How many projects (WIPs) are you working on?

[The Second Moon]

I've been working on two projects which I am finding to be more fun than just sticking with one project. I've been thinking about adding a third project to my (not that heavy yet) workload.

How many of you are working on multiple projects? I would love to know why you decided to work on multiple projects and how it has been working out for you.

(Feel free to move this thread if it doesn't belong in Office Party)

 

[Kat M]

HUGE FAT DISCLAIMER: I have no idea what I'm doing.

OK, so I am also working on two projects. No more than that, though. I'm at the point where I need outside eyes on one WIP, so I need something to do while I wait for critiques, wait for the critiques to gel, and then attack it. So I'm in the very early stages of another WIP. I also, honestly, need to figure out if I have more than one story in me. I'm sure I do, but I need proof.

Curious to see what others are doing.

 

[Norman Mjadwesch]

So far as I can determine it’s two, but that’s only because WIP’s 3-12+ don’t get as much time as I have available. I do tend to shift around from one project to another, more often due to burnout than anything else, but also sometimes because I just get more enthused about something else. I can’t even imagine what would happen if I forced myself to write something that I’m not currently engaged with. So yeah, I hop around a bit. And also: same method within most of my stories, I just write whatever scene appeals the most and then stitch it all together later (a huge plus with planning IMO).

Right now the one I’m spending the most time on is easier to write than the other one, which is a longer story with more moving parts. So whenever I get bogged down with it I write shorter pieces (c70K). The shorter ones are actually easier to write (planning, not pantsing) and the closer I get to completion the easier it is to stay on point.

It works for me. I rationalise to myself that so long as I’m making forward progress with something I’m getting ahead of the game. If I never finished projects I’d probably question my methods, but since I do manage to crank out finished products (I also have stuff other than novels) I’m happy to stick with systems that work.

Short fiction pieces don't count as WIP’s, but I spend time on that too if the novels are too daunting. I’m currently writing for a short story competition, otherwise I’d be almost done with the first draft of my new novel. I’m not stressing over it, and the longer I stay away from a particular project the fresher I am when I get back to it and the easier the writing flows. And weirdly, I never lose track of where I am with any of my work, even after not opening a file for a few years.

 

[DanielSTJ]

Too many!

 

[Richard White]

Actively? Four (Steel on Target - A MilSF novel a few chapters from being finished; Child of Shadows, the sequel to Harbinger of Darkness; an untitled novel based on For a Few Gold Pieces More; and The Silkie, a MG novella)

Written at least a chapter's worth of words? Seven (The Bookseller - a detective novel; Kansas City Blues - a noir novel; The Snark - MilSF novella or short story; Lights, Camera, Murder - a collection of three novellas (homage to the Golden Age of Comics); The Black Ice Affair - a novel follow-up to Chasing Danger (fantasy noir), and Chronicles of the Sea Dragon - Dragon Couchant (S&S Fantasy).)

Short story pitch approved by an editor but not written (yet)? - A Guest for Dinner.

I may be a tad optimistic about my output - this doesn't account for additional sequels and other ideas I have only outlined/thumbnailed at this point.

 

[The Second Moon]

Wow! Thanks for responding guys. Its so interesting to see how other writers function.

 

[ap123]

One. My process is very linear, more than one might make my brain explode.

 

[lilyWhite]

I'm bouncing between two WIPs—editing the first in a series and inching along with the sequel.

Plus a lot of others on the backburner...

 

[AstronautMikeDexter]

Usually one at time. It's very hard for me to focus on multiple projects - it seems one always consumes my mind and I can't think about anything else. I'm currently editing one and writing another, though. We'll see how long that lasts.

 

[lizmonster]

Generally one or two, although if it's two it's usually a novel and a short. Sometimes having a short in my pocket allows me to keep my writing muscles limber when I want to throw the longer WIP across the room.

 

[Cindyt]

1. Dress Her in Chameleon, a Colonial period historical (in revision)
2. A Deadly Spill of Scarlet, a crime novel set in the mid-80s (in revision)
3. I write feature articles for The North Gwinnett Voice newspaper, so there's a project going on all the time there. After publication, I reproduce them in my blog.
4. Nothing Like a Birth to Start a Feud (Unless It's a Funeral), a compilation of those articles into a memoir.

