Behind the pen...

I find the psyche of an artist captivating, and an author is no different. I'm convinced that an artist's brain operates just a little different, "all the colors of the rainbow" and all that adage.  


I follow author Shiloh Walker on twitter and found a recent tweet of hers, pronouncing that she had just trashed her wip and is starting all over again, interesting enough for me to email her.  The analytical part of brain screamed, "Surely you can make it work!  Don't just throw all that work away."  (see different O/S)  Here's what commenced...


Email out:

What does it take for you to trash something you've work so hard on?  I mean let's say you have a 100 page WIP vs 20 page WIP  and you decide you don't like it;  would they both get tossed or would you try to work with the 100 page WIP b/c you've put so much more into it?  I mean, as an artist once you've decided against something is that it no matter what?  And how do you truly start over, how do you not let your old ideas get in the way of your fresh start? I'm not a writer so maybe it's like trying to explain to a child how to perform brain surgery, but as an avid reader I'm very intrigued.

Email in:

Eh, sometimes a story just isn't the going the way it needs to go and basically, the only way to get over it is trash it.

Think of it like cooking, maybe.  You're baking a cake and realized you accidentally threw in salt instead of sugar and even though you spent all afternoon working on it, if you want it to turn out right, the only choice you have is to dump it.

some of the idea might still be usable, but right now I'm too frustrated with it to even try.

It happens.  With some of us more than others, but eh...there ya go.  O.o  As to the page count-it doesn't really matter, if I realize I'm stuck and the only chance to fix it is a fresh start, then I'll dump it all.  I've trashed a 200 page wip without batting an eye lash-sometimes it's just the only way to go.