When an idea strikes!

I am sure every writer has experienced this before, but I was about six chapters into the story I have started writing when I was hit with a completely new idea that has no relevance whatsoever to my current WIP. This left me with a bit of a predicament. Do I put my new idea in a back drawer, forget about it for the time being and continue with what I am currently writing which, let’s be honest, doesn’t enthuse me quite as much as this brand new sparkling idea, or do I allow myself to be enticed by this new concept, abandon my WIP at Chapter 6 and come back to it at some later date down the line?

Tricky.

I rightly or wrongly chose the latter and picked up a shiny new notebook to start plotting my new idea somewhere different from the old idea (didn’t want it to get jealous).

I know I have said this before but I love a new notebook. Blank fresh pages and the prospect of a new adventure. I particularly like my choice of notebook number two because it doesn’t have lines. This has been especially useful with the plotting and planning stage as I am a bit of a mind-mapper/ grid-maker (might be the teacher in me).  So far, I have plotted the sequence of the story, planned out some of the main characters (currently unnamed- I find coming up with character and place names to be one of the most difficult aspects of writing- I might write a blog post on this in the future. I’ve put that in bold in order to remind myself to write that blog 😊) but what I have enjoyed the most about my shiny, new idea (although the notebook is a close contender) is the fact that I have had to do a bit of research for it. I don’t want to say too much, but it involves the books below.

Let’s hope I stay committed to this idea and don’t get several chapters in when a new idea strikes and lures me away!