I know I have seen it on here before, but I have to ask. I am almost done with my first novel, well the first draft anyway, but I have 5 books I'm in the process of writing all at the same time. Is that normal for anyone else? I have 3 more ideas for the series I'm working on, novel I'm almost done with. To top it off, I am looking for new ideas to write about. I travel a lot for my job, so I have plenty of time to write, well some time anyway. Just curious if it's normal to have so many books started at once.
I used to do that, but then I figured out it was better to concentrate on one at a time. I have a document on my computer with the basic ideas of the books so I feel better about leaving them alone until I'm ready to concentrate on that specific one.
And you can always keep adding to ideas. I think that if you can tuck an idea away somewhere and come back to it in the future and still be excited about it, then you've got a good idea. Writing too soon after that idea egg hatches and it might fizzle out.
Ideas are the hardest part for me, so no. As long as you're actually finishing things, then it doesn't matter if it's 'normal'. It only becomes a problem when you're changing projects over and over and never getting to the end.
I stick mainly to my WIP, but will on and off work on a short story or two. 5 books is a bit of a Juggling act.
I'd go along with this. Your method doesn't matter. Your product does. If you're managing to work on 5 books at once, then by all means keep going. I would become concerned if you lose interest in a project because another one has occurred to you, and this sequence keeps repeating itself, and nothing ever gets finished.
It is not only "normal" - it is essential! It took Stephen King 3 or 4 books before he was published, and then those became famous thereafter. I would not focus on writing them all at the same time, but I would definitely draw up a short, 1-2 page treatment of each idea, and then let others review the synopses. See what the potential customer wants to read about before you choose which one to work on first. Set up an online survey on www.SurveyMonkey.com or another service and ask people what they'd like to read best. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves as authors and think that any great idea we have is worth reading. I have one book I wrote that I absolutely adore, but no one responds to it the way I do. It's personification and it's natural. So just jot the ideas down and then see which you want to start first. I don't recommend writing 5 books at once but to be honest, I can't say I haven't done it once or twice in my lifetime.
Thanks everyone for your input. I guess I didn't word my question right. I have books that I have started, i.e. jotted down what its about or a page or two to start it. My focus is on one book right now, so I can get it completed. I just have ideas come to me, so make sure to get it on paper, well computer anyway, so i can come back to it and see where it takes me later. I would nor could ever write 5 books at the same time. I would be a jumbled mess
================== Many do something similar. I prefer to limit myself to one main project. One back up project I am making notes for and organising. While keeping a folder of possibilities for the future. I cannot do well if I have two books going at once. At least not the actual writing part of the creation. I do plan another and collect notes simultaneously. And I might do that for more than one book. But I would not be seriously preparing more than one or two others at the same time I am actually writing one.
I tend to write my ideas down as well, but I only work on one big project at a time. I think it's perfectly normal--in fact, I'd never be able to remember my ideas for as long as it'd take to finish a project if I didn't write them down!
I try to keep on my main series, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a couple of other things I work on from time to time. It is nice to be able to have a change of pace, write something different every now and again. Just keep doing your thing, man.
I for some reason, really struggle with ideas at the moment. I have flashes of inspiration where I see scenes or characters in my head that I think will be good, and I jot it down, but not so much anymore. I do seem to think I have more of my ideas, once I'm actually writing, which I don't have loads of time for at the moment. However, I remember once I was plotting someone's journey from one place to another (it was too cliché so I binned it off), but during the plotting stage, I came up with 8 different scenarios that could happen or could be considered... when I tried to think of something sat at my desk, I got no where! I had to be doing the actual writing itself.
