Sweetdevotion

What do you all usually do, write more than one novel at a time or concentrate on only one?
I have 2 novels started but neither finished and I want to start a third one. Should I? or should I stick to the two and finish them off?

Thanks!

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lilacstarflower

Hi,

at one point I would have said write the three because when you get stuck with one you could work on another.

Now I'm saying take down as much information as you can about the new idea you have and file it away until you get one of the other pieces completed. I found it was just a way to procrastinate - jumping from one to the other and really not getting anywhere.

If you keep going back and taking notes for the new idea, by the time you are ready to seriously work at it, you will have a strong outline for where you want it to go.

That's just my opinion, you might find that you are happy to work simultaneously on three projects. I've now learned I can only focus on one.

Good luck with it!

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CroZ

I dabble in a few every now and again. I've been stuck on the ending for one for over half a year, I've a fantasy at 40,000 words, then there's a complete one I've been editing the bejesus out of. Once that's done I'll start sending it off and get back to work on the others.

C.M.C.

I have no experience with multitasking, but I wouldn't try to do too many things at once. You don't want to fall into a trap of losing track of the voice of each story.

HarryG

I can only concentrate on one major project at a time and keep with it until I can't do any more, but I seldom go back to it after that.

Dan

The first time I ever finished a novel was the first time I decided to focus on one and only one. Just saying.

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mi is happy

Just do more than one. Don't follow my example. I'm writing like 20 books right now. Do I have any of them finished? No.

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lisajane

I've got two on the ball, neither of which are actually being written right now... one's been going for the last five years and one got to twenty pages before I decided it needs an outline.

I go into stages between writing thousands of words for the first one, and then writing absolutely nothing on it for months. The other one, I love the plot but hate writing outlines, so it's been avoided.

Of course, I also don't have deadlines...

I like having multiple stories going at once, because there's something else to work on when I get bored on another. But it's up to you as to whether you can multitask, and not get the stories confused.

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WriterDude

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WriterDude

I don't really write books. I write down ideas that might or might not turn into books one day. This doesn't mean I never finish anything, of course. Quite the contrary, I have finished several books already and are working on two at once right now.

What I mean is I focus a lot on one book at a time, but write down pretty much all the other ideas I get in another document if they don't fit into the current novel. This let me use them later on (days, weeks, even years later if I want to, and the book I'm currently focus on changes as often as my mood in some cases. I focus fully one one book one day, then might focus fully on another book the next day.

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Taxiday

I have four projects in the fire and ideas for more.

It's a matter of working on the one that turns you on at the moment.
The greatest thing about writing is getting your ideas down and lettingthem germinate.

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SilkFX

I have only recently come to accept the fact that I am not a super-genius like I've always been taught / led to believe. Therefore, I can only give my best to one project at a time. Now I just need to decide which project to put exclusive focus on. I'm giving myself until after I move (August 1).

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OtherWorlds

I have several novels going on at once, but I usually concentrate chiefly on one and put the others on the back burner, so to speak. I drag them out when I have spare time and fiddle with them, but lately I try to center my main concentration on just one. Otherwise, it takes me forever to finish anything.

On the bright side, however, those of you who employ a different method can look forward to finishing two or three novels all around the same time.

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PSFoster

I write short stories and non-fiction shorts, not novels, but I write the story through as it comes to me. Then I let it sit a day or 2, and take it out & reread it. That's when I do the fine-tuning, taking things out & putting things in & rewriting sentences.

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