Nathan Bransford recently posted about when you know a story idea is going to work or not. Is it after you've written the first chapter? The first ten chapters? I think each writer needs to find that out for him or herself.
I started a new project at the beginning of 2010 that I'm slowly but surely working on. Yesterday I reached the ten thousand word mark and I think this one is going to work. I feel it in the writing and in the characters, who keep giving me new ideas and turns for the story. The biggest reason I know this story is working though is because I'm still PASSIONATE about it. Most story ideas grow stale after a few chapters and I end up coming to a dead end or I stop caring what happens. If I stop caring I know the reader will too and I know it's time to ditch that story and start fresh.
My goal for this book (a middle grade novel) is to have the manuscript complete and ready to submit to agents by the end of summer. That's four months from now. I guess I better get busy and go write!
