. So here I am, working on book two of seven, falling in love with my world and characters all over again.

But if my planning criteria doesn’t work for you (maybe you’re a total pantser, or maybe you’re trying to figure out which one you should plan next, or maybe that just doesn’t work with your process) or relying on instinct makes you nervous, another option is to list out all the stories ready for you to write them. Assign numbers and roll some dice. That can be a fun way to choose writing prompts, too.