This is topic Do you drift from one project to another before completing one? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.
By that I mean, if you're writing a novel, do you completely devote yourself to that book without slipping in a short story or and article etc.? Or do you skip around?
Posted by pdblake (Member # 9218) on :
I stick with what I'm writing, though I will edit something else at the same time. I generally only write something else at the same time for a challenge on here.
Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :
Normally, I stick to one thing, plus, perhaps, revisions on another.
However, I was having trouble getting into a story I started recently (MAGIC'S FOOL). So, I gave myself permission to also start another project (BLOOD IS THICKER). I am doing a certain amount of skipping back and forth, but, when I need to let a scene develop I can keep writing by working on the other.
Sooner or later, probably sooner, I expect one of the two to take over. Probably BLOOD IS THICKER. For now, though, it's working to get me over my difficulties with MAGIC'S FOOL.
Posted by redux (Member # 9277) on :
Sadly, since I drift from one project to the next all the time nothing gets done. That's why I recently made the decision to commit myself to one single story this time around. Hopefully I will able to get most of it written during Nanowrimo. Whether it turns out good or bad, I just want to finish a full length novel.
I even put it up on my blog so there's no turning back now. Since it's "out there" now I have to stick to it
[This message has been edited by redux (edited September 29, 2011).]
Posted by Osiris (Member # 9196) on :
I rotate between a handful of projects. When I reach a natural pausing point in one, I'll switch to another. For example, once I finish a first draft, I'll send it out for critique and go work on another project while waiting on crits from the other project.
[This message has been edited by Osiris (edited September 29, 2011).]
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
I have trouble working on more than one project at the same time. The problem is compounded by the fact that when I put a project aside I tend to abandon it completely.
So I either complete a project or don't, but I don't really do much drifting from one to the next .
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
I work on two or three projects. I focus on one predominantly, but have a second one going on, too. Right now, I'm expanding a short story into a novel while driving back and forth to work (via a recorder), and one after the kids go to bed. Sometimes they're short stories, sometimes not.
Posted by mythique890 (Member # 8586) on :
Right now I have several projects, but they tend to rotate from being active to inactive and back again. Right now my active ones are short stories, one flash piece and one that might turn in to a novella the way it's going. I'm gearing up to start a new novel sometime in the near future (NaNoWriMo perhaps?), I'm gestating two or three more novel ideas, and I have my most completed manuscript on hold while I give it time to sit (it's going to get rewritten).
[This message has been edited by mythique890 (edited September 29, 2011).]
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
For me it depends on the project. Last year I worked on three novels at a time with a few short stories thrown in for good measure, I should say that I wrote one novel in a month--NaNoWriMo-- but I then added to it and went over it once revising it. I'm in the process of revising it a second time. I worked on one novel and a short story at work, and one novel, the revision and a few shorts at home.
I have worked on five projects at the same time at home, but I have also worked on just one project because I wanted to get it done. Sometimes that was for a contest or challenge and sometimes just because I wanted it done.
Posted by Owasm (Member # 8501) on :
I bounce all over the place. I just finished re-writing a novel I wrote two summers ago. In that time I've written two other novels (drafts finished, but still requiring rewrites)and over a hundred short stories.
I have to wait a few weeks before I can get back into a short story for a revision. If I don't I still skip over sections where I fill the details in with my mind.
Now that I'm preparing this stuff to self-publish, I'm afraid I'm going to have to let less time lapse between start and finish.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Well, I have a policy, of fininshing something and letting it sit for awhile (up to a year, in some cases) before doing another draft or revisions. It's an attempt to gain some perspective on what I've written. In the meantime I'm (usually) working on something else.
But it is, pretty exclusively, one thing at a time...I'm not writing one page of one work and then writing one page of something else.
Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :
I might let myself write a short story, if I believe I can knock it out in a short amount of time. Otherwise, I still with a novel until it's complete. The only time I allow myself to switch projects is if I'm willing to accept that the one I'm leaving behind might never be finished.
I have a good track record once I hit 20k words. Every time I've hit that amount, I've always finished the novel. At least to a first-draft stage.
Posted by History (Member # 9213) on :
In August 2009, I unexpectedly returned to writing after a 30 year hiatus, and the first thing I wrote was a novel over the course of a year.
I suspect the right (creative) half of my brain was just waking up and could only hold onto the one idea.
Since then, however, I dream more; and more stories seem to spill from my subconscious. As much as I tried to work on only one story at a time, I couldn't damn the flow.
I find the tales of my Kabbalist (e.g. the novel, novelette, and the two short stories to date) will have my whole attention until they are completed. I tend to be more enthralled by them.
Other stories are in various stages of construction, their specters chastising me, usually in the dark hours of early morning, to hurry up and finish them. They remind me of my child during the years she was growing up and I worked even longer hours and held many administrative positions that (I know regret) kept me from her as much as I would have liked.
I look forward to retirement when (I wish to hope) I will have far more time to write more frequently.
