Support for Indie Authors discussion

I've been writing a fantasy novel for some time now. I'm approximately halfway done, and until a few days ago I was busy fixing plotholes for the remainder of the story, world-building, and drawing maps.

Then suddenly my friend brought up my running joke that I would one day write a trilogy about my constant (real-life) emigrating.

I always said I would write it, and I even have titles and blurps for the "upcoming" trilogy all sorted, but I never really meant it. It was just a running joke. But a few days ago I suddenly thought 'Why the heck not?' and opened a new document. A quick search on google and amazon revealed that nobody had nabbed my planned title yet, which made me all giddy inside.

Now I've suddenly started writing a whole new book, about a completely different topic, with my fantasy novel not even halfway finished.

Did this happen to you before?
If yes, do you write multiple things simultaneously?
Or do you put one on the backburner while you finish the other and then return to the first one later?
How do you deal with these sudden bursts of creativity if they don't fit your current project?
Should I just jot down an outline and save it for after the novel?

I wrote Letters in June after I had already started Rebecca. It let me go down a path that I felt was too severe for the tone of Rebecca. But I did have to put Rebecca on the back burner for a month or so while I knocked Letters out.
For me, it's nice to have another project going on for the times when I feel bogged down on my main story. But having said that, you need to be careful not to stray too far, if you've got 18 chapter 1's going then maybe you need to pick one or two and get them finished..

That use to happen to me all the time. The solution for me was simple.

Hammer all the way to the end of a first draft never going back to revise anything. No spell checking no changes at all. Your first draft will be ugly, but done.

Going back will kill it.

If you finish a novel constantly going back it will be very unbalanced because the beginning had more editing love.

You can easily edit a first draft while hammering through the first draft of your next project.

My $.02

Martin Wilsey

Kat that reminds me of my first blog post on GR:

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

"...I love beginnings.

Beginnings are my forte. Beginnings are ultimately the most attractive and exciting part of any creative endeavor.

Not that the endings are bad; it’s rewarding to bring a project to conclusion. And the middle of projects, where the real heavy lifting is done—the sculpting, the refining, the discovery, the reforming, the revision, the hammering into being—all that has its own attraction and rewards, challenges and payoff. But still, it is beginnings that bring sparkle and delight to my imagination..."

For over two decades I only wrote what I was inspired to work on at the time. I've built up well over a dozen stories in various stages of development.

I later got more focused and for the last two years I've been (almost) exclusively working on only one project at a time. But I still come up with new ideas that need to be started at least.

I've been struggling with the editing/re-writing of a new novel since the beginning of 2014. Last year I took a break from it to write and publish four works of shorter fiction (related to a novella I published in '13). And this year, I've hit on ideas for two multi-story books that I'd really love to get going.

My advice is to try and stay on one project as much as possible. But if you're anything like me, some fiction works just need time to gestate. You get so far into them and you need to back away and let your subconscious process them over for a while. Filling that time with another project can be good, because if you don't, you're likely to get discouraged, feeling like your on-going project is getting nowhere.

Your situation is very different from mine in one respect: your latest passion sounds autobiographical. That may be something simply have to finish. The fantasy novel isn't going to go away while you work on this new project. So follow your passion and maybe when you get back to the fantasy novel you'll have a new perspective and some enhanced creative power.

Personally, I can't focus on one or even two things at a time. I need lots of balls in the air at once. Currently we are working on in parallel:

5 novels in our series
2 novellas related to our series
A series of short stories for a spinoff to our series.
A new alternative history trilogy

We pick up and work on whatever we want -- there's always something. Yes, when we get to the 90% mark on a book, we buckle down and finish it.

So we are totally undisciplined and chaotic. We don't write anything in order. We don't set deadlines but we do set expectations (which we are doing a little better at meeting.) We do whatever we want, when we want, whenever we have an idea. Somehow this produces books.

That's a pretty useless answer, I know. But we find that any constraint on our creativity kills it. The moment I have an idea and think "But I oughta..." that idea fades, and I have a devil of a time getting it back (and usually don't), and I can't focus on what I "oughta" do either. So I stopped doing it.

It's all about finding your balance point. But I do think passion and fresh ideas tend to be fragile with a short expiration date. It's good to capture at least the essentials.

I say write whatever is scratching at the gate. I'm currently smack in the middle of a series, but instead of the next book, my brain kept thinking about a story idea while I was writing the last one. I decided to take a quick break from the series to write this one off book, but when I sat down to do just that, I decided instead to pull out yet another series that I had abandoned the year before in favor of my current series. Now, as I work on this, I'm actually getting some good ideas for continuing the series I just put on hold. Doesn't that sound like a jumbled mess? But in the end, as long as I don't try to force one idea to completion before it is ready, it will all work out.

Christina wrote: "Doesn't that sound like a jumbled mess?..."

No. But it does sound like ADD. ;D

Micah wrote: "Christina wrote: "Doesn't that sound like a jumbled mess?..."

