Sometimes, for the larger projects, I try to find a way to maintain the essence—the atmosphere, the theme, the way it makes me feel when I read and write it—and try to maintain it so that there are now shifts. I have a back burner project called Home that my sister liked, but I got caught up in researching elements of it and then doubted my ability to implement them. I would eat Starbursts whenever I worked on it and had a very specific playlist for it (back when I still used Windows Media Player). I had playlists for others as well. Sometimes I would write at a particular time or in a particular state, feeling a particular way. Of course, those are a lot more flimsy and a bit harder to control. And so then I hit a time where I wouldn’t write until I was in the mood to continue that “essence”. I have no idea if other writers do this and if it works, but I realised that it did not work for me. It meant that I made no progress, and it stalled and then slid to the back burner. And, looking back on it, it felt like a bit of an excuse. If I can write well, I should be able to snap to the different styles of each project, doing these kinds of things just help give me a boost.

Recently, I can do “maintain essence” rather easily, at least compared to then. And with my projects now developed better in all writing aspects (character, setting etc.) I think there’s more of an anchor to grab onto when I start writing them again. I often re-read the last few pages to check it, and then ride on that development. Like a wand from Harry Potter, a project with good development has a good core, and that’s the essence.