I have been working on developing my fantasy world for a few months now, but just yesterday I thought up a great story idea. Now I'm torn between which story to pursue. I've put the most work into the first, but the new idea seems more promising to me. I feel stuck: do I keep working on building my world and set this new idea aside until I've finished with the majority of the world-building? Do I put it on a shelf and revisit it in a few years? Or do I put the world-building on hold and focus on this new story? Or do I try to juggle both stories at the same time? <-- (That's how I feel at the moment.)

How about the rest of you? What do you do when you have been working on one story and then another idea pops into your head? I'm really new to this novel-writing thing so I'm pretty clueless.

Also, what do you think of this storyline? It's the "new one" that I came up with yesterday. It's been floating around in my mind and I've got lots of plot twist ideas...
When a brother and sister discover a broken down old house in the middle of the woods, they explore it, despite the warnings of the superstitious locals of the rural town, who claim that the house is haunted and cursed. The siblings discover old documents in the attic which tell about a hidden network of tunnels and caverns beneath the forest. Eventually, the two find the entrance and explore the tunnels and learn that the caverns were built and once inhabited by a race of people, who fled through a portal into another world to escape _____ (still haven't figured this part out). Unfortunately, this portal is one-way and now the people are stuck in a deteriorating world. The only ones who can rescue them are the two siblings, who have to decide whether or not to risk their lives and rescue this doomed race.

Slightly cliché, but my mom and I like it.

So, what do you think?

In Christ alone,
~ Alaethea

Stick with your original story!! That's the key, if a new idea pops up write the plot down in a notebook and forget about it. You can always go back to old story ideas after you have finished one book. If you jump around from story to story you'll never finish one. Or at least that's the case with me.
Elisabeth

I think it really depends on what type of person you are. I, personally, can be writing three books at the same time and still manage to finish them all fully developed and well written (or so others have said). However, I am also the type of person that can be reading anywhere from five to fifteen books at the same time and still keep everything straight. Whether or not you can juggle two story lines at that same time is really up to you, and it depends on whether or not you are a die-hard multitasker. If you are not a crazy person like me, I would definitely stick with your original story. It is better to finish what you start than to try and start something else and possibly not finish the other.

Your story line sounds fascinating; it will be interesting to see where you take it if/when you develop it further.

Lady Esmeralda is right: there are a lot of ways to do it. One thing to do is to merge your stories into one: making a very involved, complex, and unique story (if done correctly). But if you write it down and visit it later, it will be better, period. Your mind will never stop working on it subconsciously, and it will improve with age.

It's probably better to continue working on the story you've already started because otherwise you're likely to forget about the first one (maybe not completely, but you'll want to work on the new story more).
I've made that mistake a couple times .

And besides, you'll get more practice writing/editing this story before moving on to the next one and your new one will be even better

The story idea sounds very interesting! Definitely something I would read.

I am new to writing, but if I were in that situation I would probably write the idea down but stick with the original story. It sounds very promising, yes. But for me, I think I would be more connected with the characters of my original story and I wouldn't want to lose that connection before jumping into a new story. It's obviously different with every person. If you keep a notebook, you could write down the idea and add possible details as you think of them, while still writing your original story.

I like what Sir Emeth was saying though..If you could somehow merge your new story idea with your original story that would be pretty amazing! Not sure if I could do that yet!

I was actually discussing this a little while ago with my mom. For me, it is a given that I will write for the rest of my life. Therefore, my mom was saying, working with what I have now, write down the ideas, and work on them later, because if you become an author by profession, then you will need new story ideas.

But, as Lady Esmeralda has said, if you can keep the original going and work on the new idea, that is fine. Or... I like what Sir Emeth said. That is what I did in my story that I am writing now. If you can merge ideas, that is great, too. In the end it all depends on what you, as a writer, feel you should do. I have three stories right now, only one of which I am working on in hopes of finishing in time to use my NaNoWriMo coupon. I doubt that'll happen, but thanks to a crazy November, I am farther now than I have ever been.

I have to learn how to balance writing new NaNo novels and keep up the old ones.... that is a challenge in itself....

I was going to write something about stories being like good old cheese, but it was terribly cliche.

What I do is consolidate. But, this is because I have a bad habit of creating a world, then creating an entirely separate story. The natural thing would be to create a story in the world I'm working on, but I can't seem to do that! So, I force my inner editor to find a way to consolidate the story with the world.