How many pieces do you focus on at one time?

I'm currently in redrafting stages of a novel.
I've pretty much got it to where I want it but I'm still tweaking and moving it.

I wanted to start a draft of an other piece I've been planning, I'm wondering if that's too much?

On one hand, I've reread my novel so many times now, I'm wondering if it would benefit from me coming away from it for a time so I can reread with fresh eyes as I've been so focused on that piece.
The next I'm thinking of has kind of the same general themes, (I tend to write stories with specific themes and moods anyway)
I'd like to get it down a little on paper so I can start letting my mind work a bit on that as well.

On the other hand, will I loose complete focus and will the change in thought process make it more difficult to go back for my next draft of my first novel?

Does anyone work on multiple pieces? Or do you tend to stick to one until you feel its done first?

 

I alluded to this in the "Dealing with Burnout" thread I started in this forum, but being the scatterbrained nut that I am, I'm often working on multiple pieces at once. The current WIPs I have are divisible even further, in fact, as both are collections. Part of this though, at least for me, is because I feel that I always need to be working on something. So sometimes taking that break is not easy to do.

I agree with the "time in the drawer" idea, as stories tend to evolve even when you aren't currently working on them. It's amazing how you open a file back up for the first time in a bit and suddenly it goes in a different, and hopefully better direction.

 

I always keep my main piece up where it's available at a moment's notice, but then I have side bits I go into when I get stuck on the main one. I think as long as the focus returns to the main one, for me I mean, then I'm not going to lose much momentum by letting my mind kind of reset itself.

 

Its hard for me to focus on one story. If I spend long enough on one i feel it goes dull and lines start blurring together. When that happens, I step away from it and move to something different for a bit.
My mood changes too. I'll be working on a sappy YA story and then out of the blue I'm in the mood for a fast paced thriller or fantasy.
So generally I try to stick to working on 2.5 projects at a time. (The 0.5 includes short stories or poetry)
The key word being 'try'. Its doesn't always work out that way.

 

In my progress journal, i list all of my projects, and through the course of my time on WF, i've narrowed it down to 3 (sort of). I tend to bounce around between them. Sometimes, if i feel a spark of inspiration, i'll jump to a fourth, but for the most part, the bulk of my work has been focused on 3 WIPs.
its easier for me that way. I've finished my first draft of 1 (working on the edits now), i'm almost done with my 2nd, and in the middle of my 3rd.
all 3 are well over 30,000 words.

2 are fantasy/sci fi, the second is an adventure fantasy. Sometimes its best to just change pace for a bit with another project.

 

I'm a firm believer that momentum shouldn't be wasted. It's the place where most of the good, unrestrained writing comes from. So be it. If you feel very inspired about writing something else, go ahead and indulge yourself in it, until you feel fulfilled. When the rush is over you can return to your original wip.

 

Down to 3 now, was at 4. Seems I have a bit of writer's version of ADHD
when it comes to writing only one story at a time.

 

Dito @Homer Potvin . My one story is enough for several lifetimes .

Still, when I find myself getting stuck by a plot-problem and don't yet see my way out and my brain's too scattered to go forward, I pull up one later scene from behind 'the end' and work on that. It doesn't have the impact of the rest because it'll (probably) never get published—it's just for me, pure 'ease' of writing or however I dub it in that particular moment.

 

As a fairly new 'serious' writer (at least serious in my own mind) I find it helpful to have a few things on the go, one of which is more of a playground (i.e. a piece that you know is ultimately probably not good enough to be published but you can dip in and out of to sharpen your chops). Short stories are great little refreshers when you find yourself at a dead end, just make sure to start and finish in one session.

 

Not surprisingly, I can see and agree with virtually all viewpoints (that's just how I am, anyway lol.) It all depends on the comfort zone of the individual. I know some people like to focus on one project at a time, no matter how big or small. They may have a lot in the pipeline, but they won't even type a single letter on the next draft until their current WIP is complete.

I COULD be like that if I really tried. But this, as I mentioned above, is where I allow my ADD to kick in. I end up chipping away at several things at once. I feel different flows for different works...one day I'll be flying on something, and the next it's at a standstill and I have to open a different file and work on that. I don't know how healthy it is to go back and forth but it's a really hard demon to fight.

 

I only concentrate on single documents. But I put them to one side and work on something new or rework something old. The more documents that are on file, waiting to be reworked the better. If you can't actually remember writing them, even better. Time will give you fresh eyes and mind.

 

Thanks everyone!
I started working on something else and now i feel like im ready to have an other look at redrafting my novel.
Ive had a good couple of weeks break and learnt a lot about grammar etc in the meantime (grammar is my downfall)

I think im ready to give it an other read now so the break really helped!

 

I'm feeling reassured by this thread Last night I was surprised by an idea for another story or it might get incorporated into another idea I have rather than being a separate entity. I don't know as yet, I'm open to seeing what's going to happen. I'm very new to this writing malarkey, I haven't got much writing done as yet but ideas for plots, scenes, characters etc keep popping into my mind randomly. There's currently half a dozen stories at various stages of vagueness knocking about inside my head though six months ago there were none.

 

Ugh, my brain is so full of ideas, good/bad/indifferent/too time consuming. I've found that a good method to keep them all straight is to put them all on notecards. Staples sells this "notecards on a ring" thing that enables me to keep all my ideas together. I'd say it's a good investment for anyone who has a lot on their mind.

 

I find it is easier for me to come up with stories than it is to stick with one long enough to get it completed! That being said, I have three that are 'done' but are in constant states of 'polishing.'
Part of that is because they have been in-progress for so long that they have 'aged' as I have been going along, skipping between them. Ideas that hadn't occurred to me then, have now, which give them more depth and fuller development. Thing is, these additions were not planned and always sets the stories back into rewrite territory!
At some point though, I have to say done is DUN!

 

These days, I usually have one project that I'm querying and another that I'm actively revising. I keep my writing of new WIPs to NaNo, because it's when everyone else writes theirs and it feels nice.

So for the last few years, my writing life has been 'query project A while revising project B. Come November, write project C. Assuming I don't have an agent yet, I'll query project B, revise C, and then write D in November.'

Although, despite really enjoying how my 2020 Nano project came out, I'm already itching to write something new. If not for already feeling daunted at the list of projects I have on my shelf (among which is working on the query package for the book I want to start submitting in March ) I probably would've started writing it by now.

 

I can only handle one!