One Project or Many?
When I started writing I tried to stay focused on one
project at a time, which seemed like a good strategy to see the manuscript to
completion and get it published as soon as possible! But there are downsides to
focusing on one story at a time.
The one project method can mean long periods of just editing. I mean I love editing as much as the next
writer, but a writer cannot live on
editing alone. Having multiple projects lets you work on
whatever interests you the most that day - writing, researching, twittering, or
even editing.
Focus can mean lots of waiting - waiting for feedback from
your critique group or a response from an editor. Multiple projects let you be productive and
keep flexing your writing muscles.
Though it sounds backwards, focus can be inefficient. If you research publishers with just one
manuscript in mind, then you need to complete the research again for the next
story. If you have a few at hand you may
note a good editorial fit for each one during your research.
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| This is your brain on writing... (brain by Rodrigo Galindo via sxc.hu) |
Having multiple projects going creates an "idea
web" in your brain which catches juicy tidbits around you. You see someone get tripped by a dog leash
and fall into doggy poo. Aha! Perfect
for your dog walking service book. Your
kid orders five flavors of ice cream and the dopey teenager behind the counter
actually puts five scoops on one cone which is now larger than your child. Voila!
Great for your magic candy shop story.
Finally, sometimes you just don't have a choice. You try to focus, but your muse becomes a college
roommate on Thursday night convincing you to go out for one drink even though
you have never successfully executed the one drink strategy. Ever.
Let's just jot down
this one idea, your muse entices. While we're here, how about a few
sentences? Then a whole
story spills right out of your fingertips.
And sometimes that new idea is more exciting than the other. It's not that your first idea stinks (though
that's certainly possible), it's that you are fatigued with it. You need a little distance in the
relationship so your heart can grow fonder.
The main downside of the multiple project approach is your
brain feeling like a cave of fluttering bats about to explode - but hey,
everything has side effects.
What's your approach?
"You need a little distance in the relationship so your heart can grow fonder."
ReplyDeleteAnd the revisions come easier, and less-than-flattering critiques sting a bit less too!
You are so right about that! You are more open to critique once your ms has sat on the sidelines. If it's too soon after you editing the best you can do, then it feels like a punch in the gut to be reminded your best wasn't good enough!
Delete"Having multiple projects going creates an "idea web" in your brain which catches juicy tidbits around you." I LOVE this image and yes, this is what I do. I'm a multi-project, always dreaming up a new idea kind of girl.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many ideas I missed because I didn't have my web woven! *shudders*
DeleteI never have just one project going on. I always have at least two, usually three. Sounds crazy I know, but that how I operate. I seem to loose creativity when there's only one story on my desk.
ReplyDeleteThe one draw back for me is when a new idea is more exciting, the editing gets pushed away. So I have to *make* myself edit. But it all gets done...
There is a cycle for everything - that editing mood is bound to strike eventually. And we'll be better editors for having been writing so much!
DeleteI haven't quite figured this out yet. Mostly I stick to one project. I say that, but I have four in various stages of editing right now. What I really need though, is to be more organized with my note jotting and keeping each project separate. I have far too many crazy stacks of papers in my office. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a binder with those folder tabs that you can slide mss in easily. And that works super well...until I have a pile of critiqued-by-hand manuscripts...and a query letter draft...and a pile of comparison picture books. And then the whole thing just explodes into 10 neat (as neat as an explosion can be) piles of projects on the guest room bed*. *which is the kids favorite bed to jump on = continuous explosions in my neat piles.
DeleteI write for my day job so I always have more than one project going at once.
ReplyDeleteAnd a story is never really done, is it? I'm always going back and tweaking.
Oh that is the truth of it. My list of "polished" manuscripts is always bobbing up and down - either I have an editing addiction or I don't know the definition of polished.
DeleteI definitely agree that it's more fun to work on multiple projects at once -- and hey, if I write a song for one particular show and I become more interested in another one, I can always cannibalize the song from the first show and put it into the second, so there's never such a thing as wasted effort.
ReplyDeleteOoh cannibalistic ideas?! I don't have any picture book manuscripts dealing with cannibal right now...hmm you may be on to something!
DeleteI tend to have a few project going, writing and otherwise, and I focus on one almost exclusively for a while and then switch to the other for a while. I don't juggle multiple projects well, but I like having something else to turn to when I need a break from what I'm doing.
ReplyDeleteThat's true - it's not really multi-tasking the projects, so much as it is having something to turn to when you need a break.
DeleteI hear you! I've taken to having two going, that way one's always in a writing phase and one's always in either a plotting or editing phase. :)
ReplyDeleteYes you need to spread the editing around. For your middle grade book are you finding you spend more time editing than writing? In picture books the editing seems to be 5 -10 times the writing time.
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