Do you work on more than one book at a time?

[Todd Packer]

Just curious, because I know there's no right or wrong answer to this (just do what you do, ya dig?!), but I'm wondering how many people work on writing more than one novel at a time and what their experience with it is?

I never have, but I really want to try it. I'm worried about never finishing one, but I also don't want to put an idea on hold for months or even years. I suspect what would happen is that eventually one book would gain in momentum and I'll work on that one more than the others, but who knows until you try it, right?

[CharleeVale]

Yes, because sometimes one idea takes over and it's really flowing while one is acting like a broken faucet for awhile. I like it. It keeps the stories fresh. :)

CV

[Falls Apart]

Never. Ever. Ever!

I know some people who say this works for them, but I honestly don't understand it at all. I don't think I'd ever be able to finish a single book if I did this. There are a lot of ideas that I want to try, but I only work on one at a time, or else I get distracted. If I ever have trouble with the book that I'm working on, I try to figure out why and fix it. I know that if I gave myself the option of working on another, I'd just ditch every idea that wasn't fun at the time, and nothing's entertaining to write at any given moment.

[charlotte49ers]

I will write the first few pages of a new idea, but that's about it. I'm too ADD to jump around and expect to actually finish something!

[Moni12]

I do sometimes, but it's really distracting. I look at it like reading more than one book at a time (which I almost always do), the stories are just so good that you can't help yourself.

[TheZies]

I'm too one-tracked-minded for that.

I have one main project. I might have a scene or a thought pop into my head and I'll scribble something down.

but do I work on it? not really.

Though, i'm currently line-editing my current WIP. So, i might start up something new just because line-edits are terrible, terrible things.

[oldhousejunkie]

I know I should, but I don't. Although I will occasionally take a break from editing my mostly finished novel to work on another MS that is as old my current novel. It takes all I can muster to sit down and focus on doing the editing for my "main" novel, so I can't imagine dividing my time between it and my other MS.

[Claudie]

I do, more or less.

Typically I focus all my energies on one WIP for a few months. I'll try to take it through one major step (first draft, second draft, revisions, etc.) But I have, at the moment, five or six other ideas on the backburner, at different stages of the project. Even if I'm not directly writing them, my brain is working on the storylines and the revisions. So I guess I'm working on more than one.

Once I'm done with a major step, I let the WIP rest and work on another project.

I don't think I have the ability to stay on one project. My mind needs the different ideas.

[vickiconner]

No.

But I do get distracted by ideas for other books while I work on another one. The only way I have found to put the distraction aside is to spend a little time writing it down and developing it until I'm comfortable with moving on. And the more I develop it, the easier it is to return to it later.

[Sommer Leigh]

Technically I have one in its third revision but I'm sitting on it for now and not working on it at all while I work on a second manuscript I only recently started. I couldn't work on them both at the same time though.

[JohnDurvin]

I tend to have one main project that's a full work-in-progress novel, but also a number of smaller brain-storming projects, usually in different genres from my main book, so that I don't get sick of dealing with one aesthetic. For example, while I'm revising my sci-fi novel, I'm also working on a bestiary for my Twain-meets-Rowling project and developing fictional comic book series to appear in my YA cosmic horror book.

[Guardian]

Yes. I have one flagship project (Fantasy), one other main, but secondary project (Sci-fi) and two tertiary projects (One detective novel and another one in a different genre again).

[cheryl-murphy]

Yes. I have to WIPs going right now and I find that it works for me. I get bored and having two to work on helps to keep me moving and writing. I get bored with one, I work on the other. Works great for me.

[ShadowFlame]

Of course i do!
there wasa time when i ahd like 20 stories on the run.
At the moment im focusing on 3 series's(but 1 in particular,which is the one where im on the 2nd draft)

[marion]

I can only really focus on one thing at a time. Otherwise I can't focus on anything.
For a change of pace, I do sometimes pick up some background reading for my back-burner novel, which is in a completely different historical era from the WIP.
And I sometimes think it would help to write some short stories to keep my ideas fresh. But I don't do it.
I think my blog (ibischild.blogspot.com) is turning into good writing practice. You're organizing ideas around a theme. And/or doing a little free association, letting ideas flow from one another. Like doing a chapter, although non-fiction.
But I can't have 2 W's actively IP. I figured that out years ago. I had to pick one to work on first.