You Know That Scene?

I know you'll know what I'm talking about as soon as I say it. That scene in ghost when Whoopi is at her psychic shop and there are about a dozen ghosts standing around begging her to let them talk. I love that scene, especially since I started writing. It is exactly how I feel when I'm writing. Like there are characters inside my head battling to be next in line to tell their story. I've written three books, published two, one is still in edits. The most frustrating thing for me is when I'm in the depths of a current WIP and a character from a different story starts whispering in my ear! Yes, it's awesome to have so many ideas in my head, but those whispers make it so hard to concentrate on the story I'm currently putting my heart into.

I'm sure you author's out there have a list of stories in your head right now and you just can't type fast enough! I'm there with you. Finally completing the 2nd round of edits on book three and I can finally start on a book that I've been thinking about for over a year! I'm so excited about it.

How do you pick which story comes next? For me it's whichever ones feels most urgent to me. This one has felt that way for a while, but I was missing a piece to make it all come together. While reading a traditionally published book of my own genre, the piece finally made itself known. I was ecstatic, but I knew I needed to get through edits of book three first. What struggle it becomes when your mindset changes and switches gears when you're in the middle of something else. It makes it that much harder!

I joke about telling my characters to be quiet and wait their turn, but in reality I hope they continue talking to me until I am physically unable to write anymore. I don't know what I'd do if I ran out of characters to tell me their stories.

Does this make an author clairvoyant in some ways? I think so!