I'm a retired federal bomb builder, so I have plenty of time for my works in progress.

 

[SWPelzer]

I have a cuople works in progress - the initial story and the first sequel - and have outlines for several more books in the series/spin-offs.

 

[soulrodeo]

One. I'm very impatient and like to get through a first draft as quickly as possible. Working on more than one at once would slow down the process. All my writing time goes to one single project until it's finished, then I move on to the next. I also can't even think up a different idea when I'm drafting something else. I have to wait until I'm finished and then sit and brainstorm. I'm not one of those people who continuously fights off a hundred viable plot bunnies.

 

[Bridgen]

Since I just started, I'm currently working on one. While I do have ideas for future short stories, and possibly novels, I simply note them down and focus on my main WIP. Kudos to writers who are able to handle multiple WIPs - I would end up overwhelmed too quick.

 

[Christopher Marcus]

Just one. Experience taught me to stick with that. However, it can vary from person to person and likely even for the same person thru different lifeperiods ... what works!

 

[Spaceranger82]

Too many. I am trying my best to focus on fewer projects, but with all the other things I have in my life, it's difficult to concentrate.

 

[pingle]

One. I could work on my last book, I have lots of ideas of ways to improve it, but no. I can only focus on one at a time.

 

[Cosmering]

One! I don't have the attention span for any more. I like to throw all my creativity into one at a time.

 

[laynecalry]

Hello,

I am actively working on 2 right now. The first two books in my trilogy. The first book is mostly done, now it's just small changes, punctuation that kind of thing. Book 2 however I need to rewrite most of it and add in POV's.

I do however have multiple ideas started and some have only a couple hundred words in them others above 15k, but the ideas ran dry for a spell.

I can't focus on one project. I always get ideas for others while researching facts and the like. And just in day to day interactions ideas will bombard me, so much so that i always have a folder of ideas.

 

[amosmac]

Currently editing / tweaking my completed YA manuscript while I look for book representation. I'm also in the early stages of a feature screenplay, and in early stages of my second novel! I usually need to focus on just one project for a stretch of a week or so in order to stay in the zone and make headway, but I've always juggled about three projects I'm very serious about at one time.

 

[EvilPenguin]

I force myself to work on only one WIP at a time, mostly because I have focus issues, with the caveat that I can write down notes and stuff for other story ideas as much as I want to. I'm actively working on one novel, while a bunch of ideas for a WIP that I trunked keep popping up in my head, but I have a notebook dedicated to notes for the trunked novel that I'm constantly writing in. I also have a dedicated notebook for any random story/character/world/weird ideas. This way, when I reach that burnout point for my current WIP, which will inevitably happen for me, I have plenty of others ideas to work with for the next project.

 

[aurora borealis]

It depends. I only have one longer WIP on the go at a time but may also be working on shorter pieces on the side. While writing this WIP I do the plotting for my next project but since this isn't writing I don't really count it.

A few years ago I used to have approximately six or so WIPs on the go at once and I would bounce back and forth between them. I didn't really have a method for determining which one I would work on other than "when inspiration strikes" and also didn't have much self-discipline. Needless to say, they're all still unfinished.

 

[oneblindmouse]

I'm actively working on only one WIP, which I'm about three quarters of the way through, although I have other things on the back burner. But two days ago some friends with good connections suggested that I'd have a better chance of publishing my book if it were in Spanish rather than English. I'm not convinced, but I've translated a few chapters to see how much the whole thing changes. Decisions.... decisions....!

 

[Woollybear]

For the past month or so two projects, for the first time ever. Discovering this is a 'new skill' --to be able to swap between casts of characters and stories/etc from one day to the next. I can imagine juggling multiple projects now--six months ago I couldn't.

They're both novella length. I expect when I get back to a novel, it'll be one again.

 

[Kathella]

I've got two major projects at the front of the list, a fiction and a nonfiction. One is a collaborative effort, though, so I've got another writer to help keep me on track.

Outside of that, I've probably got about a dozen small projects that I jump around to. I work in short bursts, focus my mental energy on one specific thing until its exhausted, recharge, then cycle to the next.

If I spend too long on one project, I get burnt out and my writing becomes terribly flat. If I'm not juggling, I'm in a rut. It's one extreme or the other for me.