I’m at the point where I need to start writing the next book. I’m also trying to decide which book that is – I have several things which I’d like to get done by the end of the year – and then I can read back into the series and start on it. Also, I should be working with editors on my finished story (it edged towards novelette in length) to get that wrapped for publishing. Mostly, though? My son is home on his transfer leave, and I’m really enjoying spending some time with him. I will be prioritizing that, mostly.
I don’t have a story bible for either of the series I’m mostly considering for continuation next, and that’s a project I need to stop putting off and get done. It’s not my happy place, but… well, it’s necessary if I am going to ensure I don’t mess up plot lines and time lines. Last time I tried to create one, I used a spreadsheet and I’m not sure that was the best way, but… but.. butt!
Sigh. I am sometimes my own worst enemy when it comes to writing. I want to write, I really enjoy writing, I love research. Keeping the worlds tidy? Boring! My brain wants to bounce off down bunny trails after bits of story that have escaped the main series. There are days I seriously consider only ever doing one-off stories. But no, my brain likes telling stories about the same characters, and shouldn’t we give that character a spin-off book of their own, that would be fun, and don’t forget we love the other character who should have a prequel to tell the story of how they got that way, and, and, and…
I bought a set of over-the-head headphones. Specifically for my son’s leave, since he’s in the studio/guest bedroom until the end of the month. Sharing an office with my husband has upsides, but the downside is that unless I signal clearly that I’m writing, he’ll talk to me, and that throws me out of the story, and the more times I have to fight back into it, the less inclined I am to do so. I think the big headphones will be a good visual to ‘Shush!’ and if I get up very early to write I can manage at least an hour uninterrupted and when I’m in the flow that is a thousand words. Today? it will be two blog posts.
Also, a start on a story bible for a series. I think. Have to tie my brain to the mast and tell it to ignore the siren song of story ideas being sung at it. Onward! Into the straits of boredom sail we! the rocks and shoals of distractions lie all about us. Wait, the toilet needs cleaning? Indistinct sounds of wood breaking and crashing follow.
Mad Genius Club 
26 responses to “Unfocused”
“that throws me out of the story, and the more times I have to fight back into it, the less inclined I am to do so.”
Substitute “code” for “story” and all IT feels your pain.
I think any creative task which involves serious concentration suffers from this!
Except sometimes when you are stuck, both the code and the story may require you break your focus to regroup, either by going on a walk or telling all to the rubber duck.
My experience is that “telling all to the rubber duck” is just part of the coding, so doesn’t break focus as much as having to think about or do something unrelated.
The walk around is, in my experience, exactly to break the focus and joggle ideas into new configurations.
I’m a huge fan of ZIM the desk top wiki. Why? Because you can cut a chunk out of your ‘script and give it a title, like for example:
Patricia Waters Run Clear
Created Saturday 27 April 2024
look up MILF in an unabridged dictionary, and you find her picture. She could pass for twenty, but her son had to be at least sixteen, so she had to be about twice that. Blond hair, blue eyes, about five foot, five inches, about one hundred ten pounds, and most of that was concentrated in her tits and ass. I found out later she got her degree in sociology.
Magic smells like cinnamon and vanilla.
“It all dates back to me Great Granther. See, he was one of the Gentry.” she paused, and noticed my confused look, “You know, one of the Faire folk,” she paused again. “He was a leprechaun.”
“Well now, don’t you see, it’s a part of me. I am by nature magical. Oh, I don’t have much in the way of spell casting ability, that often skips a generation or two, but some certain things are just part of the family trait.
sociology major, active in local charities “Former Rah-Rah, Sociology major for pity’s sake. Big in several of the local charities, first generation Irish American, thinks the sun rises and sets in Bob’s ass, great wife and mother, but shallow as a mudpuddle.”
Robert Junior was a sixteen year old boy, with all that that implied. He was mostly monosyllabic. Red hair, sort of short, at about five foot two, and weighed maybe one hundred twenty pounds. he’s going to have a powerful magic.”
His sister Samantha was fourteen. That’s the age where the phone gene kicks in. I swear, I think the girl was injected with a phonograph needle at birth. Samantha looked just like Mary probably did at that age. Black hair, high cheekbones, long legs… she was already fairly tall, about five foot four or so, and was around one hundred and ten pounds.
Great Gramps is Sean FitxCecht
I cut the original bit out of the ‘script where I introduced her, then as other things came out in other stories, I just added on, like the bit about Great Grampa, which played a role in a short story involving her.
Thanks! I think I’ll give this a try.
I actually had pretty good luck getting Claude Haiku 3 to do some Story Bible work for me on the space regency, although that involved buying some credits through openrouter so I could feed the whole 18K words wip into the context window. If you’re not comfortable doing that, it’s understandable, but it was an interesting experiment.
I may look into that. I’m not worried about doing it, it’s more… hallucinations and such at a certain length.
I’m still a big fan of Scrivener for the purpose. I create places for character info (including pics & important facts), high-points of past & upcoming series stories, etc., etc.
I keep hesitating to spend that much money on something I may hate, as I don’t outline.
They used to have a free trial and black Friday sales fwiw. Not sure if they still do.
I think they still have a 30 day non contiguous free trial.
I just
I just
I hesitated to buy any tools for writing but then tried Scrivener Trial and I love it. I just converted to paid today.
I have no trouble paying for tools, but I bought Plottr years ago and never used it, so I’m a little wary.
. . . bounce off down bunny trails after bits of story that have escaped the main series . . .
Yeah.
“Other people in a similar situation would have found a different way out” sort of sums up my last, uh, five or six thing I’ve *finished* and I’m not even going to look at the unfinished ideas.
I admire your discipline in sticking with the Big Series as long as you have!
Well, big universe, but I’ve got unpublished urban fantasy and two separate space operas I really ought to finish . . .
Probably the best thing for a series bible not being shared with others is a personal wiki.
I don’t use it as much as I should, but I like Obsidian, because it works in Markdown, which is what I write in to begin with:
https://obsidian.md/
Probably the more popular one to use is Zim:
https://zim-wiki.org/
Both are free and open source. But then one still has to *do* the bible…
Yeah… well, when I’m procrastinating it can be a task that isn’t writing, I suppose?
I’ve been known to procrastinate by going back and revising a scene that really does need that revision rather than going onward.
I find working on world building to be very therapeutic and a great complement to writing the story. I frequently refactor (to borrow a term from programming) my world bible after writing a chapter or two.
In my initial long form writing project, the main story is around 80,000 words and about 2/3 done. the world bible and character bible are around 35,000 words. I have enjoyed both processes immensely.
I don’t world-build. Not in any traditional sense. I’m a pantser, flying by the seat of my pants. I come back later and continuity check, adding in foreshadowing and correcting anything which doesn’t make sense in the world. Which is part of my trouble with a series bible, it’s all after the fact.
I’m so much of a panster that way that my stories tend to need their own world.
I do have a series WIP. Three books!