Writing Dangers: Shiny New Idea Syndrome

Photo credit: louvecienne on Flickr

So that wonderfully fantastic thing happened again when one of you amazing people suggested a topic that I could have sworn I’d covered, except it turns out I’d only ever touched on, because when talking about discipline, one of you lovely commenters (you know who you are—thank you!) posted this:

“I don’t know if you’ve ever discussed this already, but one thing I thought might be interesting, is your views on when to start new stories. Such as, you are working on one novel and have another great idea. Do you keep finishing the first one and then work on the second even if your enthusiasm dips or do you start the new one immediately and use that enthusiasm to your advantage?”

I think this is a fantastic question because there is little doubt in my mind that most writers (if not all) experience what I like to call Shiny New Idea Syndrome at one point or another throughout their writing careers.

For those of you who aren’t acquainted with this beast, Shiny New Idea Syndrome occurs when you’re in the middle of a WIP, and suddenly—BAM—a brand new tantalizing idea sneak-attacks you and starts whispering things like, don’t you want to write me? or hey, hey, why won’t you take a break from that other story and try something new? You know you want to, and makes you wonder why you’re even bothering with this other WIP when that Shiny New Idea is so much better.

Once Shiny New Idea Syndrome has attacked, a writer is faced with two options: continue with the first WIP and remember the Shiny New Idea for a later WIP, or put the first WIP aside and start writing the Shiny New Idea immediately.

As our fantabulous commenter mentioned, some writers worry that if they continue with their first WIP and leave the Shiny New Idea for later, their enthusiasm for the new project will fade, making it more difficult to write later on. And while this is a perfectly legitimate fear because yes, that does tend to happen with some ideas, I truly believe that if when the time comes to sit down and put the Shiny New Idea to paper, you’re no longer excited about the project, then it probably wasn’t a strong enough idea to be written into a novel in the first place.

I’ve talked about this before, so I’m not going to go into detail again, but in short, writing a novel is a very involved process that takes huge amounts of time, and if you can’t maintain enthusiasm for a new project idea while finishing a WIP you already started, then chances are you would have found it difficult to maintain that enthusiasm through the long months (or years) it takes to write and revise and revise and rewrite and edit a novel.

If, however, you do finish the first project and the Shiny New Idea is still there, tapping you on the shoulder and demanding that you get to work, then I’d say that’s a pretty good sign that you have something good on your hands. Something that isn’t just a fleeting temptation. An actual, lasting novel-worthy idea.

Because the real danger of the Shiny New Idea Syndrome is this: oftentimes writers find when they switch projects to satisfy a Shiny New Idea, part-way through that new WIP another Shiny New Idea comes along that’s so much better than the one you’re working on now, and before you know it you’ve started four new projects and haven’t finished anything.  I hear about this from writers all the time, especially new writers who haven’t finished a project before because Shiny New Idea Syndrome is a sneaky little thing.

That’s not to say that Shiny New Idea Syndrome doesn’t ever give you good ideas—it can certainly drop a perfectly sound novel-worthy idea into your mind. But I truly believe the first test of its novel worthiness is whether or not you can sustain that new-idea enthusiasm even if you don’t immediately begin writing it.

Because a truly novel-worthy idea will still be there waiting for you when you finish your first project.

So that’s my take on Shiny New Idea Syndrome. What do you think? If a Shiny New Idea hit you while working on a project, would you continue with the first project or start working on the new one? Have you ever experienced Shiny New Idea Syndrome?