Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I'm always getting new ideas. I try to work on one at a time, but my new ideas always seem so much better, and when they start to fall apart, I go back to the first story and continue that one. But I have about three going that are really great, and I usually work on one at a time (with the other two pushed way to the back of my mind) and when I lose motivation or run out of ideas for the time being, then I switch out. I work on one for about two weeks before switching, and that's just my attention span. I only delete a file if I feel that the story will never go anywhere, and the three I am working on have been there for a year or two, and they'll probably all be finished at the same time, but in a loooong time, like three years or so. But I guess that's pretty good for three novels.

Perhaps because I'm a Gemini I have several on the go. I'm also a Chinese Astrological sign of the Horse, Fire Horse to be exact, and that means I need to work almost constantly.

My current Rom Com in production phase was written slightly before, during, and tweaked after, 2 other rom coms I've written, I'm in early stages of my incredible crime novel (based on an older typewritten short story I sadly cannot retrieve), got the beginnings of 2 more rom coms, a start on my friend's bio, my bio should I ever need to produce one, and a scifi story I need to reword from a previous version. The 5 books I have under my name, 3 were mostly written together. The other 2 were bookends. The last bookend I also have a sequel in the works.

So currently I have 4 rom coms, 1 crime, 1 scifi, 2 bios, and a comedy driver manual sequel on the plate now.

Generally only one at a time. However, right now I am working on a short story simultaneously with my novel, mostly because I discovered The Strand is back in print and takes submissions, and I would love for one of my stories to see the light of day someday, even if it is just one time in a fairly niche magazine, but also because it allows me to further explore some ideas regarding plots and characters I would ordinarily save for some other medium where it might not work as well. Plus, I've been in a bit of a Christmas-y mood lately, and just felt like writing a short story set at Christmastime. The short story is being put on the back burner, though. I wrote a paragraph a few days ago, a paragraph today, and had the initial idea a week ago this Saturday. The full-fledged book takes precedence over the short story, because I can wrap up the short story and get to work on others and work on submitting them to the Strand while I'm busy querying agents for my book. A short story, if the mood strikes, I can write in an afternoon or two. Novels take me a good while longer, but I think are so much more satisfying to write.

I usually work on more than one novel at a time and might throw a short story in the mix if there is a competition coming up or I get an idea I know won't work as a novel. Usually they are novels with different tones. I might work on something that has a more light-hearted voice one day and feel more serious and work on something literary the next day. When I am forced to commit to a novel, such as when I have grant funding to write, I find it hard to stick to one story. Sometimes I stray and visit with another novel-in-progress. I call it a literary booty call (http://tinachaulk.com/2007/03/20/they-keep-calling-me/).

I like to have two things going at the same time but each at a different stage. So while revising my first book, I started the research for my second book. Now that I have finished my first revision and shelved my first book for the next month or two, I have started writing the first draft of my next book and I signed up to take an online writing class. I also work full time, am raising a family, and have 6 acres to tend and a house I'm still building. Actually, now that I think about it, no wonder my stomach hurts all the time.

My novel is with the beta readers. I hope to have it back and edited by March. I'm currently editing a YA fantasy (rewriting half of it) which will hopefully be going to the betas when this comes back. I have just outlined a fantasy comedy which I will be writing at some point and just started a scifi noir romance and my zombie GLBT died in the water due to plot holes but like all zombies it will be resurrected and I have a comic script for a online competition due the 15th of this month and my 18th century literary/ fantasy crossover was betad but hit a snag with copyright issues (I'll take a moment to cuss the bloody copyright exemption law. Thank you) and is currently resting on its laurels and I'm in the beginning stages of planning a Christmas picture book for adults and I have a planned sci-fi series that I can't decide if it would be best suited by being a TV series, series of books, or comic series, and I'm worldbuilding a kick-ass fantasy world that doesn't have a book yet and I have 9 books of an 11 book fantasy-urban fantasy master epic completely planned and about 6 other book ideas in the aether of my head.

I'm a planny kind of guy.

I've taken a rest from new ideas. God only knows if I can write all these before I die.

Oh, I forgot, I've also got a superhero book waiting to be planned and a cutesy-make-you-sick selkie story that I probably won't write because I can't really stand it. And a cool premise to end with. A vampire that kills Nazis. Oh, and a...

No, I'm stopping here. But there is more.

So blooming much more.

I have issues because my mind won't leave me alone.

i work on more things than I should at one time, it's a wonder that I get anything completed. But when you have a part-time job and you have all day to write I guess it's a little easier - it helps to keep you busy from being annoyed that you have a part-time job and a college degree but no experience, oh dear.

So right now I'm working on a novel

Secrets of a Deltorian Princess - finished but not edited - novel

The Visions of Koto-Rhyin - not finished it's a prequel to the above it's a novella

and then a few short stories
The 13th Floor - done
Rain of the Slimax - done
Murder in the Wings (almost finished editing)

No Good Deed
(not sure what to do with that one, it's finished
but I don't know if it's interesting I'll pass it along to a few friends)

So whenever I get an idea, I stop writing the novel to write the short story. And as I said my mind won't leave me alone because I came up with this whole other set of characters, but there's no story, so think about how irritating that is.

So the answer is several

One book at a time is all I have time for between life and the rest of life, but I like to edit the first one while outlining the next book. It keeps my brain moving.

One. I really can't focus well on more than one, and it's very easy to keep the self-motivation going when I have one specific goal rather than three or four. If I get an idea for another story I might start a notes file or just summarize it depending on how planned out the story becomes, but after that it goes onto the back burner and waits its turn.