Multiple projects

[Leonora]

Does anyone write more than one manuscript at a time? I've been wrestling with the same one for nearly two years now, and am burnt out, but I know it could be the best thing I've written if I could only persevere. I had an idea for a totally different project before I began this one, and wonder if it might untangle my brain if I wrote it for a while instead. But I don't want to lose the will to finish the WIP, and imagine I might not really be able to let it go enough to concentrate on the new one. Inspirational stories would be welcome.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Yep. I had three on the go recently. Finished two of them (well, the first drafts, anyway) last month, and I'll start another (in addition to the one still going) after the new year. I like having more than one going at the same time--when I'm stuck on one, I can work on another, and let whichever is being difficult ferment in the back of my mind for a while. For me, the key is to scribble down everything I can on one project before switching to another, so I don't forget where I was headed--having good outlines for each project helps keep you on track.

 

[Andrew Okey]

My wife has a craft business and is brilliant at almost everything she turns her hand to - her glass art, in particular, is spectacular (and always sells well). But she's a total butterfly - she gets half way to perfecting one great idea but then gets distracted by something even shinier and more exciting- and off she goes down some new path. I used to mock her for this (lovingly, of course - it has become a running joke between us) but now I'm getting that back in spades, as I'm mired in researching and drafting two very different novels - one set in Venice in 1576, the other in Warsaw in 1944, and whichever I happen to be looking at in the moment is definitely the more exciting...until it isn't!

I'm not sure this is a bad thing, and I think there may be real strengths to be derived from simultaneously working with different techniques and styles and ideas. However, I know sometime soon I'm going to have to commit to just the one, and increasingly (given recent experiences with agents and my last novel) I'm (slightly glumly) concluding that I should focus on Warsaw, because its way more marketable than Venice. At least that'll save me some of my wife's mockery!

 

[Susan]

I don’t know about working on more than one project simultaneously, but putting a manuscript aside for a while is one of the best things you can do for it. Working on something else in the meantime is even better. It gives you the chance to develop your writing skills and return to the original manuscript with fresh eyes, renewed enthusiasm and more confidence.

I broke off editing my ancient Greek novel Bloodguilt for several years because I had an overwhelming urge to write a modern political satire. I just wanted to see if I could write satire and needed to express my thoughts about a current issue. Though the satire was no longer topical by the time I finished writing it (damn you, Mr C!), I came back to Bloodguilt bursting with enthusiasm for my ‘neglected’ child and for historical fiction.

At the moment I’m rewriting another Greek novel, which I wrote before Bloodguilt. I began this story with the vaguest concept of the plot, goal, themes, etc. I didn’t even understand how POV worked. I now feel in a much better place to knock it into shape.

 

[Rich.]

I'm monogamous about novels, save for the odd dalliance with a short story or a bit of flash. It's hard enough for me to find the time to write one, let alone several at once.

I've been wrestling with the same one for nearly two years now, and am burnt out, but I know it could be the best thing I've written if I could only persevere.

For what it's worth, and this is very much only an opinion, but if I were in your shoes I'd bin it and write something else. I don't say that because it's not good (it is good). I say it because being burnt out is rubbish and life is short. There are always more stories to tell, and I'm inclined to think that for most writers fixating on that one novel isn't healthy.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I recommend having several diverse projects on the go at the same time. I mean diverse in feel as well as form. Early this year, I wrote the second novella in a series of four about a traumatised American Civil War veteran returning to civilisation after hiding out in the mountains for a couple of years. His journey was linear, down a river valley, difficult to avoid encountering whoever was travelling the same way or coming towards him...or bushwhackers waiting in ambush. I wrote each part of his ride at the time of day it occurred. This worked well—too well—as I began to get as paranoid as him! As a cure, I wrote love poetry and song lyrics, which somehow mollified how my grey cells were channelling the fears of a combat veteran.

It's as well that we writers can handle having multiple personalities.

 

[Leonora]

I'm monogamous about novels, save for the odd dalliance with a short story or a bit of flash. It's hard enough for me to find the time to write one, let alone several at once.


For what it's worth, and this is very much only an opinion, but if I were in your shoes I'd bin it and write something else. I don't say that because it's not good (it is good). I say it because being burnt out is rubbish and life is short. There are always more stories to tell, and I'm inclined to think that for most writers fixating on that one novel isn't healthy.

Tough love! Thanks Rich. I change my mind ten times a day. Just now you've caught me in a 'let's give it one last whirl' frame of mind. But I'll ponder your advice.

 

[Rich.]

I've been in your shoes with the 'let's give it one last whirl' feeling. I had a bit of interest in my first novel. None of it led anywhere but it was encouraging. But then I thought, you know what? I'm sick of this, and I'm sure I can write something better given all that I've learned with this first one. I said as much to an agent I was in touch with at the time. The agent replied:

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That's a very mature attitude, actually, and the opposite of what most writers want to do with their first ms. They usually do want to keep polishing. Keep me posted!​

I kind of took that reply to heart. Maybe that helps you?