How Do You Balance Several Stories At Once?

[MajorKerina]

This is probably my biggest problem as a writer. I only recently finished a project which is 440,000 words long and written all before publishing it. I wrote the vast majority of it very fast and then the last 8000 words were something I put off for six months before finally finishing in a day.

In the meantime, I started a tale about a magical library, about a little boy who traded places with someone by putting clothes on at his school's the lost and found, about grounded superheroes, and so on. And none of those were completed and there's a lot of stuff I still have up in the air. My problem is I can't mentally balance multiple projects because it rips my attention in several directions. Getting back into my Contest Entry while writing out a commission has me terrified that I'll need to reread everything just to feel like I remember everything I was supposed to.

I think of it kinda like with actors who have to be immersed in their roles. My mood and body language change with one character over another and I am in that world. If I break contact by doing other creative things then it takes a lot of effort and frustration to get back into it. Any tips or thoughts on how you juggle different things at once or like a toolkit or something?

I considered making a wikia for my stories as adding a new one with pertinent notes whenever I'm working to help organize all the important stuff on my mind but my notes tend to spew out without any cohesive order. I am always looking for a program or a site which might be able to put everything into a framework so I can return to projects without an insane amount of getting back up to speed. Also any tips are welcome. Most times I just need to put in the work and reread something. Another way I've been experimenting with is to treat each chapter as a short story in some works because highly connected chapters require my full attention.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I don't balance several stories at once because I'm busy balancing several men at once, but if I were balancing several stories, I would probably do it in a similar way by setting aside some time for each of them each week.

 

[thedude3445]

I have three ongoing serials and am always developing others, so I think I have some valuable experience here.

I'd always had the notion that it's good to work fully on one project then switch to others, like work for a week on Project A, then a week on B, then a month on C, but recently that hasn't really been the case anymore since these stories are all actively publishing and I have to balance marketing and promotion on top of just writing. I still try to focus as much as I can on only one project at a time, but maybe even just setting aside blocks of time might be nice. Like if you do a full 8-hour writing shift on a weekend day or something, maybe spend 2 hours warming up on project A, then work the rest of the day on B. Then next full writing day you can do 2 hours on B, and 6 hours on C?

I completely understand the deal with needing to get immersed, though. I struggle with that a lot too when I need to write heavier/more serious stuff, or even in my LitRPG series just letting myself reacquaint with the system and "game mechanics."

For project organization, I 100% recommend Scrivener (Scrivener 3 for Windows releases extremely soon, like next month). It has a learning curve at first; I highly recommend going through the tutorials in detail, then import the project and notes of an in-progress story to get a feel for how it all works. But it's massively versatile and with its metadata tagging systems you can facilitate your own rereading and cross-referencing of older chapters extremely quickly. If you are using google docs, the loading times alone are a world of difference that you never would have realized.

 

[AliceShiki]

I just write one story at a time... >.>

 

[Deleted member 29316]

I focus on one story at a time, then when I get the urge to write the other, I'd simply do it. Then rest if my mind and body tells me to.

Trust me, you don't want to be burned out when you're in the middle of writing something.

Also, I try to finish a volume as fast as possible (which is achievable by using plotting, and planning beforehand). I give myself at least 3 weeks to write everything I can in a volume, and a maximum of 1.5 months, and three times of edits only. Self-discipline is also a great friend, and I refrain from gaming, watching, and doing other things as long as my mind and body isn't tired.

 

[fullbios]

I just can't. I focus too much on one story and forget the other.

 

[yansusustories]

It's a bit difficult for me to answer because I don't think I ever had much of a problem with this.
I currently have 6 projects I'm actively writing, one I'm revising, and another one that I'm editing as a final touch-up. I think what is most important for me to juggle all of them at once is to have a schedule that I keep to religiously (and beat myself up mentally whenever I don't, trying to make up for it over the next days) because that way, I have to work on each project at a certain time and can only push it off for so long.

Then, I normally take a short break when switching between projects. Like, I will write a chapter or two for project A, then go and answer some comments before I go and write the chapter I need to finish for project B. Then rinse and repeat until everything is done. If I have a bit more time, I'll write an additional chapter for something right after finishing the ones I need to. So I normally don't do project A, then B, then C, only to cycle back to A. Instead, I'd do all of A before doing the rest.