No. But it does sound like ADD. ;D"


Actually, it's quite the opposite. Once I've decided what I'm working on, losing focus is no issue.

Christina wrote: "Micah wrote: "Christina wrote: "Doesn't that sound like a jumbled mess?..."

No. But it does sound like ADD. ;D"

Actually, it's quite the opposite. Once I've decided what I'm working on, losing f..."

One of the reasons I work the way I do is that I have an idiosyncratic memory. I can't remember names, dates, or times to save myself. But I remember stories -- until I write them down. I rarely make notes, because if I make a note, I forget what the note was. Then I'll probably lose the note or forget where I typed it. And that's an issue. So I don't write things until I'm ready to, and then I write everything I want to write. At that point, I forget it, but it's OK, because it's written. This is why we don't do drafts or rewrite in the conventional sense. (We do have a merging process to combine our work.)

Actually, this comes in handy when reviewing our work. Since I've forgotten it, my perspective tends to be pretty fresh when we read it over.

I'm roughly 2/3 of the way through writing the first draft of my follow-up to Bounty, called Blood Ties. Yet I've already come up with the overall plot and have begun outlining said plot for the third book in the series, tentatively titled Behind the Badge.

Course, I began writing Blood Ties while I was still knee-deep in Bounty edits and re-writes, so... I'm the last person to talk about sticking to one project at a time.

I often find that I am trying to write one book, but another keeps bugging me wanting my attention. It's like a toddler pulling on your pant leg. You finally have to give in and give it the attention it is begging for. I have to follow where the creativity is leading me, even if that means putting something on hold. I find I'm very one tracked. If I'm writing it has to be that one story. I couldn't imagine having more than one idea on the go, so everything else goes on the backburner.

Thank you for your comments!

Owen wrote: "The moment I have an idea and think "But I oughta..." that idea fades, and I have a devil of a time getting it back"

Yes, that's what it feels like, the urge to shape it while it's fresh is strong.

Mike wrote: "For me, it's nice to have another project going on for the times when I feel bogged down on my main story."

Hm. I felt a bit like that when I was stuck with a big plothole, but that is being filled out now, so it's not like I didn't have anything to write about :)

Martin wrote: "If you finish a novel constantly going back it will be very unbalanced because the beginning had more editing love."

I never thought about that, but that is definitely true for my story! I've already been over what I wrote so far several times before getting to the end... I will definitely keep that in mind in the future, it makes a lot of sense to me.

Kat wrote: "Did this happen to you before?
If yes, do you write multiple things simultaneously?"

I always have multiple projects going. It's one of the ways I avoid writers block.

Kat wrote: "Or do you put one on the backburner while you finish the other and then return to the first one later?"

I work on whichever thing is burning in my mind the most.

Kat wrote: "Should I just jot down an outline and save it for after the novel?"

Whatever works best for you. You're the writer of your works, you're the boss, the one in charge. Every writer is different with different work habits. Do what works best for you!

I am sure you have read a novel that was really good in the beginning and weak at the end, even rushed.

Yep. Bad habit.

Kat wrote: "I've been writing a fantasy novel for some time now. I'm approximately halfway done, and until a few days ago I was busy fixing plotholes for the remainder of the story, world-building, and drawing..."

Oh, I do this all the time. I actually wrote a list of my works in progress the other night and it came to about 15. Some of those are not much more than a single page, if I'm being honest, but it's still pretty shocking.

I just need to knuckle down and get some stuff finished.

1 out of 100 people say they want to write a novel.

1 out of those 100 people actually finish a novel.

1 out of those 100 people actually get their novel Published.

1 out of those 100 people sell a lot of those books.

Hammer through that first draft. You can do it.

Beat the odds...

Martin wrote: "That use to happen to me all the time. The solution for me was simple.

Hammer all the way to the end of a first draft never going back to revise anything. No spell checking no changes at all. Your..."

I like your .02 worth - makes sense, but sometimes so difficult.... I try to do it this way, but can get distracted or discouraged at times - thanks for the reminder

Martin wrote: "1 out of 100 people say they want to write a novel.

1 out of those 100 people actually finish a novel.

1 out of those 100 people actually get their novel Published.

1 out of those 100 people sel..."

And this is exactly how I approach writing. I think I want to copy and paste this to my blog if you don't mind Martin! *Maybe we'll put it on the new website we're trying to set up!*

I tend to call this New Idea Fever, in which you get that awesome new idea and want to set everything aside to work on it.

What's helped keep me from caving to this fever is learning the hard way what happens when I rush things and don't allow a story time to really flesh out. I usually like to give a new idea from a few months to a year to percolate before I tackle it; allow all the little details that make a story interesting time to grow. I've jumped on new ideas before and it usually ended with me either setting the story aside and never touching it again or the story taking for flippin' ever to write.

Riley wrote: "Martin wrote: "1 out of 100 people say they want to write a novel.

1 out of those 100 people actually finish a novel.

1 out of those 100 people actually get their novel Published.

1 out of those..."

Do it. I say it to myself every day... Martin