You know your current novel-in-progress is in trouble when, in the space of a week or so, you get exciting ideas for not just one but two new novels you'd rather be writing.

Yes, this happened to me. I'm trying to figure it all out so I can maybe make some headway this weekend during my limited writing time (all of a sudden our weekend got crazy-busy with stuff!) and not spin my wheels any more.

First, the two cool ideas -- one is to fix up my old fantasy novel set in Chicago by merging it with my Asimov's story "Coal Ash and Sparrows" (the story is actually an "outtake" from the novel, and both sort of have a YA feel to them).

I'm excited about this project especially because I know the old novel is full of "busted stuff" (too many PoV characters, not enough depth to the characters, a plot that's a bit too manipulative and maybe too comic-book-y), and this is a good way to fix it up. In the various reviews of my story collections, "Coal Ash" always got very strong, positive reviews. And it has a nice mix of historical and modern-day material.

I was actually hashing out the details to Elizabeth while we were driving out to my parents' place, something I rarely do (I hate talking about story ideas to ANYONE, because they always sound stupid), and I found myself getting pumped up about the prospect of writing this book. I picture it as taking place in 3 different time frames, with three main characters. Much better than the 12-13 main characters I had in my very first draft of that book!

Second, I had an idea for an SF novel set in space, which prompted my previous entry about SF movies. I want to do a Hollywood-style spaceship novel that is NOT lame or a rehash of "2001." That one's in a very embryonic stage (but I still feel a bit of a buzz thinking about it, especially if/when my SF novel sells -- it'd be a great, logical follow-up).

Which leaves me with my current, neglected novel-in-progress, The All Nations Team.

Right now, it's busted too. As a wise first reader said, it's just a series of scenes right now, with no connective tissue. No forward momentum, nothing to keep the reader turning pages. I'm getting closer -- changing the point of view from 3rd to 1st helped immensely.

What I'm thinking needs to be done is to make everything bigger, put more at stake for all the characters, especially my narrator. I think I'm going to have to make it a murder mystery.

The story's about a little-known team of baseball players (whites, blacks, American Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, even female [gasp!]) who actually played together during the years before WWI, and I think I'm getting stuck by the fact that some aspects of the story actually happened, and some of the characters are based on real people. I'm having trouble fitting the plot around events that really happened.

In other words, I'm not in control of my book.

So... let's mix things up a bit! Let's give each character an agenda, each player a secret that he or she would rather die than share. Let's up the ante already.

And while we're at it, let's muck around with history and alter it as needed, eh? Maybe World War I doesn't have to happen the way it did, after all. Ooh, now the book's sounding much more cool. And much more fun to write. I'd better get to it. Later!