Do I have to (or should I) concentrate on only one thing at a time

[WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade]

I have been working on a epic for five or so months, (well about seven or eight but I wasn't really producing anything good or regularly) during that time, I have had three other ideas which I really like, and have started writing bits for them and developing these worlds, plots characters ect in my head, as well doing this for my original one.
I'm making the most progress with the original( 50-60 thousand words compared to 4-12 thousand on the others) and I like flicking between one to the other (for changes of scenery; the original is a big epic fantasy, one is first person and more contained, another is set in a world with guns and demons and the third is an alternative history with the romans finding America which has elves and other various fantasy denizens).
I am sure this is all pointless rambling and it probably just boils down to personal preference. However, I am new to this writing malarkey and I want to hear your opinions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Spider]

I had this problem several months back, thanks to my Creative ADD. I had an idea and told myself, "I'm going to write about this!" But a little later, I would get an "even better" idea. In the end I forced myself to pick idea one and stick with it, and I think you should stick to your original WIP. If you switch back and forth, you might not get too far in any of them. My advice would be to write those ideas in a journal and come back to them much later.

 

[Weaver]

I think it depends on WHY you're switching between projects.

If you're changing because you've found a "better idea" that you'd rather write about, maybe you need to ask yourself why that idea appeals to you more than the old one. Is it just an "oooohhh, shiny" reaction, or is it really a better idea? Learn to resist the "oooohhh, shiny," but allow yourself to change plans if you discover that an idea for a story just isn't going to work out.

On the other hand, I myself frequently switch between projects. I'm not a single-topic, linear-thinking person (and that for the people who foolishly adhere to the myth that men think in straight lines and women think in circles), I skip from one thing to another in anything creative (painting? yes... lithography? when I can... mosaics made of thousands of squares less than a centimeter across? all the frakkin' time...), and all my fiction is interwoven (yes, feel free to make the joke -- everyone oes, eventually), so it's not as if I'm actually leaving a character's story just because I'm working on an earlier or later part of it or a part in which they're minor supporting cast instead of the lead. I've been told (sometimes on these forums) that it is wrong/unprofessional/juvenile to write this way, but the writing gets done, and it wouldn't if I forced myself to do it one story at a time all the way through.

So, short answer: do whatever works best for you. But you already knew that, right?

 

[Guru Coyote]

For me, it depends on what 'phase' I am in. Right now, I am in an idea phase... and not all the ideas I have fit into one story. In these times, I tend to have two or three 'main' lines of narration and keep those 'files' open to plot down any ideas that fit into one of them.
When I am actually writing, I do tend to stick to the one story I am determined to finish. That works well for short story type writing... this July I'll be embarking on my first attempt at a longer piece which might actually become a novel. At the same time I'm doing research for a Dark Crystal story I might write.

 

[Penpilot]

It's true that this involves personal preference. Sometimes people like to work on multiple things at the same time. Sometimes people like to change to something new because they're stuck. For me, it's always easier at the beginning of a story because you can throw a bunch of interesting ingredients onto the table without worrying about what they make, and it's fun, but when it comes time to start cooking with those ingredients, that's when some people get stuck. There are infinite possibilities to what you can make and it's so hard to decide. This is when things come to a halt.

I forced myself through my first book. It was a mess, but I learned so many lessons from just finishing it, one of which is knowing that I had the stamina to finish. Another was understanding the problems that come after the beginning and learning how to deal with them.

My second book was a lot easier to finish. I took the lessons learned form finishing the first and applied them to the second and finishing was never in doubt. Finishing well, that was another lesson. And as I'm finishing up the final edits to my second novel, ideas for at least three other books are begging and screaming for me to give them attention. I work on the ideas for those books only after I do work on the current novel, pushing that towards the finish line.

My point is ask why you're getting stuck. Sometimes you just need to finish something, even if it's done badly. It's about learning to get over that hump. If all you ever do is start, then all you'll ever get better at is starting. The more you finish, the better you'll get at it.

