Last week, I talked about all these ideas that appear between stories and trying to decide which one to work on next. Part of having new ideas is that in the beginning it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle and the pieces are kind of strewn everywhere, not just on top of the table where I want to work and I don't have the box cover to work from.
The hunt it down stage, when I try to find the critical pieces--let's call them the edge pieces--is both frustrating and exciting. The frustrating part is not knowing what the puzzle is supposed to look like. So I have these few pieces in my possession and I'm kind of looking at them and going, hmm. I turn them this way and that, trying to decide where they go, but not really figuring that out.
The exciting part, though, is when I find one of those edge pieces. It gets my brain whirring faster and suddenly some of those pieces I had earlier fit! I love that. It erases the frustration as if it never existed.
And the more edge pieces I get, the less frustration I experience because answers come more quickly as more and more of the framework is there to work with.
Right now, I'm mostly in the frustration part of the equation. I'm starting to get an edge piece or two, but not really enough to know what I'm working with yet. I know it's a trilogy. I know it's in the Blood Feud world. I know who my three couples are, although I'm not sure what the third heroine is yet. I know who the bad guy is and what his goal is, but I'm not sure how this unfolds over the three books. That's the part making me the most nuts.
But I'm starting to get a small glimmer. Not enough to leave the frustration behind--not yet--but I have no doubt that it won't be much longer before things start falling into place. I can't wait!
