The in between phase of creative work

I find myself in between projects. I submitted my second novel’s manuscript to my publisher Cinnamon Press, but I don’t want to keep working on the third till I get the feedback.

To complicate things, I have two new ideas. So not only am I between projects; I have to make a decision on which project to start. Decision making like this is not easy for me, and as someone who relies on having a creative project to mull over in stray moments, I feel slightly adrift.

Moving between an established fictional world to something new can be incredibly difficult. A graduate wrote me a couple of summers ago saying he was having difficulty starting a new project after finishing his novella in my class. I reminded him - and now I’m reminding myself - that a writing new character will never be as easy as writing an established character. You know your established character’s tricks, foibles, speech patterns and reactions. All of that is there to explore in the new character. I’ve been writing Max Falkland in one form or another since 2012, and now I have to meet my new protagonist, somewhere either in 1930s London or 1930s and 40s Kentucky. It’s not an easy choice, although a book my colleague Sarah Lloyd gave me has helped tip me towards one!