How to choose your next project; at least how I chose mine!

(Didn’t I start my last post with this?) If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll be able to see (sorrysorrysorry) that I had a sort of hissy fit/freakout last night. For those who DON’T follow me on Twitter, don’t care, or look me over as inconsequential (been there- no hard feelings) my hissy fit was about not-so-top-secret project #2. (No hashtag intended.)

 I had three options, which I will now refer to by their short titles: Darcy, Foodie and Alaska. The way I get my ideas is best described by Elizabeth Gilbert, in a video I posted awhile back.  My ideas come like a charging bull, running either straight at me, or close by. My job is to grab that bull by the horns and capture the idea. Sometimes I miss the bull, and it keeps charging ahead to find some other writer willing to pay attention.

The problem that I was having, is that all three of these ideas are different, and I really could go either way. They all three take place in different cities; Foodie’s about food, (thank you captain obvious) Alaska’s about music, and Darcy is about writer. I can distinctly remember when I got all three ideas, Darcy while brushing my teeth, Alaska while visiting a small town in Washington (The town is called Alaska Junction, if anyone’s curious... Thus the title), and Foodie while in the car late one night on my way to the beach. Darcy is more chick-lit, while Alaska and Foodie are both YA. Each of them has a really cute boy, and I can see each character clearly in my head. Are you seeing my problem?! I care enough about these three ideas that I can’t imagine choosing one just by randomly pointing, or drawing a slip of paper out of a hat.

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I chose Alaska.

For those of you asking how, I’m still figuring that out myself. I compared all three to choose which was the most UNLIKE March. Callie (MC of Alaska, and my new BFF.) is younger than most of the characters I’ve written before, and younger than Erin. Callie is an only child, Erin has three siblings, a brother-in-law and a niece or nephew on the way.

If I could get any author to blurb the cover of March, it would be Sarah Dessen- it’s that kind of book. If anyone blurbed Alaska, I’d like to hope it would be Hannah Moskowitz, John Green, Lauren Myracle, or Libba Bray. Bit of a difference. (For those curious, Darcy would probably be Jane Green, Jennifer Weiner or Jodi Piccoult, and Foodie would be more Maureen Johnson, Elizabeth Eulberg, Stephanie Perkins, maybe Meg Cabot?)

All of my ideas (can’t call them novels just yet) deal with friendship. Darcy and March both focus on the sometimes negative parts, and both have friendships that are (spoiler) bruised, even destroyed. As I was looking for something DIFFERENT than March, that was a strike against Darcy.  Then there were two.

Foodie is definitely a “me” book. Fiona (yes, that’s her name. No, you can’t convince me to change it. She named herself. Leave me alone.) is the daughter of a chef, and is surrounded by LOTS of really good food. Molly (yes, that’s my name. I’d like to change it. My parents named me. Leave me alone.) is the daughter of a chef, and is surrounded by LOTS of really good food. Erin had some major friendship trouble, a penchant for Twizzlers, I Love Lucy and Washington D.C. So did/does Molly, and Fiona can definitely relate. Molly, Erin and Fiona would be TOTALLY close.

CALLIE, on the other hand doesn’t have time for TV. Her wardrobe is almost 90% black, and her best friends live through her computer. Callie plays pickup basketball like one of the guys, has a blog and is constantly surrounded by music. Constantly. I can relate to certain elements, but Alaska will be a challenge, which I'm definitely ready for.

So THAT is how I chose. I’m really lucky that I was able to whittle everything down to those three... I have a document with 20 other ideas. They all have character names, plots, snippets of dialogue, locations, whatever comes to me at the time. I write them all down, and go back when I need inspiration, or a new project.

I chose Alaska this time, but you better believe that the MAJORITY of those 20 will be written. So here is my question: how do YOU choose what your next project will be, especially when you have multiple choices?

 Tomorrow will be an excerpt post from March, and then Monday I’ll have some goodies for Alaska, stuff like a playlist and pictures. But here’s something that you might find amusing right now:

Alaska is the story of a teenage girl who moves to a small town in Washington.

Sound familiar? ;)