If I need a short reminder for one project, I read the last few lines (like, two, at most three paragraphs) of the previous chapter. If I'm still stuck and can't get it done no matter what, I might listen to some inspirational music or just switch the projects around. I.e., I actually need to do A, B, and C but can't start on A? Then I'll do B and C first and then try A again. If I still can't do it, I'll just leave it be for that day, take from my stockpile, and write an additional chapter the next day to make up for it.

 

[ChronicleCrawler]

This is probably my biggest problem as a writer. I only recently finished a project which is 440,000 words long and written all before publishing it. I wrote the vast majority of it very fast and then the last 8000 words were something I put off for six months before finally finishing in a day.

In the meantime, I started a tale about a magical library, about a little boy who traded places with someone by putting clothes on at his school's the lost and found, about grounded superheroes, and so on. And none of those were completed and there's a lot of stuff I still have up in the air. My problem is I can't mentally balance multiple projects because it rips my attention in several directions. Getting back into my Contest Entry while writing out a commission has me terrified that I'll need to reread everything just to feel like I remember everything I was supposed to.

I think of it kinda like with actors who have to be immersed in their roles. My mood and body language change with one character over another and I am in that world. If I break contact by doing other creative things then it takes a lot of effort and frustration to get back into it. Any tips or thoughts on how you juggle different things at once or like a toolkit or something?

I considered making a wikia for my stories as adding a new one with pertinent notes whenever I'm working to help organize all the important stuff on my mind but my notes tend to spew out without any cohesive order. I am always looking for a program or a site which might be able to put everything into a framework so I can return to projects without an insane amount of getting back up to speed. Also any tips are welcome. Most times I just need to put in the work and reread something. Another way I've been experimenting with is to treat each chapter as a short story in some works because highly connected chapters require my full attention.

I totally feel ya. I also experience this exasperating feeling when I switch from one work to another. So as of now, I made one go to hiatus. And chose one to ran through until the end. This might not be a piece of useful advice but it's still advice. Focus on one thing at a time. Not all are made for everything. At least for now. Anyway, if ya really want to write it. Just write the thing ya want to write until ya sipped away all the motivational juices.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

I totally feel ya. I also experience this exasperating feeling when I switch from one work to another. So as of now, I made one go to hiatus. And chose one to ran through until the end. This might not be a piece of useful advice but it's still advice. Focus on one thing at a time. Not all are made for everything. At least for now. Anyway, if ya really want to write it. Just write the thing ya want to write until ya sipped away all the motivational juices.

Never bite more than you can chew.

 

[AkalE]

Just gonna put it out there. Msword or even libre is just as good as any other writing software you use.
The software not going to improve your writing. Every one of them have features that help arrange your work.

As for how to write multiple stories at once - You can try to juggle between outlining, drafting and editing between different stories simultaneously.

 

[gaylolis]

i play video games and have fun instead.

i will only write them when i'm in the mood for that story.

 

[yansusustories]

Just gonna put it out there. Msword or even libre is just as good as any other writing software you use.
The software not going to improve your writing. Every one of them have features that help arrange your work.

While I agree in general (especially if you know how to set your documents up right), I think depending on the circumstances, there can be some differences. For example, with larger projects, loading times increase and some programs are more prone to crashing. So while no, no program can actually make your writing better, they can at least be a major pain in the ass. Also, ease of use and maybe compatibility with other programs might be relevant as well.

 

[thedude3445]

Just gonna put it out there. Msword or even libre is just as good as any other writing software you use.
The software not going to improve your writing. Every one of them have features that help arrange your work.

As for how to write multiple stories at once - You can try to juggle between outlining, drafting and editing between different stories simultaneously.

I used to think this for the ten years I exclusively used Google Docs, but after I started using Scrivener and got a handle on it I can say with good confidence that it has improved my writing. Sure, everything it does is something I could have set up myself in a series of word documents and spreadsheets containing data and and detailed notes pages, but the fact that it gives you all these tools upfront with extreme ease of use (after the learning curve) saves me SO much time. And for writing multiple projects at once, time really is the biggest factor in all this, I have learned. Saving time on organizing notes helps give you more time to spend on actually writing the dang stuff.

However I agree that it's best when juggling projects to be on different "stages" for each of them. Outlining Story A, first draft for Story B, editing for Story C, and actively releasing story D online is a good way to go about it.

 

[AkalE]

Of course... I was speaking from experience more so. Most people have a decent idea how MsWord works and I have been forced to use it quite extensively for hours on end for work.
I wouldn't undertake the task of getting completely familiarized with a new software. Rather I just arrange my files better...