One + One=Mass Confusion for Me
Monday, December 13, 2010 Question of the day: How many manuscripts do you work on at once?
I was thinking about this question, and it reminded me of a brief period of time in high school when I made the misguided decision to take both Spanish and French at the same time. What happened was not that I excelled at both languages, rather I found myself spitting out Spanish words in French class, and Spench (that's a mash up of both of them) in Spanish class, since French was my more dominant language.
In other words, it was a disaster. A well-intentioned on, perhaps, but my brain just couldn't hack it.
The same holds true for me and writing. I simply cannot fully immerse myself in the voice of my protagonist while listening to another voice in the back of my head. Actually, I haven't even tried it. It sounds too exhausting, too confusing. For me, so much about creating my books comes from 100% understanding the world of my heroine (and her supporting players), that if I remove myself from that even a little bit, the writing becomes much, much harder.
Currently, in fact, I'm working on a screenplay while juggling edits of The Memory of Us. I find myself mixing up my heroines' names, having to backtrack to ensure that I haven't swapped in details of one for the other, etc. I'm doing both of them now because it's necessary on my time frame, but I cannot even imagine the mental havoc that would ensure if I were to do this with two manuscripts.
So that's my thing. I KNOW that a lot of others DO manage to juggle - maybe if you're writing two different genres, it's easier? So the characters and plots don't really morph into each other? That may be the case. I'd love to hear...do you write more than one work at a time, and if so, how do you manage it?
Craft
Reader Comments (8)
I usually do two manuscripts at once (a manuscript menage a trois if you will). In the morning I do edits on old MS, in the afternoon/evening work on the new MS. I've found that having different geners does help. For example, my morning edit is paranormal romance, afternoon new work is suspence romance. By keeping the magic in one, and out of the other, it helps me seperate them. But two MS of the same genre but different books? No, I'd have them morphing into each other.
I've always been tempted to start writing new novels when the current one is still unfinished. So I don't allow myself more than one project at a time, because I'm afraid I'll lose interest in and trash the first piece. Having to wait is good incentive to finish what I originally started. :) (Although I do plot and plan future stories while in the middle of a project.) I guess I didn't even consider the two stories getting confused - eek!
So here's a question that has been bugging me for a while.
Writing has obviously been a mega learning process for me (and I consider myself an amateur). My first novel took my 3 1/2 years to finish up and by the time I got to the end of it, I didn't feel the same passion or connection with the story as I did when I started. So, it hasn't gone anywhere, other than to my sisters, just for fun.
So now I'm nearing the end of my second novel, which is considerably longer than the first, and on track to be completed in just 2 years. But I'm starting to feel the that same detachment from the story, and just an eagerness to move on to another project.
So the question is: How do you keep your connection with a story, and what's the best way to return to it (once it's complete) and start the editing process? Is letting it sit for a while and giving your brain a break a good idea? Or just forcing yourself to edit it to death while starting on something new?
I probably just need to get my editing side disciplined (it took years to get the Writer to behave). But do you have any advice? :)
I can work on only one big project at a time. I can go through copy edits on one manuscript while working on the first or second draft of another, and I can do nonfiction at the same time, but I can't do early drafts on more than manuscript at at time. Amanda, I think the feeling you mention is pretty common. My guess is that while a project is still living in the writer's mind it's PERFECT because you haven't yet committed anything to paper or screen so you haven't yet made any of the inevitable mistakes you'll make along the way (not YOU, I mean anyone). Because that unwritten project is so full of potential it's tempting to trash the one you're working on in favor of it. But that's a fool's errand, because once you get that new one started you'll see that it, too, needs focus and discipline to get it to match the ideal in your mind. They all do! I think it's good to take a break between drafts if you can but it's also important to force yourself to do the painful revisions and editing that ALL books require.
I've worked on two projects simultaneously before, and even though it was definitely challenging and required an additional amount of discipline, I don't feel like I had trouble separating the two. If I ever felt like the characters or stories were getting entangled with one another, I made a point of setting one project aside for awhile. That said, when I was writing my most recent manuscript, I DID focus on it exclusively and found that fully immersing myself in the one story really brought an extra dynamic to the whole process. There was something unique and special about working on that novel for me right from the beginning, something I can't quite describe. I didn't want to leave those characters for any others. I didn't want to set aside their journey, even for a day, to focus on others. For me, that's what it comes down to, I think: the passion for it. If I loved two projects equally, I'd try to find a way to work on both concurrently. But when I'm so swept up in one that I literally don't want to stop writing for anything, well ... there's my answer about what I should be focusing on :)
Allison- so glad to hear I'm not the only who gets confused working on too many at once. Lately I've been juggling a novel with several short stories. Guess what? The voice sounds the same in each one. Blech! Time to focus on one at a time for me!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Meg! I really appreciate it. :) I actually feel that I'm able to communicate my story decently in the writing progress and lives up *fairly* well to my expectations. Maybe I just get tired of my characters' problems and don't feel the same empathy that I did at the beginning. All relationships take commitment, and I guess I've just got to work harder at seeing my characters through their tumultuous journeys... even when they are driving me crazy! ;)
By the way, I just checked out your website, Meg. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on your book. :)
Great topic. I'm in the same boat--very difficult to handle two voices at once. And, I'm also working on a screenplay, so I soooo want to hear more about yours (as in, why you decided to jump into one and not write a novel instead!). I'm enjoying the process--so far so good--as it's flexing new writing muscles. xoxo
I'd love to start a second novel right now, but I'm forcing myself to wait until my current WIP is ready to query. Actually, it's motivating me to work harder to finish revisions - starting my next book will be my reward. I'm so immersed in my characters' heads that, like you, I don't want to attempt to mingle their voices with characters from another story.