Writing more than one story.

[IslandCove]

Hi all
I'm wondering if any of you have written, or have tried to write, more than one story at a time. Do you have any feedback on how you find it? I know people will come back with 'try it and see', but I'm interested in others experiences.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

I'm interested in others experiences.

I'm usually a one-story-at-a-time writer, but I recently had a story sort of stall out on me, and I had characters from a previous story clawing at my brain for a sequel.

I took a break from Story A and wrote maybe three pages of the middle of a sequel without bothering with the beginning. It was enough to get the sequel characters in my head to quiet down, and it made the Story A characters jealous enough, that I quickly figured out how to push the plot forward.

It's not quite the same as writing multiple stories at once, but diverting my attention from one story to another for a bit was helpful to me. Story A is with an editor now, and I'm working on the beginning of my sequel.

 

[latecomer91364]

I always have at least three going, not the kind that go permanently to a back-burner, but stories I intend to finish. Switching back and forth refreshes all of them.

 

[IslandCove]

"It was enough to get the sequel characters in my head to quiet down, and it made the Story A characters jealous enough, that I quickly figured out how to push the plot forward."

Ok, thanks for that. I'm not the only one whose characters tell them what to do!

I like the idea of one story 'refreshing' the other too.

Still not sure if I'll take the plunge, as the ongoing one is a series on Literotica, and the other is an idea for a novel. Any other authors feedback on the subject welcome.

 

[Halin24]

I do it all the time. When one story stall on me I try another to see if I can get something done. I'm not so sure it is a good tactic though: I estimate that right now I have something like 30 stories with more than 15.000 words in each, some with more than 30.000 but none of them finished. Between five and ten more are finished or almost finished, but compared to the ones I'm working on currently they don't seem to be good enough to be published.

I would rather concentrate on one story at a time to get it done but I can't, and that leaves me with too much unfinished material and finished stories that no longer 'talk' to me.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I usually write one at a time until it gets done. I've only ever re-started one stalled story, which is not yet finished, but is now a chapter in a longer story cycle (so I have to finish!).

I don't understand how folk can have so many unfinished pieces - for me, if it's not working now, it's never going to work, so I'm pretty ruthless with the delete button. My one un-finished piece stalled for personal reasons (she moved on), not because it wasn't working. It was, but too damned close at the time.

Re the OP' s observation about characters writing themselves - always! My job as writer is to keep up.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have written more than one story at a time since before I published my first story here, last December. I don't know how else to do it. My writing speed for a story varies enormously, and when I get bogged down writing one I move to another to refresh my creative juices. It usually works.

The big downside to this is when you are in the middle of a series and have published a few chapters, and then get distracted with other stories. That's where I am now, and it's annoying me, and it's annoyed some readers of my series. The solution to this problem, though, isn't to stop writing multiple stories at one time but to delay publishing the first chapter until all or most chapters are done. I didn't do that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The big downside to this is when you are in the middle of a series and have published a few chapters, and then get distracted with other stories. That's where I am now, and it's annoying me, and it's annoyed some readers of my series. The solution to this problem, though, isn't to stop writing multiple stories at one time but to delay publishing the first chapter until all or most chapters are done. I didn't do that.

I'm writing a stupid huge thing at the moment, multiple chapters, that I have committed myself to finishing before I post the first chapter. I'd be crucified if I started publishing before it was all done.

It takes more discipline, and distractions happen, but it's the most ambitious thing I've attempted, so I'm not going to stuff it up. I have no idea how long it's going to be - so I don't even have a timeframe. Right now, the only pressure is from myself (and my very patient beta reader, but she knows me well enough by now...)

 

[sr71plt]

I usually make sure I finish one story before I start the next one, and I keep a list identifying stories yet to write enough so that I don't (usually) forget what I want to write. But sometimes the ideas come so quickly and new ones intrude so much in my mind that I have to suspend writing of one to write the next one--or at least write enough of the new one for it to leave me alone long enough to finish the previous one. It's all part of the creative process, though.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Funny you should ask. I have quite a few false starts. Recently, I opened my word processing software to work on one story and wrote a page or two before realizing, "Nah, I really want to work on this other story." So I switched. The next night, the same thing happened with the same two stories, but in the opposite direction. Have I stumbled upon a new process for my writing? Maybe.

I believe it's Stephen King who is always working on three stories at once. One as a first draft, another as a final draft, and the third would be double checking galleys before it goes to print.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I usually write one at a time until it gets done. I've only ever re-started one stalled story, which is not yet finished, but is now a chapter in a longer story cycle (so I have to finish!).

I don't understand how folk can have so many unfinished pieces - for me, if it's not working now, it's never going to work, so I'm pretty ruthless with the delete button. My one un-finished piece stalled for personal reasons (she moved on), not because it wasn't working. It was, but too damned close at the time.

Re the OP' s observation about characters writing themselves - always! My job as writer is to keep up.

Youll never be a writer, dear. Writers must be wardens for their characters, and thrive in chaos.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I'm always writing half a dozen stories at the same time. Not only that, I have about forty half started stories put to one side and an excel spreadsheet with a list of story titles and ideas that must have about fifty more on top of that. Then there's a folder I have with images that grab me as story ideas in themselves. And songs. There's music I like where the song itself gives me the story. And that's not taking any notice of the stuff that floats around in my head.

