Stephanie Burgis - Magical Books for Ages Ten to Fifteen

So, life goes on, and now that I've finished Kat3 and I've signed the contracts for the UK sale...well, it's time to start writing the next novel.

Actually, I'd been planning to take off some time between novels, because there's a lot more research I have to do before I can get started on the 30s screwball comedy I've been planning. I figured I'd just play around with short stories for a month or two...but then I realized that I honestly just can't cope with the angst of waiting for my first book to come out unless I'm involved and obsessed with a brand-new book.

But which book? It's really scary to start a new, unrelated book after working on one trilogy for the last four years - especially while I'm waiting to find out how that trilogy will actually do in the marketplace. I've spent the last few weeks feeling really unmoored, and every time I started trying to have fun with novel-planning, I ended up feeling panicky and scattered - the least creative mood possible.

What finally did the trick for me, no matter how weird this may sound, was a computer desktop wallpaper that I found in Smashing Magazine's March collection. I saw this wallpaper - a girl walking down a road into adventure - and something clicked inside me: Yes.

Symbolically, it works on such a great level for me, because that girl is exactly who I'm writing for - the twelve-year-old girl I used to be. And that's who and what I need to focus on right now.

I downloaded the wallpaper onto my computer. I spent some time just looking at it and letting myself daydream. Things began to click into place in my subconscious.

And then yesterday, I sat down and wrote the first 1000 words of...

...a very Jane Austen-y YA dragon book! It's silly and romantic and just for fun, and I am having such a good time with it. This is the one that has been bubbling in my subconscious for a while now, in one form or another. For a long time I thought it was a no-go because all I had originally was the concept without the characters - but then yesterday while settling MrD into a nap, the characters slid into place, my whole body started tingling with excitement...and voila! I was scribbling madly about ten minutes later.

I'm over halfway through the first chapter now, and that girl is on my desktop, reminding me every step of the way why I'm writing and who I'm writing this book for.

What about you guys? What works to inspire you when you're feeling scattered or stressed?

___

PS: I am still researching the 30s screwball comedy while writing this, so please do keep on keeping me in mind if you run across any fun 30s novels in the meantime...

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