While I was at the beach this weekend for a house party with friends, I got a great idea for a book. I could see the whole book—murderer, victims, clues, red herrings, and the role the setting would play in the novel. It would be a house party gone horribly wrong.
The only problem? I can’t write that book right now.
My next Myrtle Clover book is due in early November. My next Memphis Barbeque book is due April 1.
There’s no way I can work a beach party into my Memphis book. It would be geographically challenging. :)
After the April due date, I have a November one for Penguin and have the plot for that book set already.
Soooo….I’m thinking I can’t write this book for about a year.
My memory? It’s awful.
Usually I just create a new Word file, sketch out my idea, name it, and save it out to another location (usually I’ll email myself the file….lazy, but I can always locate it.)
This time, though, there’s a lot of data that I need to capture and I don’t think I have time right now to write out a full synopsis. Plus the fact that I don’t like writing to outlines.
Today I’m going to try something new and see how it works. I’ve got a voice recorder and I’m going to talk out the plot and characters. I’m hoping that it’s going to get all of my thoughts and ideas down, but won’t be as “official” as an outline or synopsis. I might see how far I can talk it out.
It’s the saving of the voice recording that I’m not sure of. I’ll need to make sure it’s someplace I can find it again.
I’m hoping that when I listen to it again, the excitement in my voice will ignite the creative process again and make it a quick write.
Does anyone else use a voice recorder? How does it work for you?