Unless it's about a super awesome story I want to write. Then I turn into Freakazoid (props for anyone who remembers the cartoon) and that's not good because I got the attention span of a goldfish.
Right now I am very enthusiastic about a fantasy project with a peculiar setting (The Tempest and Hamlet meet Crow) and an urban fantasy set in Tokyo.
Both are novel length projects and I have plotted, outlined and added to both for 2 months or so. Writing both seems like a bad idea in any case.
Would appreciate your input lest my mental acuity suffers any more.
Posted by GreatNovus (Member # 9671) on :
Get to writing man! Do the first one you mentioned first and then soon as you are done with your first draft set it aside and write your second story. Once you get done with your second story go back to the first story's first draft and do your editing stage. You should be removed enough from the story to get a good second look at it and be able to read it like a read instead of it's creator.
And if you REALLY get in a jam and need to get away from both projects. . . You could always write one of my stories that I've never got around to for me. Posted by Merlion-Emrys (Member # 7912) on :
Well, in the end only you can know which one you want to do more, or will fit better into your overall writing plans.
To me, an urban fantasy set in Tokyo seems like a very natural thing for you to write, and is certainly something I'd be interested in. However, you are often steeped in related elements in various other areas of life, so you might want to write something that gives you a break from those elements.
I'd say go with whichever one interests you most or comes most easily to you first.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Start working on one of 'em...but I dunno about working two big projects at once, or even one big and several small projects. I've found I kept confusing elements of one with the other, like putting the character names for one into the other, unnoticed down even to the final draft. Messy, embarrassing.
Better to work on one thing till things start to run dry, then pull something else from the files and work on that, then come back to the first project, maybe a little refreshed.
Posted by History (Member # 9213) on :
Boychik, are you asking the wrong guy. When it comes to my writing, I have ADHD.
I have near a dozen stories in various stages of completion. When I finally have a week vacation and my left brain turns off and my right brain turns on, I'm suddenly flooded with story ideas. Most I quickly jot down, some with an opening or ending line or an image or character. There is a Black Folder on my netbook computer where I store them (the folder name in homage to The Black Book of fantasist Clark Ashton Smith [http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/nonfiction/37/the-black-book-of-clark-ashton-smith].
What I find works best (sometimes) is to complete a detailed narrative outline for the story I wish to write. It is then fully sketched and this increases the liklihood of completing it segmentally as time (from your day job) allows.
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