Can You Cheat on a Story? Asking for a Friend.

The cursor winks.

The night leans in.

The coffee’s gone cold, the hour gone shameless - and still, you sit there, faithful. Loyal. True.

You tap the keys with the solemnity of a writer on a blood oath: One story. One world. One grand devotion.

You pace the room like a caged poet.

You wrestle, you reason, you bargain with thin air.

You promise you’ll stay the course.

And then -

Innocently, recklessly, wet-haired in the steam of a late shower -

A voice slides in, slick and smiling, and whispers: Look at this.

Suddenly you’re somewhere else.

With someone else.

Tangled up in a new story’s sheets.

Breathless, guilty, alive.

And your faithful manuscript?

Left waiting.

Left wondering.

Late Night Musings with Rogues and Scoundrels

There you are.

Sitting, dreaming, typing.

After a while, you walk about - pacing, thinking, solving.

You’re a committed monogamous writer.

Until you’re not.

Later that day you’re enjoying a hot shower — not thinking about betrayal, not thinking about anything.

And then a voice - intrusive, alluring - says: come over here…

And before you know it, you are dream-deep in a new, reckless romance.

Except these people aren’t part of the story you’re supposed to be working on.

They’re strangers.

They’re intoxicating.

They’re not supposed to be here.

You’re somewhere else.

With someone else.

So my question is:

Is it okay to cheat on your primary story with a new story?

Or should it just be a little harmless flirtation - a whispered see you when I’m single again, a secret tucked away until the timing feels right?

As most storytellers will tell you,

the story won’t disappear just because you’re not ready.

It’ll follow you around.

To the petrol station.

To the supermarket.

To bed.

Always watching.

Always waiting.

Always whispering.

So -

Will I return to my original story feeling refreshed, renewed, re-committed after mapping out another world?

Will I learn something about myself - thus about my characters while I’m away?

Or am I simply fragmenting my soul,

skipping from thought to thought like a flat stone across a too-still lake, never sinking deep enough to find the bottom?

(Is it artistic exploration or just creative avoidance dressed up in metaphors and candlelight?)

Is it okay to have multiple projects while you’re feeling them?

Or is it better to stay faithful to a schedule - one world, one commitment at a time?

Or, as with all great questions of the heart,

does the answer lie, predictably, painfully, gloriously… somewhere in the middle?

#CreativeInfidelity #StorytellerDilemmas #WriterLife #MultipleWorlds #RoguesAndScoundrels