Do you have a master plan?

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Fruitbat

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This probably isn't the kind of thing anyone can answer for someone else. So I'm not really asking for personal advice here so much as wondering how others think of it and handle it, I guess...

I've finished a collection of short stories and am coming out of a slump after a kind of sucky winter. I'm trying to figure out what kind of writing to do next.

There's only so much time and effort, maybe it's not so good to just do a little of this and a little of that as the spirit moves me. Maybe it's better to organize my plan, write mostly one kind of thing and try to get known for it. Or switch direction and go for money more than just writing whatever I feel like writing. And then there's another feeling like I'm copping out anyway and should pick up a second pen name and hit the darker, possibly deeper, corners of my tiny brain.

So, I've got a pile of stuff and just don't know- a couple of old drafts of novels, notes and chapters for a couple of non-fiction books, more story and article drafts. Plus of course, ideas that haven't been touched yet. Fiction, non-fiction, different genres and no genre, and all lengths. Not sure where I want to go next.

My question: Do y'all have any kind of overall master plan for your writing future or just go with whatever moves you at the time, or what?
 
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Thuro

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Well heck I just gave up my first true novel idea for a fantasy novel more up my alley. So that would be a no to a plan. Just write.

Pens to paper
 

SianaBlackwood

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I have four Masterplan albums. Does that count?

My writing plan, such as it is, is basically to write books and short stories and try to find them homes until I start succeeding. Then keep going.
 

JustSarah

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I generally wait till I have at least six stories before I send anything out, and then thats for every six stories. Not sure thats a standard thing.
 

Layla Nahar

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Well, if I've written a story about a man, unless a pressing character says 'write me', my next story will be about a woman & vice versa. I also try to make changes with age and social role for the MC of each new story.
 

ap123

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Funny, I was just saying to a friend last night that I need to make a plan. Just because it will help me to feel more focused, remember what is within my control.
 

Ken

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Know what I want to do next. Doesn't necessarily mean I will. Wouldn't be the first time I made a plan to do something and didn't. Shameful to be sure.
 

Becky Black

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I've got a plan in the sense I've got enough projects in development to keep me going for the year. And some are higher priority than others, so will be done first. But after that I keep it fluid, see which I want to work on next, or even allow something new in.

Overall masterplan is about just keeping on getting books out there and diversifying into different types of projects. Just keep on working basically. Building up a backlist is crucial.

I think the key to an effective plan is to make it about what I can control. I can't plan to have 3 books published every year, since I can't know for sure I'll have 3 accepted. But, barring life events stopping me, I can write 3 in a year. That's in my control.
 

Alitriona

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World domination. So far it's not going all that well.

I've spent the last year seriously debating if publishing is for me. It's hard to justify the time I spend on the publishing and promotion end of writing.

So far, I keep going because giving up means I've wasted the last 6 years and that I haven't got what it takes. Admitting defeat is not one of my strengths. I'll always write but the publishing plans beyond my next release are a bit up in the air.
 

chompers

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My big overall grand scheme of things is to keep putting out enough books so that by the time I reach retirement I'll hopefully have churned out enough that I can live off of writing in my old age. Seeing that I've got 30-40 years to go, I'm not rushing at this point to crank them out.

As to the content of the stories I'm now working on, it's pretty much whatever I feel is more likely to be marketable.
 

Putputt

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My agent is currently subbing my first book. If that doesn't work out, then my hope is that she'd sub my second and/or third book. If that doesn't work out...umm, yah I have no idea. :D Write a fourth book. I'd probably just keep writing until one of my books makes it.
 

Lissibith

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My question: Do y'all have any kind of overall master plan for your writing future or just go with whatever moves you at the time, or what?

My only plans are very short term

1. If I'm working on a project, keep working on that project. Skipping around isn't something that works for me personally.

2. When I get stuck, honestly evaluate why I'm stuck. If I'm not sure what's happening where I'm at but I have a roadmap for much of the later story, I try to push through. But if I don't have any good idea where it's going and nothing's working, I put it aside and hope that once I get through the next project, I may have a solid idea how to proceed with the problematic one.

Since I'm not writing publication quality stuff even after 3-4 edits, I figure it ain't worth planning beyond that. :)
 

Polenth

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A bit of both. I don't think it's a good idea to have a twenty-year plan where I have everything mapped out to the letter. There has to be space to adapt and deal with what happens.

But I do also think about things beyond what I'm writing just this moment. For example, the novel I'm about to release starts a series, so I need to dedicate some time to the next book. I couldn't do that if I started five novel series all in a row. This would be bad planning. I need to have some idea how I'm going to manage my time and what I plan to do with the project once it's complete.
 

LJD

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No. I mean, I have a plan for the next few things I'll work on, which will take me until the end of March or so. But what happens beyond that will depend so much on who wants to publish my work and how many people want to buy it that it's sort of hard to plan my future too much.
 

Anninyn

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Yep! It ends with me as the benevolent dictator of a post-apocalyptic survival community. I have the power of life and death over all so you'd best be nice now.

Oh, you meant writing.

Um, not really. Perhaps I should, but with where I am at the moment plans panic me and make me not do the work. So I guess my plan is 'try to do some writing every day, even if it's just a description of how weird the wind sounded last night'. Working on small plans rather than big, at the moment, to avoid anxiety-related rabbit-in-the-headlights syndrome.
 

