History becoming the Story

[Nihilium 7th]

I'm currently building up the history for a wip which entails writing many short stories, poems and the like. Recently I have found one particular event in history quite interesting to the point where it has turned from a short story to a full fledged story. Should I stop before it becomes a whole new novel and put the main wip on hold or should I continue?

 

[Trick]

I have planned out my epic over the past ten years but stopped writing it because I need to improve my writing before I tackle something of it's size. Anyway, when I first got the idea for the original book I started world building and it ended up being the third book and probably not as gripping a tale as any of my others. Not that it is bad, just not as good for a starting point.

I say, determine the best place to start in this world you're creating and write that. On the other hand, if you're well into writing you're WIP, postponing it is not usually a good idea. This is just opinion of course.

 

[skip.knox]

Beware of this interest being in fact a way to avoid working on the main WIP. Trick is onto the key point here: how far along in the main story are you? I mean actual words written in a reasonable draft. If it's not very far, this other interest might be worth pursuing. Otherwise, spend a day making notes, then bury it. Put an event on your calendar six months hence--it will be a promise to yourself that you will return. I've got several such buried. I find having a specific date when I'll be allowed to re-visit them really helps me not fuss. (only for a day, if the main WIP is still IP)

 

[JRBoschen]

I had a similar experience to Trick.

When I started writing my first book, I found myself writing references that made me more interested in telling an earlier story. Now my first wip is really going to be a much later book in a series.

I would recommend at least outlining your original wip as far as you've taken your plot. I've always found writing what comes easily to be the most useful. It also tends to be more well written.

If nothing else, having this other story really taking off will be practice for when you return to working on your original wip.