What is the most amount of writing you'd take on at once? I'm currently plotting and writing 4 novels all at the same time because they're in the same series and suddenly I just got inspired to go for it. It started with trying to re-write the first one - a clean re-write, by hand so I'm not tempted to copy/paste anything until I have a story I'm satisfied with on its own right. Then as I was working on that I felt a mad urge to start the 4th one in the series, the only one I'd never really touched in a serious way until now. I got 2500 words in yesterday, then realised that since I scrapped my plans for the 3rd novel I'd have to plot *that* one so I didn't contradict myself in the 4th one, and if I was doing plotting, I'd better start from the beginning, so I laid that out (and came up with some very good ideas for the re-write), but when I got to the second in the series I wasn't sure I wasn't missing something, so I started re-reading it, and that's led to re-writing and now I have stuff to change there... So I'm now actively working on 4 novels at once, each with a different 1st person narrator to keep tabs on. Can anyone manage more?
I'm writing two short stories, one novel, and planning a potential series. I once did a few books all at once like you said you're doing. It got to be way overwhelming so I threw it on the back burner. I still have some work from that remaining somewhere in a closet I think, but I don't recommend doing multiple books in the same series. Too many things could end up contradicting simply because you didn't keep up with the flow of the story. Setting up an outline would suffice. Just remember that the outlines themselves should be flexible to handle new plot twists and other ideas.
I'm 'properly' working on one novel right now. Sometimes I write lyrics or short stories inbetween. Or if I get ideas for other would-be novels, I jot down notes or write whatever 'scene' has come to me. It's good to have several projects in the pipelines.
I have three (or four) work in progress right now, at least on a planning stage but I usually don't write actively on more than one at a time, I like to focus all my attentions on the thing I'm writing. Sometimes I alternate two of these, it depends on which stage I am with them. the fourth one is only in plotting-phase so I haven't even started writing on it yet.
I have three at all times. Two I work on steadily and almost daily and one I switch constantly. The third spot is basically reserved for stories I know from the start I'm not gonna finish. I used to do a whole bunch at the time, but I never got anything done on my actually important projects. Now I just take a note of the plot if I think of a new story.
Hi, I have maybe sixty novels in various stages of production. I swap between them as the fancy takes me which is why I have only four or five currently at the nearly ready for proofing / editing stage. I don't recommend this approach! Cheers.
My current writing strategy is to pound about 1,000 words as fast as I can in one sitting, then come back and edit and fine tune what I have at my leisure until I am satisfied, before continuing with another set. I feel it helps produce more quality work, but not necessarily productivity. It may be important to note am not currently working on a novel or any other large work, just some short stories.
I'm currently juggling multiple short stories and two novels. However, the short stories are mostly just ideas or various parts of the stories jotted down in a Word document. I've never actually written more than one thing at once -- some time when I get the "feeling" to write I'll just sit down and churn out most or all of a short story [or part of a novel], but not more than one at the same time.
I usually only work on one novel at a time, although I will sometimes start a new one when I haven't finished editing and revising an old one. I try not to have more than two in process at any one time.
I believe diverting attention from one work to another may harm the final product overall so I try not to do it. Currently, I'm working on my first novel series and balancing each of the ideas from story to story is already beating my concentration and patience to a lifeless pulp. However, I think this is easier to manage than multiple short stories, novels, or anything else dealing with a totally new set of characters. I've got ideas for what I'd like to do next after my series is finished but for now, they're just ideas. I think it would be a great injustice to put my current series (for which I've been developing over the last 8 years) on hold while I work on something else. I commend anyone with a greater attention span that can work on simultaneous stories because I sure can't.
Yeah, I normally have about 2-3 novels on the go, pretty much like spklvr - One or sometimes two I switch happily between until one of them's on the home straight, at which point I take all my focus onto it, and some background stories I pick up from time to time but aren't so serious about. But I do have dozens of unfinished novels that are all technically WIP at the moment - I've just chosen not to pay attention to them. Writing 4 at once doesn't feel like much of a challenge because they're short and even though they have distinct plots and narrators, I'm much more interesting in re-writing them with the overall plot in mind - I have a lot of groundwork done for 2 of them, and just need to know what happens in the third to be able to write the 4th which has no plot but so many ideas I'll be able to weave one pretty quickly by writing the thing.
I tend to have 1-2 novels in progress at a time with others in the planning stage. Many of those that get planned never make it to the actual writing stage.
i've always had multiple projects going at the same time... and of all kinds... novels, non-fiction books, articles, columns, plays, lyrics, etc.... but writing 4 connected novels concurrently doesn't seem like a good idea... i'd strongly advise you to focus on completing the first in a series, before trying to work on any sequels...
Well, I only work one one project at a time. I'm working on a movie script and have a seqal to the movie in mind and didn't think about starting on it yet, since I'm still in the first draft of the first movie.
This isn't a case of me deciding to write a series then getting bored and skipping ahead to a book I liked. Give me some credit to know what I'm doing. I've completed the first 2 and written about 10,000 words of the third before this week (most of it months ago or in the last 2 years). The second actually feels pretty finished to me, and the plot of the 3rd is very simple. The first one needs changing but it's all been done for me thanks to Past Melly's hard work, so I'm not too fussed about that re-write. Considering my re-write of the second one started this morning and I'm into the concluding scenes now, I'd say I'm already halfway through this project after 3 days in terms of amount of thinking and typing needed.
no offense was intended, m... your previous post did not say you'd completed any of the four, so my assumption was based on what you wrote, and was certainly not intending to imply you don't know what you're doing, but just offering a bit of what i thought might be helpful advice... i'm sorry if you saw it as an insult... hugs, maia
Eh, sorry. I did mention re-reading and re-writing the first two in my initial post though. I guess that was a long rambling paragraph (also, it just occurs to me, maybe not all people finish a novel before obsessively re-writing it )
I have had three fan-fictions going, but at the whim of my muse who is cowering in a corner since I've started paying attention to it. I'm a slave to the writing without regard for life. I survive well enough with my allowance, better than fine since the budget was designed for two people and two cats, and I was living a two cats with one person who forgets to eat lifestyle. I think that your load is whatever you, your muse, and your commitments can handle.
Same here. This is exactly how I am, except I don't write scenes really, just outlines to other novels sometimes while I am working on my current one. It makes me feel happy because then I know I'll never run out of ideas.
