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How many things can you work on at once?

BudBud
edited August 2006 in - Writing Tales

Comments

  • Just curious - I'm writing a novel at the moment, and that's all I'm working on. It's not for the lack of other ideas, it's just because I know I need to be disciplined. If I allowed myself the luxury of writing whatever I felt like at the time, then the novel would just hit a brick wall every time I got to a tricky bit.

    The idea of having a novel that I get out and have a look at occasionally, just to dabble into, projected date of completion March 2027, depresses me horribly.

    Who else works like that? Obviously it'll be different for those who currently write as a living.
  • I am doing different bits at the moment, but once I'm working on the novel, that can take over. It is probably the best way to get it finished, concentrate only on that thing.
  • Well, the novel I started writing just the other day stemmed from a piece I originally wrote for a collaborative project.  My writing partner said I should keep it and turn it into something else, as it was (his word, not mine) "excellent".  So, I have the project, plus the new novel, as well as various bits and pieces I'm always working on.
  • I'm quite interested to know, Carol and TP, do you write full-time, or do you have other jobs as well?
  • At the moment, I'm not working - I'm looking for freelance proofreading work, and in the meantime, I have time to write.  But I was always the same and, in fact, when I was working even part time, I bemoaned the fact that I couldn't devote as much time to writing as I'd have liked, simply because I always have lots of projects on the go.  I've never been able to devote myself to just one project.
  • I'm always working on several things at the same time. I'm editing two completed novels, writing the ending for another and have started yet another (only the first chapter) I won't do anymore on that than make notes  until I've finished the third. At the same time I have a children's book I'm working on. Plus i complete flash ficiton pieces as they come to me. I just pick what I would like to do that moment or day or week. IF I had an agent or a publisher interested I would just stick to one, but this way I can do whatever I feel like. If I do hit a brick wall, I just pick up another manuscript.
    I think it must be my personality because I read at least 3 books at the same time. (obviously not actually at the same time!!! but there are three by the bed waiting to be finished)
  • Bud, I'm a stay at home Mum. Two of my younger triplets have special needs, and my oldest is now at college, but he too has the same condition as his younger brothers, so I am there as background support for him when needed.
    I don't always write every day, it depends on circumstances, and if there are appointments for the boys etc.
    Currently I've been doing articles for an online magazine set up by a friend. I find it hard to write fiction when my brain is in non-fiction mode.
    Over the years I've been able to increase the time for my writing from 1 day, when the younger ones started school, to 2-3 days now.
    But even when I'm not writing I'm taking notes, observing people and voices- I think we all do that to some extent.
    I write best during the morning, researching best in the afternoon.
    September, it will be back with the fiction for a while.
  • I write full-time from home, dividing time between non-fiction books/articles for which I'm paid, and fiction, which I hope will pay one day!  It's a juggling act.  But I'm a bit of a "butterfly" worker, so I still don't work on one piece of fiction at a time.  I need to move between projects to stay stimulated, unless deadlines are pressing of course.  I'm currently working on a sample script for an existing children's TV programme, I'm polishing a pilot sitcom script and working on a humour book.  I wrote my last book to a very tight deadline, and found forcing myself to focus on one project seemed to suck up all my creativity, and I tired much sooner than usual.
  • i duno. my brain is a bit knackered at the moment and is hurting a lot (doesnt like stress you see). thanks to moving of rooms at home, ridiculous amounts of overtime at work and the worrying and fretting of D-Day this coming thursday :S.
  • Cheers everyone for the replies. It's actually quite interesting - basically no one works like me :D

    Jenn - good luck for Thursday. Sure you'll be fine.
  • I have a folder stored on my pc with a lot of preliminary ideas, and some part-finished projects. I have revisited some ideas now and again sniffing around to see whether it still has legs - and not long ago, i was searching for inspiration, and thought of a magnificent plot and i spent literally days trying to slot it into my book. As it turned out, the idea was a lot stronger on its own so i decided to split both ideas back up - but that would have meant working on 2 different novels at once! Then, as I'm splitting them - i think of something else - so I'm then doing 3 novels...So i had to make headway on at least one of them, and natural selection and gut instinct play a part here. SOmetimes the best book you can write is also them most difficult. What do I know about 19th century murders? Very little...So why is mind brain forcing me to write about it. You just write with the flow.
  • luckypen: what I meant was, the reason I have to put all energy into writing the novel is otherwise it would be too depressingly slow. I've heard too many stories of people who get a novel out occasionally, work at it a bit, then leave it for a while.

    It can get depressing sometimes, when you just want the thing finished. But yes, there are many exciting points. Usually when you get to a part in the novel that you've been building up to for ages, and really want to write. Often for me, it's the introduction of a new character. And then there's the satisfaction of having it down and moving on. For example, I remember being so pleased when I'd finally set the scene of the narrators world, why it was falling apart, and I finally got to introduce him to the character who would become his companion throughout. And now I realise, they've been through things together for about six months now, and so much has changed for them both. When I look at it that way, things seemed to have happened so quickly.
  • when i write, i usually have a big scene in mind, and the ground work that you have to put in, the foundations leading up to it, can seem to take forever. So i skip ahead, and write the bit that i want first - but the steps leading to it are sometimes hard to walk...another tip i try, is when things are bogged down a bit, i write exactly what i want to say in dialogue only - just to get it out of my head. then i revisit it once i am satisified with all that comes before and after it. The novel i am working on now has a great action scene set in a huge freezing locker in a London dockland - and I have been teasing myself (figuratively speaking - I can't type one handed...) as I get towards writing that part..if you only write to a pattern that suits you, you can bend the rules to suit your mood.
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