There comes a time in your writing journey where writing is just at the tip of your repertoire. You prepare the work in progress that you have been dying to write. And the fact of the matter is that sometimes, the topics that you want to write about can shift and change as you allow yourself to experience life more and get to understand on what it means to grow older and to have more tools under your writing tool kit which would make it easier for the writer to be able to convey the emotions and life experiences that the central characters go through as you are writing your story:
What has happened for me to feel that way?
I am a believer of writing stories where you’re able to entice people in with your personal experiences. And there is a possibility you can be a writer who has never explored those experiences and has done thorough research into the matter of the topic of interest. If it were up to me, there are topics where most people experience these events should be written after you have had some experience in it.
But this is only if it is safe to do so. Don’t get yourself into dangerous experiences which can risk your life, as that isn’t the best way to be an experiential writer. The only way that it may seem attainable is unless you have unfortunately got that experience, or you know someone else who has had it, ask them about their thoughts and feelings into it. We do not want to put anyone’s lives into danger, but it is inevitable. In some cases, these awful experiences happen to people and there was no benefit to the person who has experienced these events, nor would there be a benefit to you if you experienced it. It may damage you more than you would like.
Is research king…?
To some aspect, it could be. In the scenario that I had listed above, it is the best way. However, there is something very special to being able to experience everything that you can, but there’s always going to be that topic where there’s going to be a question into how we’re going to piece it all together. So in scenarios like this, that’s where it’ll get be beneficial to use the research in terms of gathering what you need to know about the particular topic of choice, and seeing if there is a way to use it which might provide more useful to the story that’s being conveyed between the writer and the reader.
And there may also be some cases where you may not have had that experience of learning how to do particular topics of a story. Like slow burning. This topic was clunky when I have tried writing my story. At times, the way the story was written is as if I am forcing them together. This made some of the scenes clunky, and unrealistic. Instead as I have gained the experience, it seems as if the falling in love is nuanced. There could be shyness on both ends as the couple are trying to figure their feelings out. At times, the feelings of how deep they are feeling for each other is unrecognizable. But after one character realizes their feelings for each other the way they explore that character, whether it’s physical, emotional, psychological, however that is. The pattern is obvious. And the other characters outside of that interest will be like tigers, trying to claw their way into your life and say “HEY! We know you like this person!” And try absolutely anything to help you realize it. Some people can recognize those feelings earlier, others… Well… They recognize it a lot later. This all really depends on the character.
Is this some form of projection I’m making?
Maybe.
But even finding ways where the characters are able to connect and just relate to each other can make both of the characters more relatable to the reader, and not as if they are just there because of the other character being there. They need to be individual characters living their own individual lives.
Maybe my… Euphoric experiences are teaching me more than I have expected. Especially for the fact that I find myself on the verge of learning lots of new ways of creating characters that could become more human, the subtleties of how connections are formed and that… I find myself getting myself getting out of topic out of Conjured Secrets, and instead am exploring this big and mind boggling roller coaster ride that I have found myself into. And that topic is love.
Now is it a good thing?
I will be honest. Sometimes it is difficult to consider that there could be other projects that are running through your mind at the moment, and some of those topics, have their own story to tell. And they might want to be told earlier or at least be crammed up your mind enough to make yourself wonder, be curious and be like, ‘I want to be able to make space for this.’ And in this instance, it’s ok.
This is all in hopes that eventually, you’ll be able to get back into your project. But again, that is something that you’ll be able to see over time.
In terms of the jumping through multiple project matters:
I hope that this post has helped you in taking to the matters, of whether you are beginning your writing journey, getting half way into editing your story, that it is ok to find the need to explore different aspects of your writing projects. There is always the possibility to come back to that project and write the thing that you always wanted, yet at the same time, there could be other thoughts that may take center stage. And the aspect of wanting to explore it, is alright. The thing that you need to remember is to make sure that you are not sacrificing yourself for the wrong reasons.