And like Pilot, sometimes something just grabs me and I have to drop everything else and write it because it won't leave me alone until it's out.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have like six and just started a seventh on a whim. How do I find it? Well, it works for me. When I lose words for one story, I switch to another to see if I have words for it.

 

[delicious_man]

Writing only one thing at a time might seem like the most efficient approach to take but I find it doesn't really work like this in practice. Being too task-focused can lead to blocks in creativity. As others have commented, there is something refreshing about coming back to a work after it has been left on the backburner for a little while (not too long of course).

I find that whilst I've been carrying on with my life, or working on other projects, on a subconscious level my brain has been mulling over ideas for plot. So when I return to the original work after some time away it is not unusual to find myself making a sudden surge forwards. Of course you cannot leave things for too long or you be in danger of losing continuity.

 

[sr71plt]

Writing on another story isn't the only "walk away from it for a while" option available when you've reached a block on writing a story. Sometimes it might work just to do more of the same activity. Sometimes, though, it just leads to more muddle. When I've broken and gone on to another story it usually is because the second story has become so intrusive in my mind I just as well get it cleared out to be able to concentrate on the first one without the distraction pulling at me.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Youll never be a writer, dear. Writers must be wardens for their characters, and thrive in chaos.

No, it ain't a prison inside my head, more a lunatic asylum at times. The chaos is my subconscious bubbling up to the surface - I'm constantly thinking, where on earth did she come from? Oh, that's right, I wrote her...

 

[SamScribble]

My first professional writing job required that I work on three or four stories at a time. That was many, many years ago. And I have (so far) never got out of the habit.

 

[delicious_man]

There's also the issue of what to do with that good idea you got for a particular plot twist whilst you're working on a project but you can't make it tie in with what you're currently writing. Do you eject it from your mind and lose what might have been a great idea? Or do you try to somehow squeeze in to your current project no matter how clumsy it becomes? Far better to write it down, make a note of things, so that you can come back to it later.

 

[sr71plt]

Far better to write it down, make a note of things, so that you can come back to it later.

At least this, yes. Sometimes I leave it where it occurred to me in the story I'm writing and later find out that my muse knew it fit even if I didn't. If it never does, you can always extract it in review. I almost always use such thoughts somewhere, though, if only as the nub of another story.

 

[MindsMirror]

We have several stories going and use various tools to keep the characters straight.
- Spreadsheets for dates and physical descriptions.
- Separate documents for plot outline, character background/motivation.

One of us may come up with the premise, the other may have great insight into scenes or direction turns. When one story line is stalled, there is something else to work upon until the blockage is broken.

-MM

 

[oggbashan]

I have too many stories on the stocks at once.

I have written and submitted three for the Halloween contest. Those three were from the twelve possible stories for the 2017 contest but I was also working on others for Winter Holidays and Valentines.

At any one time I probably have a couple of dozen story lines in various stages of active process and (insert improbable number here) in my pending files on the hard drive. As for current plot bunnies? I can think of a dozen in half an hour. I try not to because they just add to the festering heap.

I've been away for a week and took the wrong laptop. I had been using a Windows XP when I've been without online access but I took the Windows 10 one which I hadn't personalised yet. I had so many pop-up messages about settings and updates that I couldn't write continuously for more than five minutes before some app or other interrupted me. I shut down after the first day, put the laptop back in its bag and left it alone.

Even so - I managed to start five new stories.

 

[John988]

I always write multiple stories at once. If I only have one story that I'm working on, it's because I just finished the other one, or two. I like to have a variety of work. I get burnt out on a story, if it's the only one I'm working on. Writing is like a game to me, and I like to have a handful of games that I can play at any one time

 

[loquere]

I'm real basic, just one at a time for me.

 

[HisArpy]

I write 1 at a time. My characters are too intensely selfish in my head to let me go play around with some other characters.

When I get an idea for a different story or character that doesn't fit in the current work, I normally just make a mental note and/or write that character down. Usually I have 3 or 4 different plot flowcharts going (although it's only 1 plus the newest manuscript at the moment) and all it takes is the working story title and/or character's name to trigger the idea and develop from there once I get back to that potential story. Often new ideas and characters show up while I'm taking a break from writing or while in between working on the manuscript doing the day-job/laundry/whatever thing so when I can get back to my desk I just pull my file of flowcharts and pencil the new idea in someplace or start a new story flowchart.

It's amazing to me how some story flowcharts languish and some go gangbusters and develop into full blown novels that won't let me sleep until I get them written. My Scarlet series was like that - MONTHS (nearly a year) of little to no sleep until the entire story was done.

My most recent manuscript took 30 days to draft. My Lit story The Winner took 2 weeks to draft and another few days or so to get to the point I could have a beta reader/editor look at it. Another couple of days to do the edit changes and stuff. It had a life of it's own and the Muses that haunt me were finally satisfied enough to let me sleep after about 3 weeks of working on it.

Of course I couldn't sleep with all the worrying about how much the beta/editor would hate it but at least the muses were happy.

 

[visioneer]

At any given time, I have several stories at various degrees of completion. However, I always have one that occupies the majority of my creative effort. The others I may switch to if I get blocked, or a good idea comes to mind.