WriterBN

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I have a master plan, but life keeps getting in the way. At the moment, I just try to write (short stories and novellas, mostly).
 

Norman D Gutter

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Yes, I have a master plan, as well as a publishing plan for this year. My master is probably way too ambitious. It includes enough books and short stories to take me well into my eighties if not longer. It includes the novel I'm working on now (a sequel) that ends that "series", then jumping to my other series and writing the second in it. Then jumping to my non-fiction, historical-political series and getting one more book on that. Sprinkled in between are a few short stories in two already-started series.

After that I have two series of books fairly well planned out—subject, of course, to how the first couple in the series go. My non-fiction series could go on forever, as could the fiction series that I'll be extending next.

That doesn't include all the other ideas that have come to me, carefully preserved on sheets and pixels, waiting their turn to be fleshed out and officially added to the master plan.
 

amrose

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Envy's Master Plan -

Have the first book in the sci fi series pitchable by RT 2014 and the rest of the series outlined.

Pitch at RT 2014. Make more writer friends at the convention and have a blast.

Sub MS to agents. There are two I prefer, but I am open to meeting or querying others that I may have more of a connection with.

Get repped or, if I get multiple partial/full requests but no offers, go through a thorough editing process and self publish.

Move on to book 2 with an agent or with myself.
 

Myrealana

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I have a masterplan, but it's not specific as to which books/series/stories to work on when. I let my current day job workload, my inspiration and other factors move me in that fahsion.

I have a plan to write or edit no less than 1250 words per day, six days a week.

I have a plan to have no fewer than two books or stories out on submission at any time.

I have a plan to to replace the income from my day job with a combination of investments and writing no later than August 2025.

That's the plan. As for the day-to-day, I work on a novel when I'm really, really ready to dedicate myself to going start-to-finish on it. Until then, I spend my 1250 words a day on shorter projects, working on my skills and building a catalogue of stories for future publication.
 

Jamesaritchie

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I've found that if I simply do two things without fail, everything else works itself out. If I have a master plan it's simply these two things.

1. Plant my butt in the chair and write five hours each day, with the exception of Sunday, unless it's a dire emergency, and then Sunday is allowed. Unless it's pro football season.

2. Follow Heinlein's Rules without exception.

I don't believe in plans and goals that involve things I can't control. This means I don't even plan to write five hours next Thursday. But if I wake up still breathing, I can write five hours today.

I don't plan to have a certain project done by Christmas Eve. But I can, if I wake up breathing, work on that project for five hours today.

And when I do write those five hours today, Heinlein's Rules are firmly within my control.

Too many goals and plans and dreams may as well begin, "And after I hit the lottery. . ."

So my "master plan" really boils down to "Worry only about the things I can control". Everything else is going to happen how it will
 

Little Anonymous Me

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My question: Do y'all have any kind of overall master plan for your writing future or just go with whatever moves you at the time, or what?


Try and pump out a book a summer break for the next forty summer breaks of my life, I guess.


Oh dear. That looks rather vague on screen. :e2writer:
 

RemusShepherd

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Plans and TBD lists are a habit of mine. My plans:
1. Self-publish book 1 of my graphic novel, Genocide Man.
1a. Finish book 2 and 3 of the graphic novel.

2. Finish my latest novel, ORTL.
2a. After that, write something else. Always keep writing. Get back to producing one novel per year if possible.

3. Polish Platinum Donkeys, Chipper, and ORTL for another round of submissions to agents and publishers. If the Genocide Man sales are good (>10,000), use that in the novel queries.
3a. Trunk Wally. It's been revised, it's been submitted, it isn't selling. Sad.
3b. Since Platinum Donkeys is the only novel that my crit group hasn't seen and AbWrite has not been helpful, hire an editor to look at it prior to polishing.

4. If I still don't get any bites on my novels, I might self-publish them. Best time to do this is simultaneously with one of the graphic novel releases. (I've given up the thought of publishing a novel along with book 1. Not enough time.)

5. If nothing happens before I want or need to retire, self-publish my entire catalog at once and scrape together all the money I can to help with retirement. (This is long-term planning; right now I'm 46 years old.)
I think it's a sound plan, with lots of steps that will teach me the essentials of self-publishing, but still driving toward traditional publishing as my goal. The problems with the plan are that it's too long-term -- the publishing industry is in flux, and my plans become obsolete before I get to the end of them.

Also, I worry that I'm being too timid. This plan is safe. I get the feeling that people who are successful are more daring. But I am justifiably wary of taking risks; I'm all alone in this, with no one to help me if I fail.

Edit: Note that I'm working a day job in the meantime. I can't devote all my time to writing. My science career plans are an entirely different subject, but of course they do interact with the writing career.
 
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Pearl

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I have plans of what books I will or may write. I hope to get urban fantasy/paranormal out of my system before I start on my historical novels. I also would like to try screenplays or even try writing webisodes, or even producing those. They seem like fun, but I'm sure if I were to get a glimpse of how tough that is, I'll stick to writing.

I think its a good to plan ahead so I wouldn't be at a loss on what to write next.
 
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