Hello. I wonder, does anyone here work on two or more stories at once? I don't generally do this, but I've had some troubles with a recent short piece and have the urge to start something else. I've managed to iron out some of the problems pertaining to the current story, but I still wish to write a new story since the idea has been floating around for a few days. Indeed, I keep a catalogue ideas and I often want to get to the next thing. I suppose the diluting of one's creative powers, a weakening of emotion when favouring one story over the other, and generally just a lack of finished story output would be reason to focus on one story at a time. But maybe this is all in my mind? The story I want to write would only be about two or three pages and to give myself a break from the longer one, but I fear that working on something else, however short, will ultimately diminish the original project in some way. Surely all writing is good writing? I almost want some reassurance and confirmation that it wouldn't be entirely foolish to start something new.
Some people juggle multiple WIPs at once. I think you're the best judge of if it'd work for you or not. For me I do actually have two projects I consider my main WIPs right now, one is in the second-draft stage and the other is in the rough-draft. I've stalled out on writing in general for unrelated reasons (being too busy with College) but I think this will work for me. And I have 'started' a couple different projects aside from my two main-- but ultimately I ran out of 'new idea enthusiasm' pretty quick and was able to set them aside for later.
It’s not for everybody (I seem to say that a lot). I have been writing two separate stories a day since early this year. I spend an hour or so in the afternoon on one and another hour or so in the evening on the other. Although they’re both set in the same world, the characters, setting and style of the stories are quite different. One is a pot-boiler, political murder mystery in my fantasy world and tye other is, basically, True Grit in a fantasy setting (with some major changes to plot and motivations. True Grit is just the inspiration, really). Some people can’t do that. They prefer to put all their focus on the one story. Neither way is bad. It just depends on how people prefer to work. I prefer the differences between the stories. It stops me getting bored and feeling like I’m slogging words out.
I don't, but then again I write fast enough that it doesn't matter. I will burn through a 100k draft in a month, then I get on to other things. As I've said before, it doesn't matter how you do anything, so long as you finish stories. If you're not putting THE END on things, whatever you're doing isn't working.
I believe in finishing things that you have started , if you can . But if the is just an early draft , something I don't like or just can't finish it, I put it a folder and start something new . Returning to my folders to rewrite , try to finish or leave for another day is my regular way of working .
Sometimes I will work on some short stories if I need a break from novel length writing. Otherwise I finish one before the next. Now what I will do is when a first draft - including an edit pass - is done I will put it down while writing another novel. This was I can come back to the prior one in a few months and read it fresh. that inspires changes and improvements. If I get inspired for more stories along the way I just jot the ideas down in a journal rather than dwelling.
I think it's important to finish what you're writing ...otherwise, what's the point? But lots of people like to work on more than one thing at at time, which keeps them fresh. Whatever works for you. But by 'works' I mean whatever gets you to finish your stories. I wouldn't say that's diluting your creative powers, as long as the stories all get finished at some point. At least most of the time. If you never get to finishing, and are always starting over with something new, then I think you do need to readjust your approach. If you get easily distracted by the next shiny new idea, maybe get in the habit of scribbling down bits, so you don't forget the shiny new idea, but keep writing your current piece. You could even start writing the shiny new idea as well. But limit yourself to only two or three, and work on both (or more) at the same time, till they all get done. If you find yourself discouraged because you've hit a snag and decide to abandon a story altogether, this might be an even more serious problem. This might mean you are avoiding solving story problems, and if that's the case, you'll do the same with the next story as well, rinse/repeat. If a story isn't 'working,' figure out a way to make it work. Don't give up until you do. You can play around with changing setting, characters, Point of View, your original plot idea, the audience you thought you were writing for, events that happen ...just keep plugging away till the story works. Sooner or later you'll experience a Eureka! moment that shows you what can be done to get over the hump. That's very heartening. But it won't happen if you just walk away and stop thinking about it. It's unlikely that any story is going to move along without a snag. The good news is, some of the best story ideas actually come in the guise of problem solving. So don't let walking away from problems become too much of a habit. And don't get in the habit of dumping the problems on a 'committee' to solve, either. The story is entirely in your control, and in your head. So develop it and bring it to life! If you're bored with it, unbore yourself. Find some new element that re-ignites your interest. Boredom, like lots of other things, is a bad habit to encourage, if you want to be a writer who actually finishes stories and gets them published.
Asimov said that this was one of his secrets to writing so much. Whenever he got stuck on one piece (this seems hard to imagine), he'd switch to a second one. The first would work itself out while he kept to the insane word count. Of course, his brain worked a little different from ours. I get so focused on one story that it's hard for me to switch to another. I've done it, and I guess I always have little bits of stories in progress, but I try to throw all of my effort at one main piece. Guess I'll never write 500 novels . . .
He really didn't write that fast when you think about it. Over a 53-year career, 1939-1992, he wrote 40 novels, 382 short stories, and about 280 non-fiction books. It was estimated in 1969 that he'd written 7,560,000 words. If we average that over his 30-year career to that point, that was 252,000 words per year. It would have gotten him to 13,356,000 words over his lifetime. I write more than 252,000 words a year. A lot of writers these days do. Now of course, we have computers and he didn't for most of his career, which explains some of the disparity, but even though he put out a ton of books in a very respectable career, he's really not that fast by modern standards.
I’m being stupid and working on 4 at once, and that’s only because I can’t keep a straight line for one at a time stable in my head. It somehow makes sense to work on one till I think of something that fits better with the other(s)
Since I am not writing as a job, just for fin and stress reliever, I work on multiple stories at a time. Actively working on two or three coming and going one many WIPs. As state in another post, I have over 200 stories in various states of completion- HAHAHAHAHA, yeah, no, various states of incompletion. I finish very few.