 

[Weaver]

For me, it depends on what 'phase' I am in. Right now, I am in an idea phase... and not all the ideas I have fit into one story.

...And it is the wise writer who knows that they don't all fit and doesn't try to force them into one story. That way lies what I like to refer to as "a mess."

We've all seen some doozies, stories that would have been so much better if the author had just... saved some of the stuff for another time. I dislike Orson Scott Card as a person, and I don't care for most of his writing, but he does, occasionally and perhaps accidentally, have some useful advice on writing. While I think the example he chose wasn't the best one ('cause, y'know, someone did write that story, and it was a good one, and it was a successful and well-liked novel), but he once said, 'A story about time travel is good, and a story about dragons is good, but a story about time-travelling dragons is not good.' If we look at this only as advice not to shove too much stuff into one story, it's good advice. (If we look at it as someone choosing dis Anne McCaffrey and her novel Dragonquest, it's not good. Maybe he didn't mean it that way, though.)

How much stuff a story can reasonably contain varies. Alastair Reynolds packs a whole lotta weird into his science fiction, but he doesn't throw in wizards AND spaceships AND zombies AND evil scientists AND a vampire-werewolf-rutabaga love triangle...

(I'm in a 'phase' known as 'too much coffee, no food, and trying to play with my MC's paranoia for my own fun and profit.' It's great. Now I'm off to mess with his brains a bit...)

 

[A. E. Lowan]

As long as you're making consistent progress with your WIP, there is nothing wrong with playing with a side project or two. Personally, I tend to have at least 3 or 4 projects in the air at a time - our WIP, the sequel, and a couple more in outline, as well as world building and meta-plotting for the series as a whole. The way I was trained to write, I was always told that editors want to see a completed manuscript, a second one (these days it's preferably a sequel but whatever works) in rough draft, and a third in outline - in other words, a production chain showing that you are a productive writer and not a one-book-pony.

And Weaver, all our stories take place in the same story universe, too, even if they're worlds away. Never let anyone tell you you're not doing it right - if the work gets done, if the finished product is consistent and professional, that's all that matters. This is art, not rocket science.

 

[WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade]

Thanks to everyone!!!!!! These replies have all been great! I've had a bit of a think on why I do start many projects due to these replies, and I think it is partly shinny related ( I mean shinny things are awesome!) but not that much, because although these new ideas are nice and new,( and hopefully I will get around to writing them) I always end up back at the original, because for me that is the one that I really "know" -the world is big and living, I know the characters, they sit in my head, whispering to me (especially in my exams- NOT COOL GUYS(and girls)! ) and I can see the plot.
( realised that this is one giant sentence but Cant be bothered to fiddle around trying to break it up (My writing is better-I think) For safety don't try to read it aloud- though I would be honoured if you felt it deserved to be read out- rambling again )

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Thanks to everyone!!!!!! These replies have all been great! I've had a bit of a think on why I do start many projects due to these replies, and I think it is partly shinny related ( I mean shinny things are awesome!) but not that much, because although these new ideas are nice and new,( and hopefully I will get around to writing them) I always end up back at the original, because for me that is the one that I really "know" -the world is big and living, I know the characters, they sit in my head, whispering to me (especially in my exams- NOT COOL GUYS(and girls)! ) and I can see the plot.
( realised that this is one giant sentence but Cant be bothered to fiddle around trying to break it up (My writing is better-I think) For safety don't try to read it aloud- though I would be honoured if you felt it deserved to be read out- rambling again )

Tell us the truth, now...

How much coffee have you had, this morning?

 

[WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade]

This may scare people, but I HAD NO COFFEE! Reading this now it does seem like I was dosed up on coffee, but that's sort of who I am- be thankful you don't know me and so haven't seen me actually dosed up on caffeine- scary sight

 

[Weaver]

This may scare people, but I HAD NO COFFEE! Reading this now it does seem like I was dosed up on coffee, but that's sort of who I am- be thankful you don't know me and so haven't seen me actually dosed up on caffeine- scary sight

Coffee often calms me down. I should get some now.