I have 4 WIPs in the writing stages at the moment and several more in the planning stages. I tend to bounce between them as the mood strikes.
How Many Works in Progress at Once?
- Thread starter Sapphire135
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Thanks for the responses everyone! Right now I keep "remnant" files with story ideas and lines of dialogue, etc. for other novels, but I don't have two full WIP's going at the same time. I'll reevaluate when I finish my current WIP.
I have three WIPs, but I also have a document with a couple lines of dialog/scenery, whatever for any future works... just sort of ideas that have been bouncing around and I feel might be useful later on.
Yeah, I have two currently, but like others have said I can't actually write two at a time. I'd just always use the other one as an excuse to procrastinate until I had a hundred first three chapters.
The two WIPs in my signature went something like this:
Starting writing WIP1
Got an idea for WIP2; continued to write 1 while storyboarding 2
Finished WIP1 and sent it to alphas
Began writing WIP2
When I get my notes back from my readers I'll probably put WIP2 on hold for a couple of months and get heavily into the editing phase. Then again, I might keep it going as a kind of therapy, when I'm fed up with copy and pasting and rewording and fixing pacing issues and just want to create something again.
But no, I don't think I could draft two WIPs at the same time. I'm not disciplined enough for that
The two WIPs in my signature went something like this:
Starting writing WIP1
Got an idea for WIP2; continued to write 1 while storyboarding 2
Finished WIP1 and sent it to alphas
Began writing WIP2
When I get my notes back from my readers I'll probably put WIP2 on hold for a couple of months and get heavily into the editing phase. Then again, I might keep it going as a kind of therapy, when I'm fed up with copy and pasting and rewording and fixing pacing issues and just want to create something again.
But no, I don't think I could draft two WIPs at the same time. I'm not disciplined enough for that
Right now I'm editing a novel, drafting a novella and planning another novella, and expect some publisher's edits for a short story any day now.
I wouldn't usually be doing the drafting of one and editing another at the same time, but whatever, that story wanted me to write it NOW, so it's happening. I'm getting both done okay, so cool.
The planning of the other one is mostly still in the brainstorming stage, and I give it around 30 minutes a day.
The one thing I try to avoid is having two first drafts on the go at the same time. I did that once and it taught me "never do this again". it messed with my head. I can do it say if I treat one as a side project and work on that only on a specific day for example. But generally I avoid it.
But I do think it's important to be able to switch from one project to another and back again, because that's what I have to do when I'm working on book, but also have one under contract for which publisher's edits could arrive. At that point they're what I have to concentrate on and anything else goes on the back burner. I've learned to cope with that over the last few years. It always makes me chuckle when I see a writer interviewed on TV about their new book, and they're asked about their next book as if they haven't started it yet. Hah! They've probably been working on it for two years already.
I wouldn't usually be doing the drafting of one and editing another at the same time, but whatever, that story wanted me to write it NOW, so it's happening. I'm getting both done okay, so cool.
The planning of the other one is mostly still in the brainstorming stage, and I give it around 30 minutes a day.
The one thing I try to avoid is having two first drafts on the go at the same time. I did that once and it taught me "never do this again". it messed with my head. I can do it say if I treat one as a side project and work on that only on a specific day for example. But generally I avoid it.
But I do think it's important to be able to switch from one project to another and back again, because that's what I have to do when I'm working on book, but also have one under contract for which publisher's edits could arrive. At that point they're what I have to concentrate on and anything else goes on the back burner. I've learned to cope with that over the last few years. It always makes me chuckle when I see a writer interviewed on TV about their new book, and they're asked about their next book as if they haven't started it yet. Hah! They've probably been working on it for two years already.
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