Nathan Bransford asked recently, When do you know if a project is going to work or not? It’s an interesting question, and so are the replies.
There’s no particular point at which I know if something will “work” or “not work”; it’s just a general feeling I get as I spend time on the project. There’s no question of throwing the piece out or stopping completely on it; I have a tool I use to figure out what isn’t working, and to fix it so it works again. I use brainstorming to track what fuels my passions, and I also track what I dislike or what bores me. The mind-maps I make are independent from any given work-in-progress (If you’re familiar with Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways ecourse, I basically use the “Sweet Spot Map”.) This way, when I’ve been working on something for a little while—or better yet, when I’m first planning my idea—I can see quickly why my interest is fizzling out.
It works like this: Is my Major League Baseball pitcher hero making me yawn? Maybe that’s because “sports” is on my Boring List. So I turn him into something I know I’m excited about. A 17th century poet is better. Yes, everything will have to change around him (unless I want to write a time-travel story, which I don’t.) I can adjust my idea to fit. The point is, rather than having to start over from scratch with a new idea, I’ve tweaked my idea so that it’s the right idea for me. It may not be anything like the original story, but the point is that I still have an idea.
This is useful at any stage of the process, and sometimes it’s possible to tweak things just enough that I don’t have to start over from scratch. The only time this method gives me trouble is when I’m writing about a topic that I like to read but don’t necessarily enjoy writing about. Those can be harder to peg.
