So, there’s the concept of Shiny Object Syndrome. This is where a person gets some object and totally loves it, right up until the time that some other (perceived) cooler object comes along to replace it. You can see this pretty well in kids and their toys. They’ll have a favorite toy until some other toy gets their attention. They go after the new toy while the original toy is left behind and forgotten.
My Muse has Shiny Idea Syndrome. She gets all excited about an idea, and we may work on it for a while, but then she comes up with another idea, and off she goes, full-tilt, after the new idea. Anything can trigger this phenomena – a song, a TV show, a book, an overheard conversation, an email … well you get the idea.
For instance, the latest ‘shiny idea’ my Muse is pursuing is an anime series. This came about because I was doing a beta read for a fellow author. In the story, two of his characters sit down to watch an episode of an anime series. He names the series and notes some of the things happening on screen as the characters are watching the show and talking.
My Muse immediately sat up and took notice. The idea sounded interesting so I figured I’d track it down, watch an episode or two, and see if it was something I’d like. I went off to look it up on The Internet to get some information on the series and see if it was streaming anywhere. My efforts turned up bupkis. Nary a smidgen of information anywhere about the series.
I asked the author about it and he told me he made it up for the story. It wasn’t a real anime series. He told me some of the influences he had for creating the series but that was as far as he went.
And, boom! Just like that my Muse starts trying to generate characters and storylines in an effort to create this non-existent series.
She does this quite often. I now have to rein her in before she goes too far down this road. I made some notes and filed them away in my ‘shtuff to write eventually’ file so I can circle back around to the project at some point.
I don’t have time or room in my brain to expend effort on a new project. I need to keep my Muse focused on the supernatural soap opera. This is one of those situations that makes you realize saying ‘yes’ to something means saying ‘no’ to everything else. My Muse jumping to new projects might be her way of procrastinating so she doesn’t get ‘boxed in’ to writing just the supernatural soap opera for the rest of Eternity. I have to keep reminding her that we have A LOT of projects to work on. I’m sure that if she gets bored on the soap opera we can polish off one of the ideas in the ‘shtuff to write eventually’ file for her to pursue. That will give her some variety, and a bit of diversion, so when she finishes the side project she can return to the soap opera with renewed interest.
And now … back to the soap opera.
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