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Determining the order in which to write stories

When you have several ideas for stories to write, and these stories have little in common with each other, what considerations should go into determining which to write first, and how important are these considerations? My initial list, in no particular order:

* Personal desire to write the story
* Promises to friends and family that they'll get to read the story
* Obligation to fans of previous stories in that setting or with those characters
* Degree to which the story is already complete
* Planned length of the story (shorter is quicker)
* Ease of researching information required for the story
* Ease of writing the story
* Marketability of the story's content

I'm assuming you don't try to write them all at the same time--that seems likely to end up with them all unfinished.

For now, my order is:

Near-complete, marketable story I've promised to someone
Unmarketable, difficult-to-write story I've promised to someone
Short, quick-to-write story in setting that already has (a few) fans
Story that was complete prior to a computer crash
Lengthy new story with high personal investment
Everything else
 

JCFarnham

Auror
I'm going to be honest with you.

Right now, and even when published ("obligations" shouldn't mean you can't write what you want), the only thing that matters is personal desire. If one particular story is what you want to write the most, then do that :)
 

MadMadys

Troubadour
I had a similar conflict of sorts after I finished the first draft of one story and was looking forward to both editing that and getting into some new stories. Over the years, I had written and developed other ideas but put them off until I finished that first one. When it came time to choose I found myself torn. I could have honestly done any of them because each had something I liked in it be it characters, a setting, plot, narrative, or whatever else.

So in the end I just wrote up some summaries of each, varying from entire plot outlines to just one or two sentence ideas, and presented it to some friends. They chose the stories they would like to read or know more about and I went from there. I chose two stories in the end, one a modern day comedic fantasy and the other a character driven scfi noir, which is fine by me because the stories are drastically different.

Something else to keep in mind is that, eventually, you'll do every story you want so don't feel that by picking one you doom the others.
 
I'm going to be honest with you.

Right now, and even when published ("obligations" shouldn't mean you can't write what you want), the only thing that matters is personal desire. If one particular story is what you want to write the most, then do that :)

Completion, at least, needs to be more important--otherwise, I'd quit halfway through the second draft when I got bored. (The last time I benched a completed draft until I was interested in it again was the one I lost in a computer crash, so I'm hesitant to do so again.)
 
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SeverinR

Vala
I write or work on the story that is utmost in my mind and the current one I am confident in.

I am not published and have not made, nor plan to make promises to others about writing.
I write what I feel is worthy of writing. I could not try to write something for someone else, other then maybe a writing challenge, but I must have complete control of the events after meeting the basic needs of the challenge.
I would give more credibility to the story you feel is most mapped out and set up to write. The others are more likely to hit a snag or turn into a dead end.
 

Helen

Inkling
When you have several ideas for stories to write, and these stories have little in common with each other, what considerations should go into determining which to write first, and how important are these considerations? My initial list, in no particular order:

* Personal desire to write the story
* Promises to friends and family that they'll get to read the story
* Obligation to fans of previous stories in that setting or with those characters
* Degree to which the story is already complete
* Planned length of the story (shorter is quicker)
* Ease of researching information required for the story
* Ease of writing the story
* Marketability of the story's content

I'm assuming you don't try to write them all at the same time--that seems likely to end up with them all unfinished.

For now, my order is:

Near-complete, marketable story I've promised to someone
Unmarketable, difficult-to-write story I've promised to someone
Short, quick-to-write story in setting that already has (a few) fans
Story that was complete prior to a computer crash
Lengthy new story with high personal investment
Everything else

An idea is just an idea and can quickly evaporate.

I'd outline each idea to see which has more substance, which one goes furthest. And choose that.

Assuming that you're equally keen about each idea in the first place.
 
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