Have you ever found yourself hankering to start your next writing project, but you have a whole smorgasbord before you and have to stop and think before cracking your knuckles and digging in?
How do you choose which project to tackle next?
Do you go for the short story to hone your craft before beginning the Novel You've Always Wanted To Write, or do you dive right in? Do you write the piece you think will sell the quickest, or go for a more challenging topic? Etc.
I'm curious what motivates everyone out there to choose one project over another when they have a few ideas and outlines sitting in front of them. (Yes, I have this conundrum myself right now - but I'm also curious!)
Posted by annepin (Member # 5952) on :
Hm, well, it all depends on my mood. Usually I have an idea for an existing story or a new one that I want to work out, then I'll select that one. Otherwise, my stories are different enough that I'll feel like working with one or another character, or in one or another milieu. Sometimes i know I'm in a critical phase with a story and have to work it out, even if I'm not particularly "feeling it" at the moment.
Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :
I go with what's burning me most. If there's an idea just itching to get out, I try to commit to that project for a period of time (usually a few weeks, my writing time is limited) until either it's finished, or I've made significant enough progress to know where it's going. I'm just finishing my first novel right now, so I haven't done very many longer projects, but I'd say that with a longer one, it could be that I would be satisfied by writing an outline, coming back to it later to flesh out if another project became more interesting/urgent in the interim.
I do think it's helpful to switch between types and modes from time to time, and I've heard this from published authors too. From fiction to non-fiction, shorts to longer pieces, novels to screenplays. Not sure if this helps, but that's my story.
Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :
Write something. It's what writers do. Posted by RMatthewWare (Member # 4831) on :
I go through my list of ideas and decide which excites me the most at the time. I've had a short story burning in me for a while now. I even submitted it to a few places, but I think I need to go back and change the premesis to make it more 'fantasital' to appeal to the mags. I think the biggest reason I like it is because of the MC. It's almost like I owe it to her to be in a story.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Well, I usually write what interests me at the moment. Even right now, while I'm stuck in neutral, I've got three or four ideas for writing drifting through my skull, just waiting for the right moment to excite me and get me going.
Sometimes that never comes and the story fades away. Then again, sometimes I remember them years later and work on them.
*****
Sometimes also, I force an idea, usually to try to break a blockage and get things going again. There are various ways, like creating titles or throwing I Ching coins or reminding myself why I didn't like such-and-such a story and writing something to make a rebuttal. Whatever works for you. I may try something like that sometime soon. It's coming up on three months since I've done much.
