People around writers, and sometimes the writers themselves, often don't fully acknowledge the importance of thinking time. It's not just about sitting down at the keyboard, it's the head space to know where you are going next, which is why output can be hampered when life happens. Responsibilities and distractions in the real world that fill the mind and prevent creative thought.
Thinking time is necessary. When I was sitting on the end of the bed this morning, looking out of the window and watching the birds, I wasn't just day dreaming. I was thinking of a lot of 'what' and 'why' questions about the next part of the WIP.
Hero Logan has just been ambushed, in a very civilised fashion, over coffee, in the office of the head of an Oxford College. His current and former bosses are trying to manoeuvre him into taking on a particular job. I know what the job is and I know why he would be reluctant to take it. It's a return to a part of his life that he considers to be over, for a man that he no longer trusts. He has to take it though, or the book grinds to a halt here.
Are you getting an idea of what I was working out while I was watching seagulls? Yes. One of those 'why' questions. Why would Logan agree to take the job? I'm still working on it.
An innocent person needs help, and Logan has the suitable skills to provide it. Curiosity. He suspects that there is more going on than he is being told. Possibly an element of boredom. Maybe he misses the action and danger of the life he has tried to turn his back on?
I'm working on knitting those together, and maybe there will be a few more in the mix when I come to write it, I know he will not be giving in easily, so there s going to be quite a bit of semi-hostile dialogue before we get to that point, and a few hints about the past that I hope will intrigue the reader. They might intrigue me too, if I've not entirely worked out what they are and where they fit.
And there is another place opening up for all important thinking time
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