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Paula asks, ‘How many stories can you work on at the same
time?”
Many writers can work on several different stories. When I
was writing my very first novel (about 50 years ago!), I recall being able to write short
stories at the same time. However, I now find I can only concentrate on one
story at a time. In a sense, I develop ‘tunnel vision’ and can only ‘see’ the
characters and plot in which I am currently involved. If I tried to switch
between stories, I know I would ‘lose contact’ with my characters, and also with
the continuity of the story.
While I am writing a story, I find I am completely immersed
in the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and in the problems and
conflicts they have to deal with. There is no way I could get myself involved
in another set of characters and their problems, until I’ve sorted out the
current ones! If I abandoned them, I'd have great difficulty in returning to them.
I don’t think I can break away from my ‘tunnel vision’ but if
you can work on more than one story at a time, I’d be interested to know how you do it!
How do you abandon one story to deal with another? And how easy/difficult is it
for you to return to a first story once you’ve become involved with a second story (or more)?
I can't do it, Paula.
ReplyDeleteGlad it's not just me! :-)
DeleteI do it. The funny thing is it depends on the story as to whether or not I find it easy or a mistake! If the story requires some research, I tend to drift onto writing something else instead of immersing myself in research. If I have a problem in a story, I jump onto another one, rather than get bogged down sorting the problem out and often the solution just comes to me. I think it is because my mind keeps coming up with ideas and if I don't write them down, I lose them. I need to stay creative. My fictional worlds are an escape from my real world. My biggest problem is finishing them! I think I am scared that if I finish it, I will have to birth it into the world, and if people don't love it as much as I do it would be a real blow to my confidence, and that in turn will have a knock on effect on my writing :/
ReplyDeleteAwen
Awen, that's an interesting point about being scared to send a finished story into the world - but that's something we all have to do eventually. Not everyone will like our stories - but then not everyone likes J.K. Rowling's stories!
DeleteI'm usually a one-at-a-time gal myself. I might jot notes for another story if something comes to me, but generally I stick to writing one at a time. (I usually have enough trouble with just the one, let alone trying to juggle more characters and plots.)
ReplyDeleteI'm the same, Deb. Occasionally I'll jot something down about a possible future story, and I even wrote a prologue for one once - but that's as far it went!
DeleteI work on more than one at a time, but I separate it out. I work on one to write and another to edit. And I take a break between them (eat, run an errand, etc.) so that my mind clears. I actually find it helpful, especially as I have a tendency to reuse certain expressions or descriptions and when I see them in more than one place I make sure to get rid of them. I don't think I'd be able to write more than one at a time though.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I could even write one and edit another at the same time! My editing is an extension of my writing, and I think I need to focus even more on the characters and story when I'm editing. But that's a good point about spotting similar expressions etc in two different stories.
DeleteI do work on one at a time but other ideas keep interrupting!
ReplyDelete