So, that whole graduation thing happened (YAY!) and I now have quite a bit of time to write, read, and job search :) While I was trying to figure out what to write next, I had a few options. I even started to write a story that was just as dark, and sad, and emotionally devastating as my Star Wars/Les Mis mash-up, but then when my roommates would try to ask me anything about my day, I would be all
Sorry, I had to.
Seriously, though. After listening to the Les Mis soundtrack for months, and pouring over the 1,000+ page book for inspiration, I was feeling a little down. Don't get me wrong, I love Les Mis, and will continue to love Les Mis. But when I got 22,000 words into my new story, I realized I needed a break.
Not a writing break. Just a sad story break.
I decided a change of pace would be nice. I'm about to hit 5,000 words in the new WiP and I love it :) With this story, I get to do everything I couldn't really do in my mash-up. As I've been telling my CPs for the past few days, I'm mostly really excited about this story because I get to be funny. I'm not really a serious person by nature, and my mash-up tackled things like war, unrequited love, fighting destiny, and sticking to who you are when it could have very bad consequences. It's heartbreaking, yes, and there are a few funny moments in there. But overall it's a bit serious.
This new WiP has been amazing because I can pretty much do what I want in it. There's some magic in it, and a lot of random funny moments. I'm not sure that this story will go anywhere beyond my computer (and to my lovely CPs, if they get bored over the summer), but I'm thoroughly enjoying writing this book!
Once I'm done with this story, I think I'll totally be ready to go back into a world that is beautiful and heartbreaking. I'll be ready to be sad enough to write the story I need to.
But first, I'm going to laugh. A lot.
And stare at this all day.
Because, T-Rex.
Have any of you ever had to step away from a world/story and write something else for a while?
Is this the one we talked about? And you've hit 5K already? Go, go, go! And yeah, I get taking a break from sad stories. This is a great idea to recharge your muse, Alex.
ReplyDeleteYessssssss! This is indeed the one we talked about :) In all fairness, I'd started it before I emailed you Saturday :P I think I've been writing it for like a week now, maybe?
DeleteAnd YAY for recharging the good ole muse! I think my muse definitely needed this break!
Ah the t-rex picture. I love the t-rex picture. I totally understand what you mean. I think I will have to work on something amusing once I'm done my serious WIP! Hope you are having fun with the funnies :D
ReplyDeleteThe T-Rex picture is forever and always one of my favorite things :P
DeleteI think taking a serious break every now and then is a good thing! If you end up working on something funny after your serious MS, I wish you luck!!! (and I'm always here to beta things!)
I'm definitely having fun with mine :D
So funny that I came to your blog after posting on mine about how my sad story was getting me down... but the kind of patch I'm going through and my natural writing style, I'm just not sure if I could write something lighter/funnier instead :/ so I've just sorta taken a writing break in general. This is a much better alternative though I'm not sure I'll convince myself to do it.
ReplyDeleteOh noooo I hadn't seen your blog post yet!!! I'm sorry that you're getting down :(
DeleteAnd hey, even a good ole writing break can do wonders :P You know how much I fail at *actual* writing breaks, though. This was more of a happy medium for me haha ;D