Writing multiple books at the same time

I've read that the best thing to do when working on multiple projects is to be at different points in writing for each one. What I mean is that you should write a 1st draft of one, and finish it. After that edit and work towards your second draft while writing the 1st draft of another story. I've read that working on a new project while editing gives you fresh eyes for the first.

I was working on a second draft of one project, while starting the first draft of another, and doing research for the third. I've stopped all of this to focus on my 2nd draft. It will be very easy to jump back into any of my other projects. If I get inspired I will.

Sometimes I jot down ideas for another story, but I won't start anything new until at least 1 of my current projects are done.

goshirn said:

Yeah, I think I won't begin anything too, because I think that the 3 projects I'm working on are very good, the teenage romance/drama is much more lightweight writing, the sci-fi will be kind of heavy and the drama is going to be very complex.

I love them all and I can't wait to be able to share them with you all

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Happy writing!

Jump in and write the most important story to you. The experts always say that you need to let your manuscript breath. That is when you can work on the other amazing ideas in your head or even projects that you have started to outline.

When I thought I was going to go insane with the editing, I took an entire week and started to outline my next installment to my series. It helped me tie up loose ends in my first manuscript and got me thinking where I want my next story to go and the next. It's not bad that you have multiple ideas floating around, but you need to focus on one and give it the best you have. Just hang in there!

I am working on 5 different stories at the same time: 2 fan-fictions, written solely for my Glamberts' entertainment, and 3 original works, one written by hand. I worked on my typed works, but I haven't worked on my handwritten work yet, and I still have 271 handwritten pages before I consider it finished.

I've revised one novel while writing another, but never wrote two or more at the same time. I'd personally rather have one finished novel than two halves of two different novels.

AshleyEpidemic said:

I get crazy ideas all the time. I jot down notes for new stories, and plot lines. But I work on one piece at a time.

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Ditto. Really the only way I can get anything finished. Though it took a number of years to figure this out.

Jeff

Right now I'm working on revising two stories for publication and an original work which I hope to submit early next year. Sometimes while I work on one I get an idea to use in my second or third, or the other way around. It's pretty chaotic but that's how my mind works.

Right now, I'm editing two books. I don't know if I'd be able to write the first drafts of multiple books at the same time. I've been known to write bits and pieces of multiple projects as I try to figure out what project I want to pursue (I get a lot of Shiny New Ideas).

I always have more than one project in the works. But i sit down and WRITE them.

Corrall the plot bunnies and focus on one project until its "done" set it aside, send to a beta reader, and work on something else. When you can look at the first project with objectivity, revise it. Then finish the second project, repeat.

I have three WIPs over 30k words right now, one of which--a book i love--is going to be set aside, yet again, because i need to write to write a book i know i can sell, which means odd litte scifi project gets set aside for mainstream romance. Its not that i can't finish the project, but i have to prioritize based on what my release schedule looks like next year. And THAT is what being a writer is often like when you're trying to make a living at this thing.

VanessaNorth said:

I always have more than one project in the works. But i sit down and WRITE them.

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Exactly! Same for me. I am doing 6,000 words a day on one of these projects alone, my latest original work, Bloodlust, and also I'm doing 2k a day on one fan fiction and 3k a day on the other one in which the latter I haven't updated since this last Friday, and my handwritten work, I have no idea how many daily words I'm doing, but I do know that I write 30-40 pages a day on that one, which means 15-20 sheets front and back, and I have another original work in which I try to put in at least 3k words a day, so technically I write during all my waking hours and well into the early morning as well, meaning midnight to 3 AM.

I've juggled multiple projects at once. No more than 2-3 at one time, but it happens. I handle it by focusing primarily on one of them, and making notes on the rest as I get inspired for them. Then, if I hit a wall on the first, then I shift to the second, refresh myself on the notes, and go from there.

I think it's impossible to really work on only one project at a time. The creative mind works much more mysteriously than that. However, we must tame that beast sometimes and focus our energy to finishing one project.

I have milestones I set for different projects that are at different stages. That way, my mind stays fresh but I'm finishing as well.