What do you do? - Writers Forum

Hayden · 01-19-2006, 09:47 PM

Do you start just one story, be it short or long, and just work on that, not starting another until it's finished, or do yo usually have several up and running at the once?

I'm just curious.

BookLover · 01-19-2006, 11:22 PM

I take it one at a time. I don't write short stories in installments, I finish a short story at one shot. So, there is no point in writing 2 or 3 stories in parallel.

How about you?

Hayden · 01-19-2006, 11:34 PM

usually I write one thing at a time, but just lately I've started a another long story, when I'm stil finishing the other.

I wonder if it's better to concentrate on one story at a time, I'm guessing it would be.

raedyn_l · 01-19-2006, 11:46 PM

Hmm. When I was younger I used to multitask on things all the time--I'd have seven stories in progress, none of them finished at all.

But now I can write for longer periods of time. I come it with rough drafts of short stories in about ten or fifteen minutes, and if it's really long it will take me thirty.

I still don't feel up to an entire book, though. I've got a short attention span.

SxThorntonxS · 01-20-2006, 03:20 AM

I think its useful to have multiple things to work on. Sometimes i just cant get motivated to work on one thing, but i want to write. Or ill have another great idea and start it up. Some people can do this, some cant. Like the other night i spent 4 hours on one story. I wanted to write the next day but i burnt myself out on just that one. So i worked on another.

Superlagg · 01-20-2006, 03:42 AM

I tried writing another story while I was writing my current one. Failed miserably it did.

woodcut.evolution · 01-20-2006, 11:35 AM

I do a little of both. For example: I would write the outline then let it sit for a few weeks and work on something else. When I'm done with that other thing I come back and write my draft, then set it aside for at least a month. Then I come back after working on something else and revise. And so on and so forth until I'm done. Call it leap-frogging if you will. I find it helps give me a fresh look on whatever piece I'm working on.

simon woodhouse · 01-20-2006, 02:10 PM

I concentrate wholeheartedly on the novels, but I stop every now and then and write a short story. It makes a nice change to think about a different set of characters and situations for a few days. Then I go back to the novel with renewed enthusiasm.

Recently, when it comes to short stories, I've stopped thinking in terms of being published. Now I use them as exercises, where I try out new characters and themes I might elaborate on at a later date.

SxThorntonxS · 01-20-2006, 02:49 PM

I agree Mr Woodhouse. I stopped making the desire to get published my focus for most of my writing. My focus is just teling a story. Even if one person reads it and enjoys it, then it was worth it.

mammamaia · 01-20-2006, 05:25 PM

i've always had a vast array of writing projects 'in the works' at any given time... in my old, 'ordinary' writing life, i might have been working on a play, a musical, poems, song lyrics, and several books, at the same time as a screenplay and assorted work for the clients of my writing consultant business...

nowadays, i pretty much start and finish a piece at one sitting, and don't write for paid publication, so quite a few earlier projects are languishing in my files, probably never to be completed...

character1_Caitlin · 01-20-2006, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayden

Do you start just one story, be it short or long, and just work on that, not starting another until it's finished, or do yo usually have several up and running at the once?

I'm just curious.

Well I am new so I came here with the hopes of a novel , which I started and realized I have a lot to learn. I am working on a short story and it is done in parts because I work full time and have a family here at home that demands I give them attention- the nerve of them

.

I won't start a new short story until this one is finished however I will go back and forth to my novel and revise and apply things I learn here. But I need to see something I write completed in the next while just to see if I can do this and a string of short stories would serve that purpose. Plus the odd crash into the poetry forum

salukis32 · 01-20-2006, 10:18 PM

I tend to work on multiple stories, both short and full length novels, at a time. Before I start a novel, however, I have a decent outline put together so that I know where I'm going before I sit down to write. My writing depends on the type of mood I'm in and the time available. If I know I have time, then I might work on a novel and set the background music to instill a mood or to keep me in one. If I don;t have much time or I find my attention fading quickly, then I might try to crank out a short story or travel article. Mostly you have to find what works for you.

Rhea · 01-20-2006, 10:51 PM

I do one or two at a time. If I get the inspiration to write something short, I'll start and finish that before continuing my longer story/stories. But currently I'm only concenrating on one - and I barely have time for it with all my schoolwork.

bob rulz · 01-21-2006, 02:46 AM

I usually try to concentrate on one thing at once, but sometimes I'll take a break after a few weeks to work on something else and then come back to what I was originally working on. I just find that I'm not very good at short stories, so I usually try to write a novel.

Dresdor · 01-21-2006, 01:11 PM

I write one at a time, if I get a good idea for another, I write it down in a notebook I have for that purpose. Then when I'm done I can come back and look in that notebook for my next book.